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Brain Changer: How Harnessing Your Brain's Power To Adapt Can Change Your Life (2013)

by David DiSalvo(Favorite Author)

3.49 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

193952900X (ISBN13: 9781939529008)

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

BenBella Books

review 1: I loved DiSalvo's "What Makes Your Brain Happy and Why You Should Do the Opposite", but this book disappoints. In Part 1 DiSalvo has created (or adapted) jargon to describe things that could have been more easily explained with simpler language, and in the process distances the reader from what is essentially worthy material. And I couldn't read the "Reporter" chapter without feeling patronized.Part 2 is a collection of 30 "tools" that are designed to help transform behavior and break through old patterns. The first he suggests is using the "Awareness Wedge." As he points out, other authors refer to a "tactical pause" or "contemplative pause" or even a "cognitive pause." But he comes up with a new term, the "awareness wedge," which, while perhaps more colorful, is not as d... moreescriptive, and is certainly unnecessary. Why reinvent sliced bread (to mix my metaphors)?Some other tools are helpful ("Write Your Own Obituary"), and I used the gum chewing suggestion on my class before they took their first diagnostic. And the quotes are sometimes inspirational. After all, he quotes Seneca and Marcus Aurelius and Meister Eckhart -- how could he go wrong?Part 3 is a collection of suggested books to read (both fiction and nonfiction) and movies to watch.There are some great things to take away from this book, but mostly it made me want to go to his sources and read, for example, "Mindhacker" and "Your Creative Brain" and "The Developing Mind", all by authors he refers to quite a bit.DO read WMYBH&WYSDTO, but skip this one. Or skim it quickly for the nuggets buried deep within.
review 2: This had all kinds of fascinating information tidbits in it, but it's one of those books you later wish you had read in a hard copy paper form rather than listen to the audio. It's soo hard to go back and reread in an audio, and it's really hard to quick write down notes to self about future readings as the narrator races on. Good pop sci reading satisfaction. Loved the 8$ term for using chewing gum as an antidepressant, which i _would_ type here if i could remember it. less

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