The Brain That Changes Itself

In bookstores, the science aisle generally lies well away from the self-help section, with hard reality on one set of shelves and wishful thinking on the other. But Norman Doidge s fascinating synopsis of the current revolution in neuroscience straddles this gap: the age-old distinction between the brain and the mind is crumbling fast as the power of positive thinking finally gains scientific credibility. Mind-bending, miracle-working, reality-busting stuff, with implications . . . not only for individual patients with neurologic disease but for all human beings, not to mention human culture, human learning and human history.

The New York Times

Lucid and absolutely fascinating . . . engaging, educational and riveting. It satisfies, in equal measure, the mind and the heart. Doidge is able to explain current research in neuroscience with clarity and thoroughness. He presents the ordeals of the patients about whom he writes people born with parts of their brains missing, people with learning disabilities, people recovering from strokes with grace and vividness. In the best medical narratives and the works of Doidge . . . join that fraternity the narrow bridge between body and soul is traversed with courage and eloquence.

Chicago Tribune

Readers will want to read entire sections aloud and pass the book on to someone who can benefit from it. [Doidge] links scientific experimentation with personal triumph in a way that inspires awe for the brain, and for these scientists faith in its capacity.

The Washington Post

Doidge tells one spellbinding story after another as he travels the globe interviewing the scientists and their subjects who are on the cutting edge of a new age. Each story is interwoven with the latest in brain science, told in a manner that is both simple and compelling. It may be hard to imagine that a book so rich in science can also be a page-turner, but this one is hard to set down.

Jeff Zimman, Posit Science, e-newsletter

It takes a rare talent to explain science to the rest of us. Oliver Sacks is a master at this. So was the late Stephen Jay Gould. And now there is Norman Doidge. A terrific book. You don t have to be a brain surgeon to read it just a person with a curious mind. Doidge is the best possible guide. He ha

to the rest of us. Doidge is the best possible guide. You don t have to be a brain surgeon to read it, just curious about your brain.  Buy this book. Your brain will thank you.
The Globe and Mail

Readers will want to read entire sections aloud and pass the book on to someone who can benefit from it. [Doidge] links scientific experimentation with personal triumph in a way that inspires awe
Washington Post 

Doidge tells one spell-binding story after another as he travels the globe interviewing the scientists and their subjects who are on the cutting edge of a new age. It may be hard to imagine that a book so rich in science can also be a page-turner, but this one is hard to set down.   
Jeff Zimman, Posit Science, e-newsletter 

The most readable and best general treatment of this subject to date.         
Michael M. Merzenich, Ph.D., Keck Center for Integrative Neurosciences   University of California at San Francisco

A riveting, essential book These stories are most emotionally satisfying. Doidge addresses how cultural influences literally "shape" our brain. [And] .our response to the world around us is not only a social or psychological phenomenon, but often a lasting neurological process.
Montreal Gazette, Liam Durcan, MD,      Neurologist & Novelist 

A hymn to life.
Panorama Italy

The Brain That Changes Itself...is without question the most important book of the year, and maybe the most important book we have ever read.
Kiril Sokoloff, 13D Research Inc

This books is like discovering that the earth isn t flat.
Gretel Killeen, Sun Herald, The Books That Changed Me

A rich banquet of brain-mind plasticity, communicated in a brilliantly clear writing style.
Jaak Panksepp, Ph.D., Head, Affective Neuroscience Research, Falk Center for Molecular Therapeutics, Northwestern University;
                           
A masterfully guided tour through the burgeoning field of neuroplasticity research.
Discover Magazine

Norman Doidge has shown that what and how we think can change our brains. He has illuminated the foundations of psychological healing.
Charles Hanly, Ph.D.President, International Psychoanalytical Association

Astonishing. This book will inevitably draw comparisons to the work of Oliver Sacks. Doidge has a prodigious gift for rendering the highly technical highly readable. It's hard to imagine a more exciting topic--or a better introduction to it.
Kitchener Waterloo Record

Perfect for fans of Oliver Sacks
Quill & Quire

Beautifully written and brings life and clarity to a variety of neuropsychiatric problems that affect children and adults... It reads a bit like a science detective story and -you do not need a Ph.D. to benefit from the wisdom imparted here.
Barbara Milrod, M.D. Psychiatry, Weill Medical College, Cornell University, New York 

A panoramic examination of plasticity's profound implications.                       
Toronto Daily Star

An eloquently written book about the boundless potential of the human brain.
The Jewish Week

Norman Doidge has written a fascinating, highly readable account of the new brain science.  
John Cornwell, Literary Review, England

You really should read this book... this remarkable work will lead us to see ourselves in a new light.                          
Mail on Sunday, England

An 'essential primer for anyone who wants to better understand their own brains and the considerable advances in neuroscience of the past two decades.
Melbourne Age

A book that everybody should read... it is nothing short of miraculous. Get it!
Yoko Ono, Yoko Reads Book Recommendations

Fascinating Doidge has accomplished a rare feat. He has written a book that accurately conveys cutting-edge scientific discoveries while simultaneously engaging both scientific and popular audiences.
Neuro-Psychoanalysis       

A remarkable book ... a highly readable exploration of a branch of science that has the potential to change all our lives.
Hobart Mercury

Why isn't this book on the top of the bestseller list of all time? The recognition that the brain in plastic and can actually change itself with exercise and understanding is a huge leap in the history or mankind, far greater than landing on the moon.
Jane S. Hall, International Psychoanalysis

Only a few decades ago, scientists considered the brain to be fixed or hardwired and considered most forms of brain damage, therefore, to be incurable.  Dr. Doidge, an eminent psychiatrist and researcher, was struck by how his patients own transformations belied this and set out to explore the new science of neuroplasticity by interviewing both scientific pioneers in neuroscience, and patients who have benefited from neurorehabilitation. Here he describes in fascinating personal narratives how the brain, far from being fixed, has remarkable powers of changing its own structure and compensating for even the most challenging neurological conditions. Doidge s book is a remarkable and hopeful portrait of the endless adaptability of the human brain.
Oliver Sack, MD, author of The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat