Best of
Neuroscience

2008

Brain Wave Vibration: Getting Back Into the Rhythm of a Happy, Healthy Life


Ilchi Lee - 2008
    Brain Wave Vibration is a powerful, easy-to-follow method that helps people bring their bodies and minds back into balance for total health, happiness, and peace. The simplest form of practice merely requires moving your body to your own internal rhythms. Author Ilchi Lee teaches this simple truth through the book: creating a miracle is just a matter of coming back to who you really are. More than a physical training technique, Brain Wave Vibration is a call to action, a plea to uncover the vast abilities that lie within your brain. Through this revolutionary brain-body practice, you will stimulate your natural healing ability, manage your stress effectively, rediscover physical vitality, awaken your creative potential, and connect to your highest self.

Living With the Dominator


Pat Craven - 2008
    It can help readers of any age and sexual orientation to change their own behavior and to recognise when they are being controlled.

Neurobiology of “We,” The: How Relationships, the Mind, and the Brain Interact to Shape Who We Are


Daniel J. Siegel - 2008
    But Daniel J. Siegel suggests that there's another piece to the puzzle: the profound influence of those around us. On The Neurobiology of "We" the founder of the emerging field known as interpersonal neurobiology presents a new model of human potential that he calls the mindbody-relationship connection. Building on more than two decades of scientific research, Siegel offers listeners an in-depth exploration of this new map of human consciousness; insights into how interpersonal experiences shape the developing mind and foster emotional well-being; details on the untapped power this connection holds for individual and societal transformation; and more.

The Other Brain: From Dementia to Schizophrenia, How New Discoveries about the Brain Are Revolutionizing Medicine and Science


R. Douglas Fields - 2008
    The Other Brain is the story of glia, which make up approximately 85 percent of the cells in the brain. Long neglected as little more than cerebral packing material ("glia" means glue), glia are sparking a revolution in brain science.Glia are completely different from neurons, the brain cells that we are familiar with. Scientists are discovering that glia have their own communication network, which operates in parallel to the more familiar communication among neurons. Glia provide the insulation for the neurons, and glia even regulate the flow of information between neurons.But it is the potential breakthroughs for medical science that are the most exciting frontier in glia research today. Diseases such as brain cancer and multiple sclerosis are caused by diseased glia. Glia are now believed to play an important role in such psychiatric illnesses as schizophrenia and depression, and in neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. They are linked to infectious diseases such as HIV and prion disease (mad cow disease, for example) and to chronic pain. Scientists have discovered that glia repair the brain and spinal cord after injury and stroke. The more we learn about these cells that make up the "other" brain, the more important they seem to be.Written by a neuroscientist who is a leader in the research to reveal the secrets of these brain cells, The Other Brain offers a firsthand account of science in action. It takes us into the laboratories where important discoveries are being made, and it explains how scientists are learning that glial cells come in different types, with different capabilities. It tells the story of glia research from its origins to the most recent discoveries and gives readers a much more complete understanding of how the brain works and where the next breakthroughs in brain science and medicine are likely to come.

Being a Brain-Wise Therapist: A Practical Guide to Interpersonal Neurobiology


Bonnie Badenoch - 2008
    In fact, sometimes it seems that in order to be a cutting-edge therapist, not only do you need knowledge of traditional psychotherapeutic models, but a solid understanding of the role the brain plays as well. But theory is never enough. You also need to know how to apply the theories to work with actual clients during sessions.In easy-to-understand prose, Being a Brain-Wise Therapist reviews the basic principles about brain structure, function, and development, and explains the neurobiological correlates of some familiar diagnostic categories. You will learn how to make theory come to life in the midst of clinical work, so that the principles of interpersonal neurobiology can be applied to a range of patients and issues, such as couples, teens, and children, and those dealing with depression, anxiety, and other disorders. Liberal use of exercises and case histories enliven the material and make this an essential guide for seamlessly integrating the latest neuroscientific research into your therapeutic practice.

