Stay Sharp by Sanjay Gupta

Books about the brain and neuroscience always interest me, and Sanjay Gupta's Keep Sharp:  Build a Better Brain at Any Age qualifies because, while it is written for the lay person, it is a good combination of science and easy to understand examples.  Well-documented with studies that explain the way the brain works and what we can do to keep our brains in the best condition possible, the book offers good advice and suggestions to keep our minds sharp.  

A few excerpts and comments:

"But it important to know that memory is fundamentally a learning process--the result of constantly interpreting and analyzing incoming information."

"... your memory is not a single system--it's made up of a network of systems, each playing a different role in creating, storing, and recalling."

"The brain remains plastic throughout life and can rewire itself in response to learning.  It can also generate new brain cells under the right circumstances."

"...exercise is the only behavioral activity scientifically proven to trigger biological effects that can help the brain."  Also, "physical in activity has been calculated to be the most significant risk factor in cognitive decline and the development of dementia."

The author notes that physical exercise has often been sacrificed in schools.  Research shows the benefit of physical exercise on learning.  (There are tons of articles out there about how physical education/activity increases academic performance.)

How Physical Activity Affects School Performance

Growing Evidence of Physical Activity on Academic Performance

How Does Physical Activity Affect Academic Performance?

There are also plenty of studies that research the affect of physical exercise on other age groups (including my own), but in addition to my own age group, I'm concerned about how taking physical education out of schools has been a mistake that has been detrimental in so many areas of child development.  

About brain-training videos, crossword puzzles, and Sudoku which can improve working memory in specific areas, Gupta adds that "...although they can help your brain get better at performing those specific activities, their benefits do not extend to other brain functions like reasoning and problem solving, both of which are key to building cognitive reserve."

The book covers everything from  to diet, exercise, learning, and more.  The connections Gupta makes about how these behaviors effect the brain provides essential information.  It may be common sense in many cases, but the how is important to know.

Building a better brain is important for people of all ages.  For children, adults, and the elderly, the book offers scientific and common sense methods to preserve and increase the brain's functions and delay cognitive decline.

 Excellent addition to my brain book collection.

NetGalley/Simon & Schuster

Brain/Neuroscience/Aging.  Jan., 2020.  Print length:  326 pages.

The Secret Life of the Mind by Mariano Sigman

Our brains are remarkably complex organs that supervise and adjust and modify every aspect of our bodies and our lives.  Our brains shape our behavior, record our memories, control our heart rate and our immune systems, make decisions, develop our personal philosophies. The brain really is an enigma; it is a mystery, a marvel, and a work in progress.  The brain changes itself, it grows, and it re-wires itself--and these changes can be positive or negative.

The Secret Life of the Mind (I've mentioned the book in previous posts) expands on issues concerning the way infants conceive morality--the results are intriguing, but it is also fascinating to learn about the experiments devised to understand how infants understand and process information.  How can we know what  pre-verbal infants and toddlers think?  How early do they recognize right from wrong and what influences their decisions?  Researchers have created experiments that are simple, practical, and remarkably interesting.

The section on hunches vs deliberation feels intuitively correct--we recognize aspects in our own decision- making even if we have never analyzed them.  When is it best to deliberate about a decision and when is an instinct or a hunch preferred--and why?

  The body recognizes and acknowledges some things (often using past experience or knowledge) even before the brain can process the information.  Our decisions are often made seconds before we even "think" them.  Even the regret over a wrong decision is present before we are aware of it and before the decision is proven wrong by the situation.   

Neuroscience is a multidisciplinary subdivision of biology that works closely with other disciplines and covers a wide variety of topics.  Sigman's The Secret Life of the Mind moves easily from one topic to another, providing information that affirms some of our own opinions and challenges others.   The many ways the topics are approached by different disciplines provide both answers and intriguing questions.

