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Your Best Brain: The Science of Brain Improvement cover art

Your Best Brain: The Science of Brain Improvement

Written by: John Medina,The Great Courses
Narrated by: John Medina
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Publisher's Summary

Inside your head sits the most complex object in the known universe - the human brain. This amazing organ has unique powers to make predictions about the future, form relationships with other people, adapt to rapidly changing circumstances, and so much more. We all have a basic conception of how our brains function, but when did you last dive into the fascinating world of neuroscience to truly understand the inner workings of your mind?

For decades, the field of neuroscience has been in a near-constant state of disruptive transformation, as we continually learn more about our incredible brains. Thanks to rapid advances in technology and in our understanding of the brain, today’s neuroscience research goes far beyond trying to understand how the brain works, and into the search for proven ways to optimize brain performance. In Your Best Brain, Professor John J. Medina - an award-winning scientist, New York Times best-selling author, and leading advocate for brain research - delivers 24 exciting lectures that probe the origins of consciousness, memory, emotion, attention, intelligence, and beyond. He focuses on five key areas of study in neuroscience: the brain’s physical structure and function, and how it enabled us to become the planet’s apex predator; the ways in which the brain processes information, and how that relates to intelligence; the intricacies of emotions and socialization, and how empathy is a vital survival mechanism; how our brains develop and change throughout our lifetimes; and how we can best use and expand our cerebral processing performance. After gaining a thorough understanding of the science behind your best brain, you’ll learn scientifically proven methods for improving your memory, boosting your creativity, and keeping your mind sharp for years to come.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2014 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2014 The Great Courses

What listeners say about Your Best Brain: The Science of Brain Improvement

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An in depth journey through the brain

the only thing I enjoyed more than the very informative lectures, was the narrator. very engaging and interesting. would recommend this to anyone with a desire to understand how the most complicated organ on earth works.

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7 people found this helpful

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Exceptional

Definitely, the best book I listened. It was not only the content interesting but the delivery by Dr. Medina was exceptional. I thought all audio books were just read by someone. This book was like a movie.

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5 people found this helpful

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A really Great course

All of the Great Courses that I have followed are really good, not only the content but the presenters are remarkable and this one is no exception, in fact this is one of the best presenters that I have had the opportunity to listen to. The contents is really good, I already knew most of the information but how he had put it all together makes this course highly recommended. I enjoyed all all the lessons but the last 5 are the ones that give the most interesting advice.

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4 people found this helpful

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I Would Have Loved Him as a Prof

John Medina is a wonderful speaker. Honestly, I cannot give him enough praise. He was such a joy to listen too. it doesn't matter what the subject was, I would recommend this to everyone because of John Medina.

As for the content of the lectures, it's was also very good. Of course, it's a great courses lecture meaning it is more of an introduction to the subject, in this case, neuroscience and psychology. It was a nice refresher to a lot of what I learned in school.

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2 people found this helpful

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Be aware of flawed paradigms

John Medina's book - overall is entertaining and filled with some very useable information that appears to be grounded in research.

However, there are also seeming facts that are sometimes used in a potentially biased way. For example: the information about group behaviour and deindividuation seems valid...but is biased in that it risks portraying collective groups as a bad thing, but also risks at times sounding discriminatory: "...all you have to do is look at Rawanda...". Where Rawanda to the uninformed person can be lead to be indiscriminate in how they view the problems faced among and between its citizens.

This is also problematic in that it leads the uncritical thinker to accept that group behaviour is a negative or risky endeavour. Yet this book does nothing to clearly speak to the risks of individualistic thinking and behaviours (as it did in the case of the latter). It also did not speak to the implications individualism has on society, and families until much later in the book - but does not link back so as to remind the reader what challenges and dangers lurk within individualism.

Nor does it speak to the positives of collective groups - namely when they have social norms and ideals that are beneficial to human development, the brain and child rearing. Even when it cites a study of the Inuit in northern Canada and teen behaviours- it pays no mind to the power, influences and benefits of a healthy collective on the teens thinking brain.

This said, it does a wonderful job of explains a number of things including the aging brain, keeping a healthy brain, the effects of sleep deprivation on the brain and in sharing the importance of social connections on the senior's brain.

Would I read again? I plan to-but will again go in with a cautious mind and critical eye that is aware that the author of this book would do well to expand more critically in some areas such as what was noted, or-make the disclaimer at the beginning that it glosses over and then name the areas it has done so. The author should also encourage readers to take note to do more research into the areas it glosses over.

Finally for those who follow along with the PDF - some of the supporting details are not included in the PDF so you will want to take notes.

In close, while I enjoyed the book, I gave it a low score in hopes that readers will pay mind to some of the limitations listed here. In summary: as with all literature-keep a good dose of critical eye and critical thinking ready when reading or viewing anything. Happy reading.

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1 person found this helpful

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the narrator ruins this book

This would be fantastic if the narration wasn't so absurd and distracting. The way it's read is so distractingly irritating it made me stop listening. He is embarrassingly awful and cringe-worthy. could have been soooo much better if a normal person read it.

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Clear and digestible

Wow. Well put together. Next I will be going back over with a fine tooth comb and a notebook!

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1 person found this helpful

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A wonderful experience in the realm of science

It was absolutely wonderful to listen to a enthusiastic voice, witty sense of humour and a cascade of practical easy to understand knowledge you can apply to your every day life truly a remarkable treasure and will remain in my collection. Thank you so much.

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1 person found this helpful

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I loved the narration of this book!

this book is worth it just on narration alone! You can tell Dr. Medina is truly passionate about the subject.

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A book for Everyone!

This book is for everyone, young or old, of any education level. It’s not super complex with big scientific terms, John does a great job of explaining this well so they are easy to understand.
I learned so much from this book and will definitely be listening to it again.
A few topics I found interesting is that when you pull an all nighter, your cognitive function is the same as being drunk. And if women eat a wide variety of foods when pregnant then their babies will have a taste for wild variety of foods too. And the reason teenagers are such risk takers comes from when we were hunter gather types and needed to leave the home group to find another to diversify the gene pool.

Definitely a recommendation for every person with a brain and for sure a listen again type book.

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