The Brain: A Beginner's Guide


Ammar al-Chalabi - 2005
    However, as the authors of this accessible guide demonstrate, there are at least some things we do understand about the brain, things which may lead us to think quite differently about the way we view ourselves and workings of our minds. Starting off with a brief tour of the history of neuroscience, from Aristotle's view that the function of the brain was to cool the heart to the ancient practice of drilling a hole in the skull to relieve headaches, the book covers all of the key areas - including the anatomy and development of the brain, the workings of the sensory and nervous systems, the function of sleep and the capacity for language - in a clear and comprehensible manner. The authors also consider the roots - and possible treatments - of some of the most common psychological disorders, and examine the way in which science may help us to find answers to philosophical questions about the nature of consciousness and the identity of the self. to be able to extend life well beyond the standard three score years and ten, this lively and entertaining introduction assumes no previous scientific knowledge and will be suitable for readers of all backgrounds.

The End of Alzheimer's Program: The First Protocol to Enhance Cognition and Reverse Decline at Any Age


Dale E. Bredesen - 2020
    Now he lays out the detailed program he uses with his own patients. Accessible and detailed, it can be tailored to anyone's needs and will enhance cognitive ability at any age.What we call Alzheimer's disease is actually a protective response to a wide variety of insults to the brain: inflammation, insulin resistance, toxins, infections, and inadequate levels of nutrients, hormones, and growth factors. Bredesen starts by having us figure out which of these insults we need to address and continues by laying out a personalized lifestyle plan. Focusing on the Ketoflex 12/3 Diet, which triggers ketosis and lets the brain restore itself with a minimum 12-hour fast, Dr. Bredesen drills down on restorative sleep, targeted supplementation, exercise, and brain training. He also examines the tricky question of toxic exposure and provides workarounds for many difficult problems. The takeaway is that we do not need to do the program perfectly but will see tremendous results if we can do it well enough.With inspiring stories from patients who have reversed cognitive decline and are now thriving, this book shifts the treatment paradigm and offers a new and effective way to enhance cognition as well as unprecedented hope to sufferers of this now no longer deadly disease.

You Tell Your Dog First


Alison Pace - 2012
    And then, she got Carlie—a feisty and fluffy West Highland white terrier. She could weed out bad boyfriends with a sniff of her button-black nose and win the hearts of lifelong friends with an adoring gaze. Suddenly, Alison had a constant companion and confidante, who went with her on long morning rambles in Central Park, on trips to the country and the beach, and on her search for inner peace, love, and happiness. Through Carlie, Alison found herself connected to the world as never before.With her trademark warmth, wit and humor, Alison shares her stories…the tales of a dog person who found her dog.

The Mindfulness Edge: How to Rewire Your Brain for Leadership and Personal Excellence Without Adding to Your Schedule


Matt Tenney - 2016
    Cutting edge research in neuroscience suggests you can. In The Mindfulness Edge, you'll discover how a subtle inner shift, called mindfulness, can transform things that you already do every day into opportunities to become a better leader. This book brings together training programs presented to Fortune 500 companies, universities, and other organizations around the world to present a complete, self-guided process that enables you to systematically train to improve self-awareness and mental agility. Step-by-step guidance for applying mindfulness to break free from conditioned ways of behaving and making decisions gives you the keys to both better business acumen and emotional and social intelligence, which allows you to create and sustain high-performance team cultures. You’ll learn how to quickly and seamlessly integrate mindfulness training into your daily life and easy-to-understand insight into the neuroscience behind it. Every chapter includes review questions to reinforce covered material and accelerate progress toward mastering the most important element of professional and personal success: your mind. In this book, you'll learn how mindfulness training helps you:- Quickly improve business acumen and your impact on the bottom line- Become more innovative and attract/retain innovative team members- Develop the emotional intelligence essential for creating and sustaining a winning culture- Realize the extraordinary leadership presence that inspires greatness in others- Realize happiness during even the most simple, mundane moments of your dayWhether you’re brushing your teeth, waiting for the train, or walking to the office, The Mindfulness Edge will help you take advantage of each moment to gain a significant competitive edge and more fully enjoy your life.

Zen Yoga: A Creative Psychotherapy To Self Integration


P.J. Saher - 1991
    This book of ancient, Eastern, esoteric wisdom backed by the latest discoveries and experiments of modern science treats the health of the soul by showing the relationship between soul and brain.

What More Could You Wish For: A Novel


Samantha Hoffman - 2012
    Life is good - nice and tidy. Until, that is, on her fiftieth birthday when her boyfriend does the unthinkable: He proposes. Libby's been down the marriage road before and it just didn't work. While she's trying to persuade her guy to keep things status quo, she reconnects online with her high-school boyfriend and begins an email correspondence...just for fun.But fun soon turns to flirtation and Libby is startled to feel some stirrings of the passion she felt at seventeen. How is that possible? She thought she had things all figured out. Now she must take stock of her life and everyone in it, to answer for herself the question everyone has been asking --What more could you wish for?

The New Mind Readers: What Neuroimaging Can and Cannot Reveal about Our Thoughts


Russell A. Poldrack - 2018
    The New Mind Readers provides a compelling look at the origins, development, and future of these extraordinary tools, revealing how they are increasingly being used to decode our thoughts and experiences--and how this raises sometimes troubling questions about their application in domains such as marketing, politics, and the law.Russell Poldrack takes readers on a journey of scientific discovery, telling the stories of the visionaries behind these breakthroughs. Along the way, he gives an insider's perspective on what is perhaps the single most important technology in cognitive neuroscience today--functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI, which is providing astonishing new insights into the contents and workings of the mind. He highlights both the amazing power and major limitations of these techniques and describes how applications outside the lab often exceed the bounds of responsible science. Poldrack also details the unique and sometimes disorienting experience of having his own brain scanned more than a hundred times as part of a landmark study of how human brain function changes over time.Written by one of the world's leading pioneers in the field, The New Mind Readers cuts through the hype and misperceptions surrounding these emerging new methods, offering needed perspective on what they can and cannot do--and demonstrating how they can provide new answers to age-old questions about the nature of consciousness and what it means to be human.

