Welcome to Your Brain
The Science of Jet Lag, Love and Other Curiosities of Life
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- $19.99
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- $19.99
Publisher Description
- When I drink, am I killing my brain cells?
- Does cramming for an exam work?
- Why can't you tickle yourself?
- Can you improve your brain with video games?
- Why is looking at a photograph harder than playing chess?
Written with a light touch, but using hard science, Welcome to your Brain will answer all the questions you've ever had about how that amazing three pounds in your skull works - and how you can help it work better. Written by two top neuroscientists, they dispel all the myths (such as we only ever use 10% of our brains!), and show how understanding your brain can also be useful.
Full of practical tips for improving your noggin, as well plenty of stories to amuse your friends, Welcome to your Brain will be the most accessible, and the most fascinating, book on your grey matter that you could ever hope to read.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Neuroscientists Aamodt, editor-in-chief of Nature Neuroscience, and Wang, of Princeton University, explain how the human brain with its 100 billion neurons processes sensory and cognitive information, regulates our emotional life and forms memories. They also examine how human brains differ from those of other mammals and show what happens to us during dreams. They also tackle such potentially controversial topics as whether men and women have different brains (yes, though what that means in terms of capabilities and behavior, they say, is up in the air) and whether intelligence is shaped more by genes or environment ("genes set an upper limit on people's intelligence, but the environment before birth and during childhood determines whether they reach their full genetic potential"). Distinguishing their book are sidebars that explode myths no, we do not use only 10% of our brain's potential but nearly all of it and provide advice on subjects like protecting your brain as you get older. The book could have benefited from a glossary of neurological terms and more illustrations of the brain's structure. Still, this is a terrific, surprisingly fun guide for the general reader. B&w illus.
