Book picks similar to
Changing Brains: Applying Brain Plasticity to Advance and Recover Human Ability by Michael Merzenich
physiology-medical-sciences
psych
success
brain-and-mind
The 5 Elements of Effective Thinking
Edward B. Burger - 2012
Burger teaches at Wiliams College; Starbird at The University of Texas at Austin. Here, they “reveal the hidden powers of deep understanding (earth), failure (fire), questions (air), the flow of ideas (water), and the quintessential element of change that brings all four elements together. By mastering and applying these practical and proven strategies, readers develop better thinking habits and learn how to create their own successes.”Brilliant people aren't a special breed--they just use their minds differently. By using the straightforward and thought-provoking techniques in "The 5 Elements of Effective Thinking," you will regularly find imaginative solutions to difficult challenges, and you will discover new ways of looking at your world and yourself--revealing previously hidden opportunities.The book offers real-life stories, explicit action items, and concrete methods that allow you to attain a deeper understanding of any issue, exploit the power of failure as a step toward success, develop a habit of creating probing questions, see the world of ideas as an ever-flowing stream of thought, and embrace the uplifting reality that we are all capable of change. No matter who you are, the practical mind-sets introduced in the book will empower you to realize any goal in a more creative, intelligent, and effective manner. Filled with engaging examples that unlock truths about thinking in every walk of life, "The 5 Elements of Effective Thinking" is written for all who want to reach their fullest potential--including students, parents, teachers, businesspeople, professionals, athletes, artists, leaders, and lifelong learners.Whenever you are stuck, need a new idea, or want to learn and grow, "The 5 Elements of Effective Thinking" will inspire and guide you on your way.
The 48 Laws of Power
Robert Greene - 1998
Barnum. Some laws teach the need for prudence (“Law 1: Never Outshine the Master”), others teach the value of confidence (“Law 28: Enter Action with Boldness”), and many recommend absolute self-preservation (“Law 15: Crush Your Enemy Totally”). Every law, though, has one thing in common: an interest in total domination. In a bold and arresting two-color package, The 48 Laws of Power is ideal whether your aim is conquest, self-defense, or simply to understand the rules of the game.
The Procrastination Cure: 21 Proven Tactics For Conquering Your Inner Procrastinator, Mastering Your Time, And Boosting Your Productivity!
Damon Zahariades - 2017
Imagine looking at your to-do list and immediately tackling, completing, and crossing off tasks. Imagine making quick decisions regarding which projects receive your immediate attention. Imagine finishing your work each day with hours to spare! Amazon bestselling author, Damon Zahariades, provides a start-to-finish blueprint for beating your inner procrastinator. He'll show you, step by step, how to overcome your tendency to put off important chores, projects, and activities, and consistently take action that catapults your productivity. You'll receive more than 21 proven tactics for conquering your impulse to procrastinate. You'll also learn the REASONS you procrastinate, along with actionable advice on how to nip them in the bud. In
THE PROCRASTINATION CURE
, you'll discover: The 13 most common reasons people postpone taking action Why your to-do list might be encouraging you to procrastinate (and what to do about it) How to create an action-prompting reward system tailored to your personal proclivities 4 easy tips for silencing your inner perfectionist and getting to work Surprising advice from Mark Twain on how to beat procrastination The one decision that'll spur you to take action and complete tasks in record time The power of accountability (and how to find the perfect partner) How to prioritize tasks and projects according to your personal goals A 3-step system for tracking your energy levels, and using the data to maximize your productivity How to use Time Chunking to tackle large, daunting projects One of the most common forms of self-sabotage (and how to avoid it) How to muzzle your inner critic and eliminate negative self-talk A curious strategy novelist Victor Hugo successfully used to tame his inner procrastinator And much, much more! Plus, you'll receive 3 BONUS tactics, each of which will prove instrumental in overcoming your inner procrastinator. There's also a BONUS SECTION that includes detailed answers to common questions asked about how to curb the procrastination habit.