Human: The Science Behind What Makes Us Unique


Michael S. Gazzaniga - 2008
    What it has not done is consider the stark reality that most of the time we humans are thinking about social processes, comparing ourselves to and estimating the intentions of others. In Human, Gazzaniga explores a number of related issues, including what makes human brains unique, the importance of language and art in defining the human condition, the nature of human consciousness, and even artificial intelligence.

Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School


John Medina - 2008
    Yet brain scientists have uncovered details every business leader, parent, and teacher should know—like the need for physical activity to get your brain working its best.How do we learn? What exactly do sleep and stress do to our brains? Why is multi-tasking a myth? Why is it so easy to forget—and so important to repeat new knowledge? Is it true that men and women have different brains?In Brain Rules, Dr. John Medina, a molecular biologist, shares his lifelong interest in how the brain sciences might influence the way we teach our children and the way we work. In each chapter, he describes a brain rule—what scientists know for sure about how our brains work—and then offers transformative ideas for our daily lives.Medina’s fascinating stories and infectious sense of humor breathe life into brain science. You’ll learn why Michael Jordan was no good at baseball. You’ll peer over a surgeon’s shoulder as he proves that most of us have a Jennifer Aniston neuron. You’ll meet a boy who has an amazing memory for music but can’t tie his own shoes.You will discover how:Every brain is wired differentlyExercise improves cognitionWe are designed to never stop learning and exploringMemories are volatileSleep is powerfully linked with the ability to learnVision trumps all of the other sensesStress changes the way we learnIn the end, you’ll understand how your brain really works—and how to get the most out of it.

Neuroeconomics: Decision Making and the Brain


Paul W. Glimcher - 2008
    This book is the first edited reference to examine the science behind neuroeconomics, including how it influences human behavior and societal decision making from a behavioral economics point of view. Presenting a truly interdisciplinary approach, Neuroeconomics presents research from neuroscience, psychology, and behavioral economics, and includes chapters by all the major figures in the field, including two Economics Nobel laureates.

Your Eternal Self


R. Craig Hogan - 2008
    Your Eternal Self contains descriptions of the results of the thousands of studies that have pointed unmistakably to the finding that we are eternal beings having a physical experience. Death is an illusion. Even hard-nosed skeptics described in the book have changed their viewpoints in light of the evidence. Your Eternal Self describes carefully controlled, scientific research done by biologists, physicists, neuroscientists, physicians, psychologists, Nobel laureates, and other renowned scientists showing that the mind is outside of the brain, people see and know things they couldn't know if the mind were in the brain, the afterlife is as real as this life, people's minds are united, and our consciousness actually changes the environment in which we live. The book cites 330 sources from many prestigious scientific, psychological, and medical journals, but distills the essence of the research without technical detail, bringing it down to practical, daily life. It is easy reading and full of fascinating anecdotes and explanations. Your Eternal Self ends by describing what our purpose seems to be in life, what true spirituality is, how people can grow spiritually to change themselves so they have love and bliss in their lives, how they can provide that loving legacy for their children's children, and what the research has shown about the world of the afterlife.