From a book description, The Secret Life of the Mind "combines the astonishing work of biologists, physicists, mathematicians, psychologists, anthropologists, linguists, engineers, philosophers and medical doctors – not to forget cooks, magicians, musicians, chess players, writers, and artists." 

Informative and entertaining, Mariano Sigman engages readers through his own enthusiasm and curiosity.  Highly Recommended.

NetGalley/Little, Brown, & Co    

Nonfiction/Brain/Neuroscience.  June 27, 2017.  Print length:  270 pages.  

Catching Up: Mysteries, Warrior Cats, and Neuroscience

The Cardinal's Court by Cora Harrison is the first in a new series featuring Hugh Mac Egan, a Brehon lawyer at Hampton Court in 1522. His current assignment is  to draw up a marriage contract between James Butler and Anne Boleyn.  Members of the court have already noticed the attraction between Anne and Harry Percy, but neither Anne nor Harry have any say-so about their marriages which are arranged by their fathers for financial and political reasons.  Of course, James Butler has no options in the choice of a bride either, but he doesn't seem concerned.

(How different might history have been if Anne and Harry had been allowed to marry?  We already know that the marriage between Anne and James Butler never occurred, but Henry VIII has not yet noticed Anne in 1522 and plays only a cameo role in the novel.)

A young man is murdered and Harry Percy implicates James Butler.  Hugh Mac Egan desperately needs to clear James of the accusation or his young charge will be executed.  Cardinal Woolsey and Katherine of Aragon are sympathetic, but Mac Egan has only days to determine the motive and the guilty party. 

The characters are well-drawn and the plot is compelling.  I'm all in for this new series.  

Read in June; review scheduled for July

NetGalley/Trafalgar Square Publishing

Historical Mystery.  July 1, 2017.  Print version:  320 pages.


I mentioned The Darkening Web: The War for Cyberspace  (nonfiction) back in May, but after the ransom cyber attacks, it became a bit too threatening.  I will get back to it eventually because our entire world is dependent in one way or another on the internet.  Klimburg is an expert in the field, and although some of the information is too technical for me, most of what I've read so far is enlightening.

NetGalley/Penguin Group

Nonfiction.  July 11, 2017.  Print version:  432 pages.

Deadfall is the latest from Linda Fairstein.   

Briefly:  Opening scene is in the morgue.  Paul Battaglia, Alex Cooper's longtime boss and mentor, has been murdered and for some reason Alex becomes a suspect.  This didn't ring true for the situation, and I was left-footed from the beginning.  

I almost abandoned this one early on: Alex was so annoying in the first couple of chapters, and the animosity of one of the investigators seemed over the top.  Although the more recent installments in this series have not appealed to me as much as the early books, I do enjoy the historical information about New York woven into each plot.  Trophy hunters, illegal animal trade, and the New York City zoos helped pick up the pace and my interest.

NetGalley/Penguin Group

Mystery/Suspense.  July 25, 2017.  Print version:  400 pages.

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What else have I been reading?  My granddaughter brought me her copies of the first Warrior Cat series by Erin Hunter.  I have no choice but to read and report--in great detail--on each book.  

I read and enjoyed the first book in the series (Into the Wild) back in 2010, when B.E. was not quite two years old and had no clue of her future obsession.  Despite my intention to read more of the books in this middle grade series, I never did.  Now, I'm on the fifth book in the first series and reporting to B.E., who can't resist telling me what happens next.  Her excitement about what she reads is palpable, and I'm thrilled that she loves to read.  My other granddaughter loved the series, and B.E. is impressed with everything her older cousin does.  Now, Mila may have outgrown the books, but B.E. is still voraciously gobbling each new series.

And finally,  I finished The Secret Life of the Mind: How Your Brain Thinks, Feels, and Decides by Mariano Sigman, which I've been slowly reading for a couple of weeks now.  Will review later; fascinating and informative, it joins my favorite "brain" books.  

I've read a number of good books on neuroscience and continue to find the studies into the mysterious ways in which our brains work fascinating.  