THE PROCRASTINATION CURE
is for anyone who struggles to take action. Whether you're a student, corporate executive, entrepreneur, or stay-at-home parent, the tactics described in this book can set the stage for a personal transformation. Grab your copy of
THE PROCRASTINATION CURE
today to finally conquer your inner procrastinator and get to work on tasks and projects you're tempted to put off until later! This how-to guide is written in the great self-help, personal development tradition of Cal Newport, David Allen, and S.J. Scott. Scroll to the top of the page and click the "BUY NOW" button!
The Feeling of Life Itself: Why Consciousness Is Widespread But Can't Be Computed
Christof Koch - 2019
The theory predicts that many, and perhaps all, animals experience the sights and sounds of life; consciousness is much more widespread than conventionally assumed. Contrary to received wisdom, however, Koch argues that programmable computers will not have consciousness. Even a perfect software model of the brain is not conscious. Its simulation is fake consciousness. Consciousness is not a special type of computation--it is not a clever hack. Consciousness is about being
The Tides of Mind: Uncovering the Spectrum of Consciousness
David Gelernter - 2016
As a student and young researcher in the 1980s, Gelernter hoped to build a program with a dial marked "focus." At maximum "focus," the program would "think" rationally, formally, reasonably. As the dial was turned down and "focus" diminished, its "mind" would start to wander, and as you dialed even lower, this artificial mind would start to free-associate, eventually ignoring the user completely as it cruised off into the mental adventures we know as sleep.While the program was a only a partial success, it laid the foundation for The Tides of Mind, a groundbreaking new exploration of the human psyche that shows us how the very purpose of the mind changes throughout the day. Indeed, as Gelernter explains, when we are at our most alert, when reasoning and creating new memories is our main mental business, the mind is a computer-like machine that keeps emotion on a short leash and attention on our surroundings. As we gradually tire, however, and descend the "mental spectrum," reasoning comes unglued. Memory ranges more freely, the mind wanders, and daydreams grow more insistent. Self-awareness fades, reflection blinks out, and at last we are completely immersed in our own minds.With far-reaching implications, Gelernter’s landmark "Spectrum of Consciousness" finally helps decode some of the most mysterious wonders of the human mind, such as the numinous light of early childhood, why dreams are so often predictive, and why sadism and masochism underpin some of our greatest artistic achievements. It’s a theory that also challenges the very notion of the mind as a machine—and not through empirical studies or "hard science" but by listening to our great poets and novelists, who have proven themselves as humanity's most trusted guides to the subjective mind and inner self.In the great introspective tradition of Wilhelm Wundt and René Descartes, David Gelernter promises to not only revolutionize our understanding of what it means to be human but also to help answer many of our most fundamental questions about the origins of creativity, thought, and consciousness.
Awaken Giant Within by Tony Robbins: Resume Book, Anthony Robbins (Resume Books)
Allan Green - 2014
Robbins shows through his experience and abusive childhood background as guidance for the people who are ‘lost’ to find their way into success, even when themselves thought it impossible before. At the beginning, Robbins opens the book with one firm statement. “We all have dreams.” Throughout the book, predictable enough, he tries (and succeeds) to prove that all dreams that we have can be realized. Most of his theories may sound cliché and exaggerating at the first, but as you keep on reading Awaken the Giant Within, you will find that all the steps to make your life better are as easy as deciding to routinely make your bed every morning before you go to work, yet bring astounding effect to your future and self-development. Inside: About the Author Into the Book (The Power of Concentration and Decision) What Pain and Pleasure Do to Our Actions Neuro-Associative ConditioningTM How to Get What You Really Want in Life? Saying the Right Thing Reticular Activating System (RAS) The Master System The Seven Days to Shape Our Life Buy NOW, don't waste another day, because it will cost $4.99 soon.