The Neurobiology of Learning and Memory


Jerry W. Rudy - 2008
    The Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, Second Edition, provides a synthesis of this interdisciplinary field. Each chapter makes the key concepts transparent and accessible to a reader with minimal background in either neurobiology or psychology and is extensively illustrated with full-color photographs and figures depicting important concepts and experimental data. Like the First Edition, the Second Edition is organized into three parts. However, each part has been expanded to include new chapters or reorganized to incorporate new findings and concepts.Part One introduces the idea that synapses modified by experience provide the basis for memory storage. It next describes the long-term potentiation methodology used to study how synapses are modified and concepts needed to understand the organization of synapses. The remaining chapters are organized around the idea that the synaptic changes that support long-term potentiation evolve in four overlapping stages referred to as (a) generation, (b) stabilization, (c) consolidation, and (d) maintenance. The goal of each chapter is to reveal that each stage depends on unique molecular processes and to describe what they are.Part Two builds on this foundation to show how molecules and cellular processes that have been identified from studies of synaptic plasticity also participate in the making of memories. It discusses some of the basic conceptual issues researchers face in trying to relate memory to synaptic molecules and describes some of the behavioral and neurobiological methods that are used. The chapters describing the processes involved in memory formation and consolidation have been extensively modified to provide a more detailed account of the molecular events that are engaged to ensure that established memories endure. The chapters on memory modulation and the fate of retrieved memories have been extensively modified to provide a more in-depth account of the relevant processes.Part Three is organized around the multiple memory systems view--that different neural systems have evolved to store the content contained in our experience. It features discussion of the medial-temporal hippocampal system that supports episodic memory, the concept of systems consolidation, and its relationship to Ribot's law--that memories become resistant to disruption as they age. The cortical-striatal system and its relationship to what are called behavioral actions and habits is described, and the book ends with a discussion of neural systems involved in the acquisition and removal of emotional memories.

The Good, the True, and the Beautiful: A Neuronal Approach


Jean-Pierre Changeux - 2008
    Taking into account the newest brain research—morphological, physiological, chemical, genetic—and placing these findings in the context of psychology, philosophy, art, and literature, Changeux ventures into the unexplored territories where these diverse disciplines intersect.Changeux's book draws on Plato's notion that the Good, the True, and the Beautiful are celestial essences or ideas, independent but so intertwined as to be inseparable. Placing these essences within the characteristic features of the human brain's neuronal organization, the author addresses unsolved questions in neuroscience today. With imagination and deep insight, Changeux illuminates the evolution of the brain and deciphers what new developments in neuroscience may portend for the future of humanity.

Introduction to Neuropsychopharmacology


Leslie L. Iversen - 2008
    Authored by four founders of modern neuroscience, this concise and comprehensive text covers the current series of medications used to treat diseases of the brain and nervous system--both psychiatric and neurologic--as well as legal and illegal recreational drugs and the neuroscientific information that explains how these medications act on the brain from the molecular to the clinical level. The text ranges from drugs that affect the mood and behavior to hypnotics, narcotics, anticonvulsants, and analgesics.

Who's Who of the Brain: A Guide to Its Inhabitants, Where They Live and What They Do


Kenneth Nunn - 2008
    Each character is introduced and their appearance, role and key functions in the brain explained. The authors also show what happens when things go wrong in the brain, and illustrate the work using examples of classic clinical cases.This book provides an immediate and entertaining way for anyone to gain a basic understanding or to refresh their knowledge of the inside workings of the brain.

The Neurology of Consciousness: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuropathology


Steven Laureys - 2008
    One increasingly important method of studying consciousness is to study disorders of consciousness, e.g. brain damage and disease states leading to vegetative states, coma, minimally conscious states, etc. Many of these studies are very much in the public eye because of their relationship to controversies about coma patients (e.g. Terry Schiavo case in the US recently), and the relationship to one of the major philosophical, sociological, political, and religious questions of humankind.This is the first book to summarize our current understanding of the neuroanatomical and functional underpinnings of human consciousness by emphasizing a lesional approach offered via the study of neurological patients. The selected contributors are all outstanding authors and undisputed leaders in their field.

Computing the Mind: How the Mind Really Works


Shimon Edelman - 2008
    What does it mean to be a mind? How is the mind related to the brain? How are minds shaped by their embodiment and environment? What are the principles behind cognitive functions such as perception, memory, language, thought, and consciousness?By analyzing the tasks facing any sentient being that is subject to stimulation and a pressure to act, Shimon Edelman identifies computation as the common denominator in the emerging answers to all these questions. Any system composed of elements that exchange signals with each other and occasionally with the rest of the world can be said to be engaged in computation. A brain composed of neurons is one example of a system that computes, and the computations that the neurons collectively carry out constitute the brain's mind.Edelman presents a computational account of the entire spectrum of cognitive phenomena that constitutes the mind. He begins with sentience, and uses examples from visual perception to demonstrate that it must, at its very core, be a type of computation. Throughout his account, Edelman acknowledges the human mind's biological origins. Along the way, he also demystifies traits such as creativity, language, and individual and collective consciousness, and hints at how naturally evolved minds can transcend some of their limitations by moving to computational substrates other than brains. The account that Edelman gives in this book is accessible, yet unified and rigorous, and the big picture he presents is supported by evidence ranging from neurobiology to computer science. The book should be read by anyone seeking a comprehensive and current introduction to cognitive psychology.