Have a great weekend!

What's Up, Buttercup?

I'm slowly reading and thinking about each section of The Secret Life of the Mind:  How Your Brain Thinks, Feels, and Decides by Mariano Sigman.  A cognitive neuroscientist, Sigman has already had me pondering the ways scientists, psychologists, and linguists approach what goes on in the minds of pre-verbal infants--what they understand and when.  Definitely not the blank slates assumed for so long.  Also intriguing are the moral choices of toddlers.  Then the section on which serves us better in decision making:  rational deliberation or hunches.  And what are hunches really?  Oh, and does our sense of smell influence our choice of mate?  Why would this be inverted in pregnancy?  Curiouser and curiouser!  

Some of what I've read affirms what I've read in previous books, but some information is new and compelling.  I especially like seeing the creative ways different ways theories are tested, especially with infants.  

I have not read a brain book in a while, and I am thoroughly enjoying this one.  Which cover do you prefer?

Buried on the Fens.  Joy Ellis' Nikki Galena series continues to keep me engrossed. An unofficial body is discovered in a cemetery, and a decades old murder appears to be entwined with a more recent one.

Initially, the team believes they are looking at two separate cases, and the recent murder of a well-liked businesswoman must take precedence.  Nikki finds the older murder a fascinating curiosity, but as both investigations proceed, connections are established.

As usual, Ellis' novel works perfectly well as a standalone.  Now, I look forward to the next in either the Nikki Galena or the Rowan Jackson series!

NetGalley/Joffe Books

Police Procedural.  July 10, 2017.   

Perfect Prey is the second in the DI Callanach series, and I have not read the first one.

The Goodreads reviews so far have been mostly 4 and 5 stars, and I would have happily agreed to 4 stars--accept for two things.  The murders were grotesque and unbelievable and Ava's relationship with Joe (or as one reviewer called him, "dickhead").  Oh, you, too, will agree with that designation!

On the other hand, the tension was great, Callanach's character was interesting and unusual, and there were a couple of good twists.  

I have a problem with books that depend on the bizarre and/or the grotesque--but that's my personal perspective. 

 There was plenty in this book to keep me interested, yet I was uncomfortable with the detailed exploitation of violence in Perfect Prey.  Would I read another in the series?  Yes, just to see if violence is a prevailing theme.  I liked Callanach and some of the secondary characters; Ava, not so much, although she was going through an emotionally difficult period.

NetGalley/Avon Books

Police Procedural.  July 27, 2017.  

How We Learn by Benedict Carey

I'm always interested in learning and in how to make the learning process better, more efficient, and longer term.  When I saw How We Learn:  The Surprising Truth About When, Where, and Why It Happens on NetGalley, I immediately requested it, but expected something rather dry and ridden with educational jargon.  

What a pleasant surprise to find the book informational in the best way (and full of some counter-intuitive concepts) and as entertaining, at least to me, as a novel.

When I finished, there was scarcely a page without highlighting.  I've put the hardback on my wish list, and I'll include it in my next book purchase because this is one of the books that I prefer in a page format that I can easily pull from the shelf and peruse at will.  If there is a possibility of referring to the book in the future (books on science, neuroscience, yoga, gardening, fabric art, etc.), I want it on the shelf with others in that category.

Carey begins with some basic facts about the brain and how memories are made and stored, then moves on to some detailed studies.  

Tidbits:

"...appreciating learning as a restless, piecemeal, subconscious, and somewhat sneaky process that occurs all the time--not just when you're sitting in a desk, face pressed into a book--then it's the best strategy there is.  And it's the only one available that doesn't require more time and effort on your part, that doesn't increase the pressure to achieve."

"Most people do better over time by varying their study or practice locations.  The more environments in which you rehearse, the sharper and more lasting the memory of that material becomes--and less strongly linked to one comfort zone."

