Brain That Changes Itself : Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science

by Doidge, Norman (Author)

• ISBN13: 9780143113102
• ISBN10: 0143113100
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-12-18
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)

Summary

The discovery that our thoughts can change the structure and function of our brains-even into old age-is the most important breakthrough in neuroscience in four centuries. In this revolutionary look at the brain, bestselling author, psychiatrist, and psychoanalyst Norman Doidge, M.D., introduces both the brilliant scientists championing this new science of neuroplasticity and the astonishing progress of the people whose lives they've transformed. Introducing principles we can all use as well as a riveting collection of case histories-stroke patients cured, a woman with half a brain that rewired itself to work as a whole, learning and emotional disorders overcome, IQs raised, and aging brains rejuvenated-The Brain That Changes Itself has "implications for all human beings, not to mention human culture, human learning and human history" (The New York Times). Book jacket.

Author Biography

Norman Doidge, M.D., is a research psychiatrist and psychoanalyst on the faculty of the Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research in New York and the University of Toronto-'s Department of Psychiatry. He is a four-time recipient of Canada-'s National Magazine Gold Award.

Table of Contents

Note to the Reader	p. xv
Preface	p. xvii
A Woman Perpetually Falling...: Rescued by the Man Who Discovered the Plasticity of Our Senses	p. 1
Building Herself a Better Brain: A Woman Labeled "Retarded" Discovers How to Heal Herself	p. 27
Redesigning the Brain: A Scientist Changes Brains to Sharpen Perception and Memory, Increase Speed of Thought, and Heal Learning Problems	p. 45
Acquiring Tastes and Loves: What Neuroplasticity Teaches Us About Sexual Attraction and Love	p. 93
Midnight Resurrections: Stroke Victims Learn to Move and Speak Again	p. 132
Brain Lock Unlocked: Using Plasticity to Stop Worries, Obsessions, Compulsions, and Bad Habits	p. 164
Pain: The Dark Side of Plasticity	p. 177
Imagination: How Thinking Makes It So	p. 196
Turning Our Ghosts into Ancestors: Psychoanalysis as a Neuroplastic Therapy	p. 215
Rejuvenation: The Discovery of the Neuronal Stem Cell and Lessons for Preserving Our Brains	p. 245
More than the Sum of Her Parts: A Woman Shows Us How Radically Plastic the Brain Can Be	p. 258
The Culturally Modified Brain	p. 287
Plasticity and the Idea of Progress	p. 313
Acknowledgments	p. 319
Notes and References	p. 323
Index	p. 409
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