Beyond the Zonules of Zinn: A Fantastic Journey Through Your Brain


David Bainbridge - 2008
    The accessible approach of this book lays out what is known about the brain (its structure), what we can hope to know (its function), and what we may never know (its evolution).

The Frog Who Croaked Blue: Synesthesia and the Mixing of the Senses


Jamie Ward - 2008
    Edgar, like many other people, has synesthesia - a fascinating condition in which music can have color, words can have taste, and time and numbers float through space.Everyone will be closely acquainted with at least 6 or 7 people who have synesthesia but you may not yet know who they are because, until very recently, synesthesia was largely hidden and unknown. Now science is uncovering its secrets and the findings are leading to a radical rethink about how our senses are organized. In this timely and thought-provoking book, Jamie Ward argues that sensory mixing is the norm even though only a few of us cross the barrier into the realms of synesthesia.How is it possible to experience color when no color is there? Why do some people experience touch when they see someone else being touched? Can blind people be made to see again by using their other senses? Why do scientists no longer believe that there are five senses? How does the food industry exploit the links that exist between our senses? Does synesthesia have a function? The Frog Who Croaked Blue explores all these questions in a lucid and entertaining way, making it fascinating reading for anyone with an interest in the intriguing workings of the mind.

The Blissful Brain: Neuroscience and Proof of the Power of Meditation


Shanida Nataraja - 2008
    Shanida Nataraja explores the extraordinary research that shows practices such as meditation, tai chi and yoga are not only helpful in reducing stress; they may actually be crucial for good health and optimal brain functioning.  From the effects of meditation on blood pressure and depression to the latest insights from brain imaging studies, this book reveals the scientific evidence that proves meditative practices should be at the very heart of our healthcare system.

Coping With Mild Traumatic Brain Injury


Diane Roberts Stoler, Barbara - 2008
    

"Emotional Amoral Egoism": A Neurophilosophical Theory of Human Nature and its Universal Security Implications


Nayef Al-Rodhan - 2008
    This book offers a fresh look at human nature and universal security by proposing a new general theory of human nature, "emotional amoral egoism", and a specific theory of human motivation that draw on a wide range of philosophical, psychological and evolutionary approaches as well as neuroscientific research. It argues that human behaviour is governed primarily by emotional self-interest and that the human mind is a predisposed tabula rasa. The author argues that most human beings are innately neither moral nor immoral but rather amoral. Circumstances will determine the survival value of humankind's moral compass. This insight has profound implications for the re-ordering of governance mechanisms at all levels with a strong emphasis on the role of society and the global system. This book is essential reading for anyone interested in the substrates of human nature and its universal security implications in relation to identity, conflict, ethnocentrism, xenophobia, morality and global governance.

Head Injury


Audrey Daisley - 2008
    It happens 'out of the blue' - without warning and therefore can be a bewildering and frightening experience, and frequently has a dramatic and sometimes devastating effect on the lives of the people involved. The sudden onset and the uncertainty surrounding recovery means that head injury often presents families with a wide array of emotions such as fear, guilt and sadness. With no previous experiences to guide them, people with head injury and their families can feel overwhelmed.This book begins with essential information about head injury including basic knowledge about the brain and how it is damaged. The book goes on to explore typical problems associated with a head injury and how to cope with specific issues. The third section provides support and guidance about how to deal with the long term consequences of a head injury, including information on where to find further support. Head Injury: The Facts is a family guide to understanding and coping with the practical and emotional problems that head injury brings.