"Altering the time of day you study also helps, as does changing how you engage the material, by reading or discussing, typing into a computer or writing by hand, rciting in front of a mirror or studying while listening to music:  Each counts as a different learning 'environment' in which you store the material in a different way."

--sections on the stages of sleep and the different ways each stage helps consolidate information

"Breaking up study or practice time--dividing it into two or three sessions, instead of one--is far more effective than concentrating it."  "Studies find that people remember up to twice as much of material that they rehearsed in spaced or tested sessions than during cramming."

--the "fluency" effect

--"interleaving  multiple skills

This is an excellent book about learning that will give you new insight into the learning process.  Both interesting and informative, How We Learn can provide skill sets to aid anyone who wants to learn more efficiently and with less effort.  The research and studies are documented in the Notes, and Carey experimented with most of them himself or uses examples of others who tried the methods.  Great for students, for parents, and for anyone who wants to learn, including learning to improve physical behaviors as in music or sports.

Highly recommended.  One of my favorite books this year, and it isn't even fiction.

Read in June; blog post scheduled for Aug.  Sept.

NetGalley/Random House

Education/Learning/Nonfiction.  Sept. 9, 2014.  Print length:  274 pages.

Miscellaneous

I've just finished a fascinating book by Benedict Carey.  The title is How We Learn; my blog review will be scheduled closer to the release date, but I want to share a Give Away of the book on Goodreads where 50 copies are available.

I have highlighted something on nearly every page and read the book with all the eagerness that any good novel evokes.  If I don't win a copy, I've already added it to my wish list and will order my own.  Nonfiction books deserve a place on the shelf, and I have hard copies of all my brain books, even if I read them first on my Kindle.

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Like many others, I'm concerned about genetically modified/engineered foods and found Robyn O'Brien's short Ted Talk packed with information.

• Are we really allergic to food or to what's been done to it?

• 1997-2002 - doubling of the peanut allergy

Most of us have never been told that peanuts are treated with cancer-causing pesticides.

Nor have we been told that they are rotated in fields that contain genetically engineered cotton, a controversial crop used in our food supply that is treated with a weed killer linked to cancer and infertility.

We tend to only hear about the peanut allergy when it comes to peanuts in the news, but a deeper look into how we grow peanuts today unearths a lot of questions.

Since when did so many kids suddenly have a peanut allergy?  A peanut butter and jelly sandwich hasn’t always been a loaded weapon on a lunchroom table.

From 1997-2002, the incidence of peanut allergy doubled.  In the last fifteen years, there has been a 50% increase in the number of children with food allergies. About 1 in 20 U.S. children have food allergies — a 50 percent increase from the late 1990s, according to a recent CDC survey.

But that’s not where it stops.  (you can read more on Robyn O'Brien's blog)

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Brains and Neuroscience

I love "brain books" and neuroscience and neuroplasticity and have read quite a few books on the subject that are as fascinating as novels.  One of my favorite blog reads is The Guardian's Science:  Neuroscience.  

This article about the inimitable 84-year-old Clint Eastwood's latest accomplishment has some fascinating information about individuals whose creative talents continue to produce great work into the last decades of their lives.  

A few excerpts from the article:

• Twenty years ago the phenomenon of long-living conductors was studied in a book by Steven Rochlitz, The Longevity Guide – Why Do Music Conductors Live into Their 90s? Rochlitz argued that because these musicians were allowed to keep working and to enjoy status late into their ninth decade or longer, they reciprocated by staying on form. Pablo Casals, for instance, lived to the age of 96, while Arturo Toscanini made it to 89 when the average life expectancy for a man was 50. The trend for leading conductors to live longer has also been put down to the upper body exercise involved, increasing circulation to the brain, and to the result of an artistic concentration on harmony.

• Recent research also underlined flaws in previous attempts to show that older brains were less effective. The truth may be, scientists now suggest, that the elderly are simply handling more information in their neural archives.

