Books › The Brain That Changes Itself
The Brain That Changes Itself
448 pages
An awe-inspiring exploration of human resilience that will fundamentally change how you view your own mind's potential.
What it feels like
Reading this book feels like watching a heavy, impenetrable curtain being drawn back to reveal a landscape of endless possibility. It moves at a steady, absorbing pace, anchoring complex neurological concepts in deeply compassionate, human stories. The mood is overwhelmingly hopeful and mind-expanding, replacing the bleak finality of brain damage and cognitive decline with a profound sense of awe at our own biological adaptability. Doidge's prose is accessible and warm, reading less like a clinical textbook and more like a series of medical mysteries where resilience is the ultimate victor. It is a deeply uplifting experience, perfect for curious readers who delight in the intersection of rigorous science, psychology, and the triumphant human spirit.
- Mood
- hopeful
- illuminating
- mind-expanding
- uplifting
- Tone
- optimistic
- compassionate
- authoritative
- awe-struck
- accessible
- Pace
- steady
- Themes
- human resilience · adaptability and change · overcoming limitations · the mind-body connection · scientific paradigm shifts
- The writing
- Clear, empathetic, and narrative-driven, seamlessly weaving complex neurological concepts into deeply human case studies.
- The arc
- Begins with the heavy weight of incurable diagnoses and gradually lifts into a space of profound awe and boundless optimism for human potential.
- Who it's for
- Curious readers who love narrative science, medical mysteries, and deeply human stories of resilience and recovery.
Content notes
- medical trauma
- brain injury
- stroke
- mental illness
- animal experimentation
About the book
An astonishing new science called neuroplasticity is overthrowing the centuries-old notion that the human brain is immutable. Psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, Norman Doidge, M.D., traveled the country to meet both the brilliant scientists championing neuroplasticity and the people whose lives they've transformed—people whose mental limitations or brain damage were seen as unalterable. We see a woman born with half a brain that rewired itself to work as a whole, blind people who learn to see, learning disorders cured, IQs raised, aging brains rejuvenated, stroke patients learning to speak, children with cerebral palsy learning to move with more grace, depression and anxiety disorders successfully treated, and lifelong character traits changed. Using these marvelous stories to probe mysteries of the body, emotion, love, sex, culture, and education, Dr. Doidge has written an immensely moving, inspiring book that will permanently alter the way we look at our brains, human nature, and human potential.
Description from Open Library.
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