How to Talk to Anyone: 92 Little Tricks for Big Success in Relationships
Leil Lowndes - 1998
What is their "Midas touch?"What it boils down to is a more skillful way of dealing with people.The author has spent her career teaching people how to communicate for success. In her book How to Talk to Anyone (Contemporary Books, October 2003) Lowndes offers 92 easy and effective sure-fire success techniques-- she takes the reader from first meeting all the way up to sophisticated techniques used by the big winners in life. In this information-packed book you'll find:9 ways to make a dynamite first impression 14 ways to master small talk, "big talk," and body language 14 ways to walk and talk like a VIP or celebrity 6 ways to sound like an insider in any crowd 7 ways to establish deep subliminal rapport with anyone 9 ways to feed someone's ego (and know when NOT to!) 11 ways to make your phone a powerful communications tool 15 ways to work a party like a politician works a room 7 ways to talk with tigers and not get eaten aliveIn her trademark entertaining and straight-shooting style, Leil gives the techniques catchy names so you'll remember them when you really need them, including: "Rubberneck the Room," "Be a Copyclass," "Come Hither Hands," "Bare Their Hot Button," "The Great Scorecard in the Sky," and "Play the Tombstone Game," for big success in your social life, romance, and business.How to Talk to Anyone, which is an update of her popular book, Talking the Winner's Way (see the 5-star reviews of the latter) is based on solid research about techniques that work!By the way, don't confuse How to Talk to Anyone with one of Leil's previous books, How to Talk to Anybody About Anything. This one is completely different!
Visual Intelligence: Sharpen Your Perception, Change Your Life
Amy E. Herman - 2015
How could looking at Monet’s water lily paintings help save your company millions? How can checking out people’s footwear foil a terrorist attack? How can your choice of adjective win an argument, calm your kid, or catch a thief? In her celebrated seminar, the Art of Perception, art historian Amy Herman has trained experts from many fields how to perceive and communicate better. By showing people how to look closely at images, she helps them hone their “visual intelligence,” a set of skills we all possess but few of us know how to use properly. She has spent more than a decade teaching doctors to observe patients instead of their charts, helping police officers separate facts from opinions when investigating a crime, and training professionals from the FBI, the State Department, Fortune 500 companies, and the military to recognize the most pertinent and useful information. Her lessons highlight far more than the physical objects you may be missing; they teach you how to recognize the talents, opportunities, and dangers that surround you every day. Whether you want to be more effective on the job, more empathetic toward your loved ones, or more alert to the trove of possibilities and threats all around us, this book will show you how to see what matters most to you more clearly than ever before.
Amazing Things Will Happen: A Real-World Guide on Achieving Success and Happiness
C.C. Chapman - 2012
Through personalanecdotes from the author's life, and interviews of successfulindividuals across several industries, this book demonstrates howto achieve success, in all aspects of life, through hard work andacts of kindness. Split into five sections, this book details howto begin the self-improvement journey.Explains how to cope with the situation you are currently in, and how to make the most of it until you can break freeShares exercises and practices that can help define your goalsand how to set realistic tasks to reach themHelps you to navigate the seas of doubters and obstacles to getto where you want to beEnsures that you help others, once you have reached yourgoalsEach of us has different goals in life, but everyone wants tosucceed, and have as much fun as possible along the way. AmazingThings Will Happen shows how to get on this path tosuccess.
Man's Search for Himself
Rollo May - 1953
In response, he probes the hidden layers of personality to reveal the core of man's integration--a basic and inborn sense of value. Man's Search for Himself is an illuminating view of our predicament in an age of overwhelming anxieties and gives guidance on how to choose, judge, and act during such times.
Six Pillars of Self-Esteem
Nathaniel Branden - 1994
The book demonstrates compellingly why self-esteem is basic to psychological health, achievement, personal happiness, and positive relationships. Branden introduces the six pillars—six action-based practices for daily living that provide the foundation for self-esteem—and explores the central importance of self-esteem in five areas: the workplace, parenting, education, psychotherapy, and the culture at large. The work provides concrete guidelines for teachers, parents, managers, and therapists who are responsible for developing the self-esteem of others. And it shows why-in today's chaotic and competitive world-self-esteem is fundamental to our personal and professional power.