Mirror Neuron Systems


Jaime A. Pineda - 2008
    Social cognition is a broad discipline that encompasses many issues not yet adequately addressed by neurobiologists. Yet, it is a strong belief that framing these issues in terms of the neural basis of social cognition, especially within an evolutionary perspective, can be a very fruitful strategy. This book includes some of the leading thinkers in the nascent field of mirroring processes and reflects the authors attempts to till common ground from a variety of perspectives. The book raises contrary views and addresses some of the most vexing yet core questions in the field providing the basis for extended discussion among interested readers and laying down guidelines for future research. It has been argued that interaction with members of one s own social group enhances cognitive development in primates and especially humans (Barrett & Henzi, 2005). Byrne and Whiten (1988), Donald (1991), and others have speculated that abilities such as cooperation, deception, and imitation led to increasingly complex social interactions among primates resulting in a tremendous expansion of the cerebral cortex. The evolutionary significance of an imitation capability in primates is matched by its ontological consequences."

Natural Treatments for Tics and Tourette's: A Patient and Family Guide


Sheila J. Rogers - 2008
    The status of behavioral and counseling therapies, EEG biofeedback, homeopathy, bodywork, energy medicine, and Chinese medicine as approaches are explored. Author Sheila Rogers DeMare discusses a range of categories of tics including spasmodic facial movements, eye blinking, mild sounds and vocalizations. She persuasively counters the medical establishment’s standard claim that such disorders are “mysterious” and based only in genetics. The dramatic spike in cases, she argues, belies this explanation. Natural Treatments for Tics and Tourette’s takes a closer look at the environmental factors and underlying physical imbalances that trigger these conditions’ symptoms. In this second edition to Tics and Tourette's: Breakthrough Discoveries in Natural Treatments, DeMare offers a detailed natural treatment plan. No more will patients have to rely on traditional, drug-based treatments that often carry multiple side effects. In eight sections, the book offers advice from medical experts, the latest reports in medical research, a checklist of common tic triggers, inspirational stories from families who have successfully conquered tics and Tourette’s, and practical worksheets for readers to use in their treatment and research. Each of the 23 chapters includes a place for notes and “Takeaway Tips” summarizing key points.

Hallucinations: The Science of Idiosyncratic Perception


André Aleman - 2008
    In this book, the authors review the latest research on the cognitive and neural bases of hallucinations and outline their unique neurobiology by drawing on evidence from brain imaging and neurotransmission studies. Hallucination characteristics in different forms of psychosis, as well as other clinical groups and conditions, such as brain damage, Charles Bonnet syndrome, dementia, and chemical substance abuse receive detailed attention. The authors integrate the wealth of recent findings into a cohesive framework and put forward a comprehensive, multicomponent model of hallucinations. They also discuss the treatment of hallucinations, ranging from pharmacotherapy and cognitive therapy to transcranial magnetic stimulation. The book includes a comprehensive list of available hallucination questionnaires and scales as a handy clinical assessment resource.

Handbook of the Neuroscience of Language


Brigitte Stemmer - 2008
    Ten years ago, neuroimaging was just being explored for neurolinguistic questions, whereas today it constitutes a routine component. At the same time there have been significant developments in linguistic and psychological theory that speak to the neuroscience of language. This book consolidates those advances into a single reference.The Handbook of the Neuroscience of Language provides a comprehensive overview of this field. Divided into five sections, section one discusses methods and techniques including clinical assessment approaches, methods of mapping the human brain, and a theoretical framework for interpreting the multiple levels of neural organization that contribute to language comprehension. Section two discusses the impact imaging techniques (PET, fMRI, ERPs, electrical stimulation of language cortex, TMS) have made to language research. Section three discusses experimental approaches to the field, including disorders at different language levels in reading as well as writing and number processing. Additionally, chapters here present computational models, discuss the role of mirror systems for language, and cover brain lateralization with respect to language. Part four focuses on language in special populations, in various disease processes, and in developmental disorders. The book ends with a listing of resources in the neuroscience of language and a glossary of items and concepts to help the novice become acquainted with the field.Editors Stemmer & Whitaker prepared this book to reflect recent developments in neurolinguistics, moving the book squarely into the cognitive neuroscience of language and capturing the developments in the field over the past 7 years.

