Neurology Books

My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey

Ph.D., Jill Bolte Taylor

Amazon Price: $10.20 List Price: $15.00 Not yet published By: Plume

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 125 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

My Stoke of Insight 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

It is a very good book related to the stoke caregivers. It has a lot of information related to recovery and get help.

My Stroke of Insight - adds insight into stroke patients minds. 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Reading My Stroke of Insight gave me incredible insight into what it must be like to be in the mind of a stroke patient. I wish I would have known about this book while my dad was still alive. He suffered through several strokes and died in July. It gave one a new perspective on what a stroke patient is going through, which would help a love one and caregiver provide empathy for the patient. The end of the book makes you realize that we humans spend way too much time on things that do not matter and we miss out on a lot of living because of the time spent on such insignifiant events.

Review of "My stroke of Insight" by Jill Bolte Taylor, PhD 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I enjoyed this book tremendously. I saw the author, Jill Bole Taylor, interviewed on Oprah prior to ordering the book, and was intrigued by her story. There were a lot of technical references and maybe a little too indepth description of how the neurons connct with each other, etc......, however the life changing information I took from this book, (understanding the effects of positive/negative energy on the patient, knowing I can personally control my thought processes without going through a brain trauma, and the correct approach to someone who has had trauma to their brain)is something I will use for life. It's definitely a good read for anyone but especially someone who has a dependent relative and/or close friend. I believe the book speaks for those who are either temporarily or permanently unable to speak for themselves.

Editorial Review:

Unabridged CDs • 5 CDs, 5 1?2 hours

A brain scientist’s personal experience with a stroke and her journey to a full recovery.

Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain, Revised and Expanded Edition

Oliver Sacks

Amazon Price: $10.17 List Price: $14.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Vintage Amazon Marketplace: 69 new & used starting at $5.99

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Subjects -> Entertainment -> Music -> Theory, Composition & Performance -> Appreciation

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 86 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Disturbances 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 6 people found this review helpful.

Ulysses Grant knew two songs: one was the Yankee Doodle, the other was not. That's my kind of pun. I keep telling my Chinese friends that I do not believe in their tones. Tones are just a trick to fool dumb foreigners like me into thinking that the language is unlearnable.
Nabokov, one of my main heroes, tells us in his memoirs that music, for him, was just an arbitrary succession of more or less irritating sounds.
In other words, I am not left alone with my amusia.
I am happy that my affliction is not quite as bad as Nabokov's (whose son became an opera singer, by the way). I do enjoy listening to music and I love concerts. I just don't hear tones and I was the worse singer in living memory in my high school. Only the Bundeswehr appreciated my talent for marching songs. Reading Sacks shows me that it could have been much worse.
The multitude of possible problems is huge. Sacks gives us dozens of case studies, some studied intensively, some just based on correspondence. Music can be the cause or at least trigger of problems, like in some epileptic attacks, or the consequence of problems, like in some hallucinations. Music can be a problem when it disappears or when it intrudes. Music is used as a therapy for many problems.
The book is a veritable phenomenology of musical problems of the brain.
Which leads me to my mild criticism: after some of the stories, the telling of case after case wears you out. There seems to be no handle for explanations yet. Science seems to have a lot of pieces for the puzzle, but is still quite far away from a comprehensive understanding of our brain and mind.
One chapter with special fascination is the one on synesthesia. Nabokov had it as a child, though not in a version involving music. Sacks tells us, that Nab's mother had it too, which is mentioned in Speak, Memory, and that his wife and son had it as well. Transcending the brain, but still short of explanations.
A case that Sacks is not mentioning, that I 'encountered' in my literary excursions, is Kenzaburo Oe's son, who was born with a brain damage, who grew up as a handicapped child in a loving family, and who developed artistic talents as a composer. (Oe's Rise Up O Young Men recommended as an extended case study.)
Disturbances: Wilhelm Busch, a popular German writer/comedian/cartoonist (Max & Moritz) of the late 19th century had this to say about music: it is often considered disturbing because it is always coming along with noise.