• Louise Bourgeois, the French experimental sculptor who died in 2010 at 98, certainly felt age helped. She made her greatest work after the age of 80 and once declared: "I am a long-distance runner. It takes me years and years and years to produce what I do." At 84 Bourgeois was asked if she could have made her work earlier in her career: "Absolutely not," she replied. "I was not sophisticated enough."                                                                                                                      
• Crime novelist PD James, 93, has attempted to semi-retire herself and her detective Adam Dalgleish, but Fay Weldon, author of 34 novels so far at the age of 82, is still firing out imaginative and well-crafted salvos to her waiting readers.

One of my favorite brain books is The Brain that Changes Itself  by Norman Doidge.  It led me to many other books on the brain.  If you'd like to check out more of my "brain books" -- click here.  Some fiction shows up, but mostly the nonfiction books.

Mental illness can also be considered in the category of brain books, and Gin Jenny's review of Falling into the Fire recently caught my interest.  I've added it to my list.

Article from the Guardian

29 Science: Neuroscience | guardian.co.uk by PD Smith  /  5d  //  keep unread  //  trash  //  preview Reading and the Reader by Philip Davis – review +TAG Philip Davis elegantly argues that reading is an existential act and that serious literature reaches neural pathways that other texts cannot This is the first volume of a series on "The Literary Agenda" in which authors, philosophers and even neuroscientists will reassert the importance of literature in the digital age. In this eloquent book, Philip Davis does just that, exploring the power of literary texts and of reading as a creative, even existential, act. Although he is keen to avoid reducing literature to a sub-genre of self-help guides, he sees reading as a potentially transformative process, "a means of opening and reopening, innerly shifting and deepening, mental pathways". Citing the evidence of brain imaging, he argues that literary language, such as new metaphors, can have physical effects. Serious literature reaches those neural pathways that other texts cannot; it awakens a sense of ontological reality, a heightened state of being in the world and "opens out the inside place in human beings". Close reading of texts, from Dickens to Russell Hoban, is at the core of Davis's book. But this is not some dry work of academic lit crit. Rather, it is a heartfelt celebration of the value of reading. ------------ I love that Davis sees reading as "a potentially transformative process."  In light of the article, I regret that my reading is no longer that of "serious literature."   Oh, I sneak in a more serious book now and then, but mostly I read for escape:  mystery, science fiction, fantasy, etc. When I was young (elementary school), my father insisted that if I continued to bring home Nancy Drew from the library,  I'd also have to find something more worth while.  Not knowing any better, I wandered the nonfiction aisles in the adult section and became interested in archaeology and history.  I still remember books of Greek, Roman, Egyptian history, architecture, culture.  Since I already loved the hundreds of National Geographics my father saved...it seemed a logical transition. Then I started reading my mother's books; she loved historical novels.  What a perfect way to enjoy history, and then research for the fact and fiction in the books. By high school, I was reading books recommended for college reading posted by my English teachers.  Of course, I read the typical required reading, but also from the lists they posted about important books.  (Not that I've ever abandoned my love for escape reading.)   A useless degree in English Literature, meant I had to get another in education, then an MA in English Literature.  Lots more reading of classics and criticism. Teaching meant more reading and rereading of classics and more enjoying lit crit works. Now...mostly forgettable books and mostly for entertainment; although nonfiction still appeals, especially about WWII, I read for pleasure and adventure most of the time.

Time for a Give Away (STICKY POST)

When I ordered my copy of The Brain that Changes Itself by Norman Doidge, I didn't check the receipt closely and received not one, but two copies.  Originally, I read this as a library book, and I wanted my own ...just not two copies!  You can read my review of the book here.


Therefore, the second copy is up for grabs.  All you have to do is leave a comment on this post telling me something you've read lately (or are currently reading) that you've really liked.

I'll use the Random Number Generator on Friday, July 22 to determine the winner.
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Tomorrow night, I'll do the drawing.  Pretty easy, so far.  Only two people seem interested!

Oliver Sacks

I just started Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks.  I ordered this book a while back, then lost it in the stacks, and had pretty much forgotten about it.  Yesterday, I was packing up library books, sorting books that I need to review, and looking for something I really wanted to read...and there it was.

Seizing it up, I took it outside to read when taking breaks from working on the little Alzheimer's quilts (and, for brief periods, doing a bit of housework).  The preface held me fast.  All of a sudden, I wanted to write down everything in the preface to share with you!  How silly and time-consuming that would be, but there will be a few hints.

My interest in "brain books" has taken me through some fascinating reading over the last couple of years and there are certain names (Stephen Pinker, Stephen Jay Gould, William James, Simon Baron-Cohen, Darwin, Gerald Edelman, Daniel Levitin, William Penfield, V.S. Ramachandran, and more) that crop up again and again (which is how I came to Oliver Sacks in the first place).

My "brain books" are for the lay reader; they are case studies of interesting phenomena and never fail to engage me.  Now, I've found a new favorite.

Some excerpts from the preface:

"...for virtually all of us, music has great power, whether or not we seek it out or think of ourselves as particularly "musical."  This propensity to music--this "musicophilia"--shows itself in infancy, is manifest and central in every culture, and probably goes back to the very beginnings of our species.  it may be developed or shaped by the cultures we live in, by the circumstances of life, or by the particular gifts or weaknesses we have as individuals--but it lies so deep in human nature that one is tempted to think of it as innate...."

"Listening to music is not just auditory and emotional, it is motoric as well:  'We listen to music with our muscles,' as Nietzsche wrote."

"...it [music] may be especially powerful and have great therapeutic potential for patients with a variety of neurological conditions."

"Some of these patients have widespread cortical problems, whether from strokes or Alzheimer's or other causes of dementia; others have specific cortical syndromes--loss of language or movement functions, amnesias, or frontal-lobe syndromes.  Some are retarded, some autistic; others have subcortical syndromes such as parkinsonism or other movement disorders.  All of these conditions and many others can potentially respond to music and music therapy."

I'm already engrossed.

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Don't forget to comment on this post, if you'd like a copy of another great "brain book" by Dr. Norman Doidge, The Brain That Changes Itself:  Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science.

Phantoms in the Brain by V.S. Ramachandran and Sandra Blakeslee

Phantoms in the Brain:  Probing the Mysteries of the Human Mind
is full of strange examples of the way the brain functions and malfunctions.  Ramachandran is the neuroscientist who developed the deceptively simple mirror box to help individuals with phantom limb syndrome--and has to be one of the most broadly curious men living today.  He is full of questions, full of hypotheses, full of hunches.   When it is feasible, he goes about proving or disproving these theories, developing more questions and theories along the way.  He also admits that for many of his questions, there are no currently available means to prove what he theorizes, but it doesn't stop his questioning.

He is a "what if" kind of scientist, as well.  He asks a question, forms a hunch, then says "what happens if you do this?"  I think this is the part I like best, Ramachandran doesn't always rely on terribly expensive equipment, he formulates simple experiments and adapts and revises the process.  It isn't that he eschews the use of fMRIs , MEG, or PET scans or other remarkable technology, but he also uses more fundamental approaches.

The book covers topics such as phantom limbs, neglect syndrome, Capgras Syndrome, denial, temporal lobe epilepsy, and blind sight.   He includes plenty of examples and explains in a conversational manner that is easy to understand.  Ramachandran and Blakeslee, his co-author,  know their audience and their goal is to communicate with the lay public, not publish an academic paper.

His contributions have been such that his name and some of his work has been featured in every one of the "brain" books I've read in the last couple of years.  

V.S. Ramachandran on "On Your Mind"  (TED)
V.S. Ramachandran on Mirror Neurons  (TED)


Sandra Blakeslee also co-authored  The Body Has a Mind of Its Own:  How Body Maps in Your Brain Help You Do (Almost) Everything Better which I reviewed last year.