The Burden Bearer: Who’s Carrying Your Load?


Paul Chappell - 2012
    Follow the main character—Carrier—on his journey with the Burden Bearer, and discover the Christian life and relationship with Jesus that you were meant to enjoy!

Smart Chefs Stay Slim: Lessons in Eating and Living from America's Best Chefs


Allison Adato - 2012
    So how do they manage to look good while eating so well? When People magazine editor Allison Adato found covering the restaurant world was taking a toll on her own waistline, she turned to top chefs for their secrets.  Here, more than three dozen greats like Eric Ripert, Thomas Keller, Rick Bayless, Tom Colicchio, and Michelle Bernstein reveal how to: • Always enjoy the food you love • Choose big flavors for maximum pleasure • Read a restaurant menu and indulge the way smart chefs do • Cook the easy, satisfying meals that pros prepare at home • Use lemon, salt, and olive oil to make almost any dish terrific • End your day with a square of chocolate You don’t have to cook like a four-star chef to eat like one! Like so many Americans, celebrity chefs also face the strain of balancing a good diet with a busy lifestyle. Now they share their own smart tips, scrumptious recipes and personal stories of losing over 100 pounds, of taking off baby weight and eating with kids, and of celebrating a love for food without sacrificing health—all while indulging an appetite for life.

Faith, Doubt, and Other Lines I've Crossed: Walking with the Unknown God


Jay Bakker - 2013
    But through the transformative power of grace, he discovered the God who loved and accepted unconditionally, freeing him to ask the hard questions and delve into one of Christianity's greatest taboos: doubt. In Faith, Doubt, and Other Lines I've Crossed, Jay voices the questions that Christians are thinking but won't ask as he chronicles his doubt about God, the Bible, heaven and hell, church, society, relationships, grace, and love. In the process he encourages all of us to welcome "the other", to read the Bible differently but better, to draw together in community, and to seek an unknown God of limitless grace. Brutally honest but full of grace, Jay invites everyone to cross the line, to dig deeper, and to discover a faith that is beyond belief.

Conspiracies Declassified: The Skeptoid Guide to the Truth Behind the Theories


Brian Dunning - 2018
    From the moon landing hoax, to chemtrails, to the mind control dangers of fluoride, Dunning is here to sort the truth from the lies to tell you what really happened.

Curious and Curiouser


Karl Kruszelnicki - 2010
    Are cooked mussels safe ONLY if they are open?Why does alcohol make the opposite sex more attractive?Why does washing your hands ease your conscience, make it easier to live with hard decisions, and make you more tolerant?Why does lightning strike the same place twice (and more)?Do babies get more illnesses when they are "teething"?What is the science behind people spontaneously bursting into flame?And what's more hygienic - an air blower or a paper towel?

Carried in Our Hearts: The Gift of Adoption: Inspiring Stories of Families Created Across Continents


Jane Aronson - 2013
    Her story is included in this book.According to People magazine, parents from all over the country seek adoption expert and Worldwide Orphans Foundation founder Dr. Jane Aronson’s help “as if consulting a master detective.” Angelina Jolie praised Dr. Aronson’s “drive and ambition to help children dream” (Elle). Indeed, over the course of the past three decades, Dr. Aronson has touched the lives of thousands of adopted children from around the world and in this inspiring book she presents moving first-person testimonies from parents (and a few children themselves) whose lives have been blessed by adoption. Divided into thematic sections—such as  "The Decision," "The Journey," and "The Moment We Met")—each prefaced by Dr. Aronson, this book introduces readers to Claude Knobler, a writer from Los Angeles whose journey to Ethiopia to adopt his son led to an unexpectedly moving encounter with the boy’s courageous birthmother; actor Mary Louise-Parker whose older adopted son’s bond with her newly adopted baby daughter was deep and unwavering from the instant the two children met; and Lynn Danzker, an entrepreneur who set off alone to adopt her son, Cole, and in the process, met and married her husband. The authors of these testimonies range from doctors to filmmakers, from financial consultants to celebrities—all of them bound by their moving and transformative experience as adoptive parents.

MindWorks: A Practical Guide for Changing Thoughts Beliefs, and Emotional Reactions


Gary van Warmerdam - 2014
    Learning to understand and shift your point of view, your beliefs and even your language, can end much of the emotional suffering you create for yourself and in relationships. MindWorks offers a simple guide for understanding the complexities of your mind’s inner workings and a step by step practice to facilitate change. Whether your transformation is large or small, you will surely look at yourself and the world in a completely new way.

The Seneca Scourge


Carrie Rubin - 2012
    Sydney McKnight, a young physician battling the deadliest influenza pandemic of all time, joins forces with Dr. Casper Jones, an odd new research virologist whose arrival coincides with the virus’s advent, and whose presence raises more questions than answers.As scientists around the world search for an explanation for the virus’s high mortality rate, Sydney’s distrust of Casper grows, especially after she discovers him injecting an unidentified substance into her patient. Despite a heavy patient load, rebuttals from her boss, and an increasingly strained relationship with her boyfriend, Sydney is determined to learn the truth. But what she finds will plunge her into danger and change her life forever…