Editorial Review:

Revised and Expanded

With the same trademark compassion and erudition he brought to The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, Oliver Sacks explores the place music occupies in the brain and how it affects the human condition. In Musicophilia, he shows us a variety of what he calls “musical misalignments.” Among them: a man struck by lightning who suddenly desires to become a pianist at the age of forty-two; an entire group of children with Williams syndrome, who are hypermusical from birth; people with “amusia,” to whom a symphony sounds like the clattering of pots and pans; and a man whose memory spans only seven seconds-for everything but music.

Illuminating, inspiring, and utterly unforgettable, Musicophilia is Oliver Sacks' latest masterpiece.

Codependent No More

Melody Beattie

Amazon Price: $13.59 List Price: $19.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Recorded Books Amazon Marketplace: 19 new & used starting at $12.00

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Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Relationships -> Codependency
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 163 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Directly to you 4 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

The author talks directly to you as you read and as a reader you are able to grasp so much helpful information. . I recommend this book to anyone who is looking for help with co-dependency and I also recommend for a perfect relationship I Love You. Now What?: Falling in Love is a Mystery, Keeping It Isn't

A life preserver. 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This book is a sanity saver. There are some inspirational things to take away from reading it. Beattie injects her own life story into this self-help book. Coupled with her other books, it makes for reflective and well written advice.

Codependent No More 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I haven't finished reading it yet but just by reading introduction and couple of chapters, I knew that book was what I was searching for... It is just what I need to get through difficult time...

Eye Opener 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This book was a huuge eye opener for me. If you believe you might be codependent or want to find out more on the subject- this book is for you. It contains many examples of real people; as well as a list of habits and traits a codependent generally possesses. It also offers helpful tips to break the cycle and possibly change your life. I recommend this for anyone who is, thinks they might be, or have a codependent in their life.

Editorial Review:

An expert guide for codependents on how to stop controlling others and start caring for themselves.

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

M.D., Norman Doidge

Amazon Price: $78.29 List Price: $107.25 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Brilliance Audio Unabridged Lib Ed Amazon Marketplace: 5 new & used starting at $72.07

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 106 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

“Fascinating. Doidge’s book is a remarkable and hopeful portrait of the endless adaptability of the human brain.” – Oliver Sacks

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).

“Readers will want to read entire sections aloud and pass the book on to someone who can benefit from it….Links scientific experimentation with personal triumph in a way that inspires awe.” - The Washington Post

State of Fear

Michael Crichton

List Price: $27.95 By: HarperCollins Amazon Marketplace: 707 new & used starting at $0.01

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1275 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Coco the clowns guide to climate change 1 out of 5 stars.
4 of 23 people found this review helpful.

Hmm, I feel like an interrogator pulling on my thin leather gloves wondering which part of a particularly corpulent and repulsive individual to punch first.

Ok, as a scientific effort into repudiating climate change, this book makes the dinosaur cloning in Jurassic Park look believable.
This book provides a charter for all of those out there who want a "get out of jail free card" to wave so they can continue to lead lifestyles that feature conspicuous consumption and a lack of personal and moral accountability, with respect to our poor planet and the less fortunate individuals that inhabit the "poor bits", the "hot bits", the "not very nice bits" and the "prone to war and famine bits".

The science is selective and poor, and flies in the face of actual experts in the field (myself being one of them). The worrying thing is that people actually believe this stuff, and when I read he was asked to address Congressional Committees I was flabbergasted. I can only presume they were committees that were looking into cloning a mega-army of semi-intelligent dinosaurs, who ironically would probably be too intelligent to read this book.

Phew, thats better, and if this review gets published, I'll be a monkeys uncle (possibly one of the monkeys in "Next", his tirade into the world of genetic engineering, and considering where his dinosaurs come from, I mean, talking about biting the hand that feeds you!!!)