Comeuppance: Costly Signaling, Altruistic Punishment, and Other Biological Components of Fiction


William Flesch - 2008
    Booth on the rhetoric of fiction. Flesch integrates evolutionary psychology into literary studies, creating a new theory of fiction in which form and content intermesh.

A Matter of Panache: A career in public education. A traumatic brain injury. A memoir of surviving both


Debra Sanders - 2008
    After all, she feels no bumps, breaks or even bruises. Then the trouble begins - the difficulty concentrating, poor memory, excessive sleeping. The extreme irritability. And that's just for starters.Suddenly, someone who has built a brilliant career serving public-school special education students is in desperate need of help herself. What follows is one woman's true story of how she learned to live with a traumatic brain injury - from fighting for competent medical treatment, to understanding and accepting the changes in her personality while attempting to re-establish her professional life.But A Matter of Panache is more than a personal history. This unique memoir is an adventure story that takes readers to school systems from the remote corners of Alaska to the reservation land of southeastern Utah and onto an Army post in Colorado. Amidst stunning backdrops and in between oft-times hilarious adventures, the reader is provided a rare, first-hand look into the lives of some of the children educated in our schools and into both the triumphs and failures of public education.As she encounters personal and professional trials that would challenge even the most fully functioning among us, Sanders reveals what her brain injury couldn't take away: the enduring strength of human courage.

The Man with the Phantom Twin: Adventures in Neuroscience of the Human Brain


V.S. Ramachandran - 2008
     What makes humans different from other beings? Can science explain the nature of human creativity and empathy? While Darwinian science explains how humans evolved just as animals did, modern neuroscience is now unlocking the keys to those less tangible traits that set humans apart. Internationally renowned physician and neuroscientist V. S. Ramachandran now gives us twenty-first-century answers to these age-old questions, showcasing the most current researcha much of it his ownainto physical mechanisms in the brain, including the mysterious mirror neurons. Just as Oliver Sacks has entertained a generation of readers with fascinating patient stories, "The Man with the Phantom Twin" features incredible case studies of bizarre behavior, such as a patient who becomes progressively demented yet creates beautiful paintings of extraordinary realism; a woman who suffers from a paranoid terror of the strangers who live in mirrors; a stroke victim who can no longer understand metaphors; and a patient who sees each number as being tinged with a color. Revealing a stunning new approach to the intersection of science and creativity, "The Man with the Phantom Twin" will forever change the way you think about what makes you beautiful and special.

The Intelligent Movement Machine: An Ethological Perspective on the Primate Motor System


Michael S.A. Graziano - 2008
    The action repertoire of an animal is highly dimensional, whereas the cortical sheet is two-dimensional. Rendering the action space onto the cortex therefore results in a complex pattern, explaining the otherwise inexplicable details of the motor cortex organization. This clearly written book book includes a complete history of motor cortex research from its discovery to the present, a discussion of the major issues in motor cortex research, and an account of recent experiments that led to Graziano's action map view. Though focused on the motor cortex, the book includes a range of topics from an explanation of how primates put food in their mouths, to the origins of social beahvior such as smiling and laughing, to the mysterious link between movement disorders and autism. This book is written for a general audience, and should be of interest to experts, students, and the scientific lay.