Below is an example of Rachandran's Mirror Box and an explanation of how it works.


Informative and interesting, Phantoms in the Brain is worth the time!

Nonfiction.  Neuroscience/Brain.  1998.  313 pages.  (extensive Notes; excellent bibliography)

Yoga/Feldenkrais/Neuroplasticiy/The Vigorous Mind

I've been reading my yoga books again, in between all of the other books.  Maybe the feeling of Spring and regrowth and the beauty of azalea blossoms re-kindled my interest in yoga reading and more devotion in my practice.  I do yoga almost everyday, sometimes skipping Sundays, and usually attend two classes a week, but my yoga reading has slowed down in the last few months.

 Whether it was picking up the grandchild or moving furniture or a too enthusiastic practice, or a combination (most likely) of all of the preceding and the ever-present scoliosis, I've done something to that right SI joint.  As a result, I've been taking slower, gentler, more exploratory sequences of asanas and reading more about  joints, muscles, and lower back problems and choosing asanas that calm and strengthen and omitting those that interfere with strength and ease.

I have had a new yoga center on my radar for several months and finally decided to give it a try.  It was a lovely practice that seemed remarkably geared to what I needed.  The Arodasi Center is located in a wonderful old home in the Highland District, and the teacher, Kristin Hanna, is one of those people who seem intrinsically at home with herself and others.  The practice was slow and gentle and left me with the feeling of alertness and peaceful relaxation that I adore about both yoga and tai chi.

 Kristin Hanna is also a Registered Somatic Movement Therapist and Educator in the Feldenkrais Method.  I'm finding myself with a new fascination and have a one-on-one private session for Functional Integration scheduled for Friday.  

It is one of those synchronicitous discoveries -- when reading The Vigorous Mind (the first time), my interest in the workings of the brain and in neuroplasticity was aroused.  Norman Doidge's The Brain That Changes Itself  (one of my favorite "brain" books) mentions Feldenkrais' work and the way it can change brain patterns.  

Here is a bit about the Feldenkrais Method and Moshe's Feldenkrais' work as a physicist, his escape from Nazi-occupied Paris with French atomic secrets, his training of British paratroopers in hand-to-hand combat, and more about his method.  Yes, I definitely want to read a biography.

This post on my self-challenge inspired by The Vigorous Mind needs some serious updating, but the journey it set me on has included:  becoming a Registered Yoga Teacher, reading more about the brain and neuroplasticity, deepening my yoga practice, and now, perhaps, a new discovery that will further my understanding of the mind/body connection.
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Have any of you had any experience with Feldenkrais? 

The Body Has a Mind of Its Own

Blakeslee, Sandra, and Matthew Blakeslee.  The Body Has a Mind of Its Own:  How Body Maps in Your Brain Help You Do (Almost) Everything Better.

 A fascinating look at the body and the brain! 

Peripersonal Space:  "Through a special mapping procedure, your brain annexes this space to your limbs and body, clothing you in it like an extended, ghostly skin."

This annexed space is not static, but rather expands and contracts.  "When you eat with a knife and fork, your peripersonal space grows to encompass them.  Brain cells that normally represent space no farther out than your fingertips expand their fields of awareness outward, along the length of each utensil, making them a part of you.  This is why you can directly experience the texture and shape of the food you are manipulating."

Maps:
"Research now shows that your brain is teeming with body maps--maps of your body's surface, its musculature, its intentions, its potential for action, even a map that automatically tracks and emulates the actions and intentions of other people around you."

These maps are plastic and capable of change related to damage, experience, or practice.

One of my favorite chapters is "The Homunculus in the Game:  or, When Thinking is as Good as Doing."  Researchers discovered that "motor imagery practice led to nearly the same level of body map reorganization as physical practice.  As far as your motor cortex is concerned, executed and imagined movements are almost identical."

