WE LOSE OUR KEYS AT ALL AGES.  THAT IS NOT DEMENTIA, NOR ALZHEIMER’S

 THE MYTH OF ALZHEIMER’S.  What You Aren’t Being Told About Today’s Most Dreaded Diagnosis (2008).  By Peter J. Whitehouse, M.D., Ph.D.   Dr. Whitehouse questions current treatments with facts that explain the difference between a naturally aging brain and one that is diseased with what is called Alzheimer’s.   He challenges the effectiveness of current drug therapies and their cost.  “A penetrating critique of the concept of Alzheimer’s disease and the medical industrial complex that created it and benefits from it.”  – Jesse F. Ballenger, Ph.D., author of  Self, Senility and Alzheimer’s Disease in Modern America.

WELCOME TO YOUR BRAIN.  Why You Lose Your Car Keys but Never Forget How to Drive and Other Puzzles of Everyday Life  (2009).  By Sandra Aaamodt, Ph.D. and Sam Wang, Ph.D.    “Welcome to Your Brain is a delightful and engaging romp through neuroscience by two of its leading lights – a marvelous collection of facts and findings that answer the questions we all have about our own minds.  If the human brain came with an owner’s manual, it might well look like this.” – Daniel Gilbert, author of Stumbling on Happiness.

BRAIN RULES.  12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving (2008).  By molecular biologist Dr. John Medina.   Discover how excercise improves cognition; every brain is wired differently; we are designed to never stop learning or exploring; memories are volatile and susceptible to corruption; sleep is powerfully linked with the ability to learn; vision trumps all other senses; stress changes the way we learn; male and female brains are different; and we don’t pay attention to boring things.  Dr. Medina is the director of the Brain Center for Applied Learning Research at Seattle Pacific University and teaches at the University of Washington School of Medicine in its Department of  Bioengineering.  Includes a DVD.

A USER’S GUIDE TO THE BRAIN.  Perception, Attention, and the Four Theaters of the Brain (2001).  By John J. Ratey, M.D., associate clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.   A road map for learning how to use our brain to its maximum potential to overcome neural disorders ranging from everyday shyness to autism.  Chapters include attention and consciousness, movement, memory, emotion, language, the social brain and the care and feeding of the brain.

THIS IS YOUR BRAIN ON MUSIC.  The Science of a Human Obession (2006).  By Daniel J. Levitin, a neuroscientist at McGill University.   This explains why we  are emotionally attached to the music we listened to as teenagers.  Music coordinates the more disparate parts of the brain than anything else.  Advertisers exploit how our brains use music with jingles (aka ear worms) that get stuck in our heads.  We can use music to put positive repetative thoughts in our heads . . .  “R E S P E C T, find out what it means to me. . .”   A New York Times best seller and a Los Angeles Times Book Prizes finalist.

MORE TO COME.    Last posting 3/29/11.

 

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