Learning and Memory: A Comprehensive Reference


John H. Byrne - 2008
    It is also a very good example of a field that has come into maturity on all levels - in the protein chemistry and molecular biology of the cellular events underlying learning and memory, the properties and functions of neuronal networks, the psychology and behavioural neuroscience of learning and memory. Many of the basic research findings are directly applicable in the treatment of diseases and aging phenomena, and have found their way into educational theory and praxis.Learning and Memory: A Comprehensive Reference is the most comprehensive source of information about learning and memory ever assembled, and the definitive reference work on the topic. In four volumes, Editor-in-Chief John H. Byrne (University of Texas), together with volume editors Howard Eichenbaum (Boston University) for Systems and Neuroscience, Randolf Menzel (Freie Universit�t Berlin) for Behavioral Approaches, Henry Roediger (Washington University) for Cognitive Psychology, and David Sweatt (University of Alabama, Birmingham) for Molecular Mechanisms, have put together a truly authoritative collection of overview articles in 159 chapters on over 3000 pages. Learning and Memory: A Comprehensive Reference presents an extensive, integrated summary of the present state of research in the neurobiology and psychology of learning and memory and covers an enormous range of intellectual territory. With topics ranging from the neurochemistry and neurobiology of learning at the cellular and synaptic levels, systems neurobiology, the study of remarkable capabilities in animals (such as homing), ethological and behavioristic analyses, mechanisms, psychology, and disorders of learning and memory in humans, the work broadly covers all topics in the neurobiology and psychology of learning and memory. There is no other handbook with such a comprehensive coverage and depth. The authors selected are the leading scholars for the particular topics on which they write.

Don't You Get It? Living with Auditory Learning Disabilities


Harvey Edell - 2008
    It has been called a "hidden disability" because it is often mistaken for everything from odd behavior and deafness to other disorders such as ADHD or sometimes even autism. It is none of those things. It is a processing problem, considered a learning disability, where the child (or adult) is unable to integrate information that is spoken to them. It can be a very debilitating disorder affecting the child in many aspects of life, from academics to peer relationships. And many children and adults have the disorder and don't even realize. Don't You Get It? Living With Auditory Learning Disabilities: A Guide for Parents and Professionals was written by three experts in the field, led by educator and speech-language pathologist Dr. Jay Lucker, along with Dr. Loraine Alderman, a school psychologist, and Harvey Edell, a former teacher. And all three co-authors have APD. The book is filled with important information about the disorder, but even more so, it gives several real-life accounts on how APD actually manifests itself. The book also addresses the inherited nature of APD, through the intergenerational stories by Edell, his daughter Alderman and Alderman's teenage son Andrew. This is an important book to read if your child often asks "What?" or just doesn't seem to "get it." And Lucker is one of the most respected sources when it comes to this disorder, so you shouldn't pass up any opportunity to read what he has to say. Ever realize that you or someone you know does not recognize subtle differences between sounds in words, even though the sounds themselves are loud and clear? For example, the request "Tell me how a chair and a couch are alike?" may sound like "Tell me how a hair and a cow are alike." Or how the constant low tapping or clicking noise can drown out the hearing of a louder conversation, causing certain words not to be heard? These kinds of problems are experienced day in and day out by people suffering from a learning disability known as Auditory Processing Disorder (APD). It is not that the person with APD is not paying attention, as many people assume, it is in fact that they are in a noisy environment or listening to complex information. "Don't You Get It?" is a unique, comprehensive book written by people who have had to live with APD and learn how to learn, grow and survive daily with it. People with Auditory Processing difficulty typically have normal hearing and intelligence. However, they have also been observed to: Have trouble paying attention to any information presented orally. . Have problems carrying out multi-step directions. Need more time to process information. Have problems with their relationships or peers. Have difficulty with vocabulary, reading, comprehension, spelling, and understanding language or directional tasks. Mimic symptoms of Attention Deficit Disorder, causing misdiagnosis and incorrect treatment. "Don't You Get It?" specifically looks at people over three generations of the same family and others as well, who have lived with APD. It demonstrates the struggles that these people went through and shows how they worked and overcame their problems in communicating and learning. If you or anyone you know has even a mild case of an Auditory Processing Disorder, then this is the handbook for you!"