The chapter on "Plasticity Gone Awry" is equally intriguing and reveals the strange ways the body maps can be disordered producing physical behaviors like "yips," the dread of golfers.  These conditions are known as dystonias.

"Broken Body Maps" examines conditions such as alien hand, supernumerary limbs, fading limbs, and other strange disorders of perception.

In the chapter "The Bubble Around the Body," the authors mention that Wassily Kandinsky was a synesthete, and when he saw colors, he heard music.  "Kandinsky was capturing music on canvas.  Some synesthetes can 'hear' his music by looking at his paintings."  Wouldn't that be marvelous?  To see his paintings and hear his music?

I have so many passages highlighted in this book...conditions, names of scientists and researchers, various studies and their outcomes.  I found the book mostly accessible as it is written for the lay person and highly entertaining because the subject interests me profoundly.  Many of the studies and scientists have been mentioned in other "brain books" I've read, but each author approaches each study slightly differently, adding a little to my understanding.  The Blakeslees (mother and son) approach the studies in a unique manner that intertwines brain and body.

Excellent.

Nonfiction.  Neuroscience.  2007.  215 pages.

The Wisdom Paradox

Goldberg, Elkhonon.  The Wisdom Paradox.

Elkhonon Goldberg, neuropsychologist, looks at the brain from a uniquely personal perspective after years of experience with patients and his own MRI.  He examines the way the brain develops and changes and explains that even with deterioration, the brain can still function in a marvelous manner as a result of acquisition and storage of knowledge.

On brain duality:  "The right hemisphere is the "novelty" hemisphere and the left hemisphere is the repository of well-developed patterns.  This means that as we age and accumulate more patterns, a gradual change in the hemispheric "balance of power" takes place:  The role of the right hemisphere diminishes and the role of the left hemisphere grows."

His discussion of  "late and luminous bloomers" (wonderful epithet) such as Goethe, Grandma Moses, Norbert Wiener (mathematician and philosopher), and Golda Meir is interesting.

In the section on memory, Goldberg explains generic memories ("memories for patterns") and "pattern expansion."  The capacity for pattern-recognition is one aspect of wisdom; patterns can enable quick solutions to wide-ranging problems, and these generic memories accumulate with age. :) Good to know!

He distinguishes between wisdom and genius, including the ability for empathy and "emotional intelligence" as necessary for wisdom, but not genius.

There is too much in this book (some very technical, some anecdotal) to cover quickly, but his conclusions that "growth of a neural structure appears to be stimulated by its use" is now pretty widely accepted and certainly worthy reason for keeping our brains as active as possible.

Lots of notes and documentation.

Nonfiction.  Neuropsychology.  2005.  321 pages including notes, documentation.

The Three-Pound Enigma

Moffett, Shannon. The Three-Pound Enigma: The Human Brain and the Quest to Unlock Its Mysteries.

While not as absorbing as The Brain that Changes Itself by Norman Doidge or The Intention Experiment by Lynne McTaggert, this book does take a different approach to the study of the brain--concentrating on different individuals: a neurosurgeon, neuroscientists and researchers, philosophers, a woman with a disassociative disorder, a neuroethicist, and a zen monk.

The main questions concern consciousness, dreams, and memory. How does consciousness relate to the neural system? What is consciousness? How does memory work? What about dreaming and consciousness? Dreaming and memory? What about the changes in the brains of those who meditate as illustrated by fMRI scans?

In between the chapters, there are also chronological (and technical) explanations of brain development in a timeline format. These "interludes" begin with the embryonic period and the initial formation of brain matter and by the end of the book, the final interlude discusses the normal cognitive decline that occurs as a result of deficits in one or both of two systems: executive function and declarative memory.

There are, of course, more questions than answers, but there are some interesting questions in the quest to learn more about that one organ that so markedly differentiates us as thinking beings.

Nonfiction. Science. 2006. 237 pages.