Edit - Ok Mr Amazon, send me some bananas!

Editorial Review:

The undisputed master of the techno-thriller has written his most riveting -- and entertaining -- book yet.

Once again Michael Crichton gives us his trademark combination of page-turning suspense, cutting-edge technology, and extraordinary research. State of Fear is a superb blend of edge-of-your-seat suspense and thought provoking commentary on how information is manipulated in the modern world. From the streets of Paris, to the glaciers of Antarctica to the exotic and dangerous Solomon Islands, State of Fear takes the reader on a rollercoaster thrill ride, all the while keeping the brain in high gear.

The Migraine Brain: Your Breakthrough Guide to Fewer Headaches, Better Health

Carolyn Bernstein, Elaine McArdle

Amazon Price: $16.50 List Price: $25.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Free Press Amazon Marketplace: 38 new & used starting at $15.03

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

You know that your migraine isn't just a headache. But you may not know that migraine actually is a neurological disease. Affecting one in five women, one in twenty men, and one in twenty children, it's a debilitating, complex, and chronic condition that manifests in a combination of symptoms that can include excruciating head pain as well as other distinctive physical and emotional effects. Yet it's also a disease that you can get control of, improve, and manage, as Dr. Carolyn Bernstein has discovered in her seventeen years as a Harvard Medical School faculty member and practicing neurologist.

Praised for her excellence and compassion, the founder of the Women's Headache Center near Boston, and a migraine sufferer herself, Dr. Bernstein has helped hundreds of her patients get better. Now, with The Migraine Brain, the most comprehensive, up-to-the-minute book on migraines ever written, you will be able to do the same -- reduce the frequency and intensity of your migraines, learn how to prevent and curtail them and how to recover from them more quickly, and mitigate migraine's effects on every aspect of your life: in the workplace and at home and during sex and travel. Every migraine is different because everyone who gets a migraine has a distinctive "Migraine Brain" with its own sensitivities and triggers. That's why it's so important for you to develop a personalized wellness plan to radically reduce the number and severity of your migraines.

Dr. Bernstein also explains why migraines happen, why they are so often misdiagnosed, and why so few people get the right treatment for them. She reveals the latest research that shows that Migraine Brains share a hypersensitivity to stimuli -- the Migraine Brain can actually look different from others on a brain scan -- and is more likely to experience a cascade of neurological reactions that give rise to the common clusters of migraine symptoms. This breakthrough medical knowledge makes treatment and recovery possible with new migraine-specific drugs as well as with complementary treatments such as yoga, biofeedback, and an exercise regimen.

With the extraordinarily thorough recommendations of The Migraine Brain in your hands, you will be fully equipped with all the latest information you need to understand migraines and to help your family and co-workers understand that migraine isn't just a headache: it's a serious, yet treatable disease.

Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School (Book & DVD)

John Medina

Amazon Price: $19.77 List Price: $29.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Pear Press Amazon Marketplace: 43 new & used starting at $15.29

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 43 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Most of us have no idea what's really going on inside our heads. Yet brain scientists have uncovered details every business leader, parent, and teacher should know--such as the brain's need for physical activity to work at its best.

How do we learn? What exactly do sleep and stress do to our brains? Why is multi-tasking a myth? Why is it so easy to forget--and so important to repeat new information? Is it true that men and women have different brains?

In Brain Rules, molecular biologist Dr. John Medina shares his lifelong interest in how the brain sciences might influence the way we teach our children and the way we work. In each chapter, he describes a brain rule--what scientists know for sure about how our brains work--and then offers transformative ideas for our daily lives.

Medina's fascinating stories and sense of humor breathe life into brain science. You'll learn why Michael Jordan was no good at baseball. You'll peer over a surgeon's shoulder as he finds, to his surprise, that we have a Jennifer Aniston neuron. You'll meet a boy who has an amazing memory for music but can't tie his own shoes.

You will discover how:

- Every brain is wired differently
- Exercise improves cognition
- We are designed to never stop learning and exploring
- Memories are volatile
- Sleep is powerfully linked with the ability to learn
- Vision trumps all of the other senses
- Stress changes the way we learn

In the end, you'll understand how your brain really works--and how to get the most out of it.

About the DVD The Brain Rules DVD, included with this book, is a lively tour of the 12 brain rules. You will experience firsthand Medina's rare gift for making science fun, accessible, and relevant. The DVD will take your understanding of the book to the next level.

Iconoclast: A Neuroscientist Reveals How to Think Differently

Gregory Berns

Amazon Price: $19.77 List Price: $29.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Harvard Business School Press Amazon Marketplace: 35 new & used starting at $18.74

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Total reviews: 24 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

No organization can survive without iconoclasts -- innovators who single-handedly upturn conventional wisdom and manage to achieve what so many others deem impossible.



Though indispensable, true iconoclasts are few and far between. In Iconoclast, neuroscientist Gregory Berns explains why. He explores the constraints the human brain places on innovative thinking, including fear of failure, the urge to conform, and the tendency to interpret sensory information in familiar ways.



Through vivid accounts of successful innovators ranging from glass artist Dale Chihuly to physicist Richard Feynman to country/rock trio the Dixie Chicks, Berns reveals the inner workings of the iconoclast's mind with remarkable clarity. Each engaging chapter goes on to describe practical actions we can each take to understand and unleash our own potential to think differently -- such as seeking out new environments, novel experiences, and first-time acquaintances.



Packed with engaging stories, science-based insights, potent practices, and examples from a startling array of disciplines, this engaging book will help you understand how iconoclasts think and equip you to begin thinking more like an iconoclast yourself.

The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat: And Other Clinical Tales

Oliver Sacks

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Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Psychology & Counseling -> Neuropsychology

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 111 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

In his most extraordinary book, "one of the great clinical writers of the 20th century" (The New York Times) recounts the case histories of patients lost in the bizarre, apparently inescapable world of neurological disorders. Oliver Sacks's The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat tells the stories of individuals afflicted with fantastic perceptual and intellectual aberrations: patients who have lost their memories and with them the greater part of their pasts; who are no longer able to recognize people and common objects; who are stricken with violent tics and grimaces or who shout involuntary obscenities; whose limbs have become alien; who have been dismissed as retarded yet are gifted with uncanny artistic or mathematical talents.

If inconceivably strange, these brilliant tales remain, in Dr. Sacks's splendid and sympathetic telling, deeply human. They are studies of life struggling against incredible adversity, and they enable us to enter the world of the neurologically impaired, to imagine with our hearts what it must be to live and feel as they do. A great healer, Sacks never loses sight of medicine's ultimate responsibility: "the suffering, afflicted, fighting human subject."

The Female Brain

Louann Brizendine

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Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Psychology & Counseling -> By Topic -> Gender

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Total reviews: 117 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Why are women more verbal than men? Why do women remember details of fights that men can’t remember at all? Why do women tend to form deeper bonds with their female friends than men do with their male counterparts? These and other questions have stumped both sexes throughout the ages.

Now, pioneering neuropsychiatrist Louann Brizendine, M.D., brings together the latest findings to show how the unique structure of the female brain determines how women think, what they value, how they communicate, and who they love. While doing research as a medical student at Yale and then as a resident and faculty member at Harvard, Louann Brizendine discovered that almost all of the clinical data in existence on neurology, psychology, and neurobiology focused exclusively on males. In response to the overwhelming need for information on the female mind, Brizendine established the first clinic in the country to study and treat women’s brain function.

In The Female Brain, Dr. Brizendine distills all her findings and the latest information from the scientific community in a highly accessible book that educates women about their unique brain/body/behavior.

The result: women will come away from this book knowing that they have a lean, mean, communicating machine. Men will develop a serious case of brain envy.