Mind Wide Open: Your Brain and the Neuroscience of Everyday Life
Steven Johnson - 1999
He asks: How do we "read" other people?What is the neurochemistry behind love and sex?What does it mean that the brain is teeming with powerful chemicals closely related to recreational drugs?Why does music move us to tears?Where do breakthrough ideas come from? Johnson answers these and many more questions arising from the events of our everyday lives. You do not have to be a neuroscientist to wonder, for example, why do you smile? And why do you sometimes smile inappropriately, even if you don't want to? How do others read your inappropriate smile? How does such interplay occur neurochemically, and what, if anything, can you do about it? Fascinating and rewarding, Mind Wide Open speaks to brain buffs, self-obsessed neurotics, barstool psychologists, mystified parents, grumpy spouses, exasperated managers, and anyone who enjoys speculating and gossiping about the motivations and behaviors of other human beings. Steven Johnson shows us the transformative power of understanding brain science and offers new modes of introspection and tools for better parenting, better relationships, and better living.
The Economy of You: Discover Your Inner Entrepreneur and Recession-Proof Your Life
Kimberly Palmer - 2014
On top of adding to their income and creating safety nets in case the ax falls at work, they have been able to unlock their creativity and find a sense of fulfillment they never dreamed possible--or rather day-dreamed possible from their uninspiring cubicle.In The Economy of You, author and microbusiness owner herself Kimberly Palmer illuminates the everyday faces behind this growing movement, starting with her own journey. Readers will meet a deli employee who makes custom cakes at night, an instrument repairman who sells voice-overs on his website, a videographer who started a profitable publishing house on the side, and many other inspirational examples of those who have discovered how to turn their joys and hobbies into a profitable microbusiness. Interwoven in the profiles are concrete guidelines for readers looking to launch rewarding businesses of their own, including: • Tips for figuring out the ideal side gig • Ideas for keeping start-up costs low • Advice on juggling a fledgling enterprise and a full-time job • Branding and marketing basics that bring results • When and what to offer for free • And much moreYour employer can guarantee nothing but today’s wages. It’s up to YOU to build real financial stability. It’s empowering, gratifying, and now easy to do with The Economy of You.
The Disordered Mind: What Unusual Brains Tell Us about Ourselves
Eric R. Kandel - 2018
Kandel investigates The Disordered Mind to uncover what brain disorders reveal about human nature. This challenging study will not only help transform medical care but also encourage a new humanism based in part on the biological confirmation of individuality.Eric R. Kandel, the winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his foundational research into memory storage in the brain, is one of the pioneers of modern brain science. His work has helped shape our understanding of how learning and memory work. Building from this scientific research, Kandel explores one of the most fundamental questions we face: How does our mind, our individual sense of self, arise from the physical matter of the brain? The brain’s 86 billion neurons communicate with one another through very precise connections. If those connections are disrupted, the brain processes that give rise to our mind can become disordered, resulting in diseases such as depression, schizophrenia, Parkinson’s, and autism.The Disordered Mind illustrates how breakthrough studies of these disruptions can deepen our understanding of thought, feeling, behavior, memory, and creativity, and perhaps in the future will lead to the development of a unified theory of mind.
The Wisest One in the Room: How You Can Benefit from Social Psychology's Most Powerful Insights
Thomas Gilovich - 2015
Friends, relatives, and colleagues: someone with the best advice about how to boost sales, the most useful insights into raising children, or the sharpest take on an ongoing conflict. In The Wisest One in the Room, renowned social psychologists Thomas Gilovich and Lee Ross ask: Why? What do these people know? What are the foundations of their wisdom? And, as professors and researchers who specialize in the study of human behavior, they wonder: What general principles of human psychology are they drawing on to reach these conclusions? They begin by noting that wisdom, unlike intelligence, demands some insight into people—their hopes, fears, passions, and drives. It’s true for the executive running a Fortune 500 company, the candidate seeking public office, the artist trying to create work that will speak to the ages, or the single parent trying to get a child through the tumultuous adolescent years. To be wise, they maintain, one must be psych-wise. Gilovich and Ross show that to answer any kind of behavioral question, it is essential to understand the details—especially the hidden and subtle details—of the situational forces acting upon us. Understanding these forces is the key to becoming wiser in the way we understand the people and events we encounter, and wiser in the way we deal with the challenges that are sure to come our way—perhaps even the key to becoming “the wisest in the room.”