Synopses & Reviews
Lets be honest. Youve tried the sticky-note inspirations, the motivational calendar, and the cute (but ineffective) carpe diem” mugyet your attitude hasnt changed. Its time to apply cutting-edge science to the challenges of daily life.
While everyone desires self-improvement, we are quickly frustrated when trying to implement the contradictory philosophies of self-appointed self-help gurus. Too often, their advice is based on anecdote and personal opinion, not real research.
Bestselling author of What Makes Your Brain Happy and Why You Should Do the Opposite David DiSalvo returns with Brain Changer: How Harnessing Your Brains Power to Adapt Can Change Your Life. Drawing on the latest research in neuroscience, cognitive psychology, behavioral economics, communications, and even marketing, DiSalvo replaces self-help with science help.” He demonstrates how the brains enormous capacity to adapt is the most crucial factor influencing how we feel and acta factor that we can control to change our lives.
Findings show our brains are fluid and function much like a feedback loop: stimulants from both our environment and from within ourselves catalyze changes in the brains response. That response then elicits additional inputs that the brain identifies and analyzes to further tailor its response. DiSalvo shows that the greatest internal tool we have to affect the feedback loop is metacognition (thinking about thinking”).
Littered with relatable examples and tackling major aspects of our lives including relationships, careers, physical health, and personal development, Brain Changer shows you how to harness metacognition to enrich your life.
Review
This book will help the reader learn to stop or postpone thoughts that arent wanted, consider the basic physical conditions needed for better cognition, and consider personal achievements and effects on others. DiSalvo suggests that by retraining the brain, our thoughts may take us somewhere more satisfying than where we are.”
Publishers Weekly
A superb practical primer for thinking about thinking.”
Robert Burton, MD, author of On Being Certain and A Skeptic's Guide to the Mind
"Forget the self-help mumbo jumbo, DiSalvo boils down decades of actual research from psychological laboratories while giving us proven, scientist-approved tips on how to easily harness our maximum brainpower. From chewing gum, to writing our own obituaries to gargling with lemonade, youll be amazed by the many ways you can rev up that powerful engine puttering along in your cranium."
Jesse Bering, PhD, author of The Belief Instinct and contributor to Scientific American and Slate magazine
"David DiSalvo will change the way you think about your own thinking, and in the process provide you with practical tools for keeping lifes challenges in perspective."
Wray Herbert, author of On Second Thought: Outsmarting Your Mind's Hard-Wired Habits
"DiSalvo beautifully breaks down metacognition -- our ability to reflect back upon our own thought processes and, just as capably, lays out all the ways in which it can be sharpened for greater psychological well-being. An engaging and scientifically-grounded read."
Alice G. Walton, PhD, contributing writer to the American Psychological Association and Forbes magazine
"An awareness of the under-the-surface workings of your own brain helps you adapt wisely to challenging circumstances, and Brain Changer offers just such an awareness. Using anecdotes, diagrams, bullet points, and smart tips, DiSalvo shows you how to exert more conscious control over your own thinking processes for better problem-solving and decision-making. Great for psych students and everyone at an impasse in their lives."
Susan K. Perry, PhD, author of Writing in Flow and creativity blogger at PsychologyToday.com
I believe the greatest competitive advantage any professional can gain today is a better understanding of how to leverage brainpower. Not only has David DiSalvo opened up pathways that I never knew existed, more importantly, he gave me the power to see my world from a far greater, more inspiring perspective.”
Moe Abdou, founder of 33voices
"This eminently useful work illustrates the many ways that the human brains surprising neuroplasticity can be productively exploited. DiSalvo delineates simple but powerful ways to effect such beneficial cognitive/behavioral change."
Leon F. Seltzer, PhD, author of Paradoxical Strategies in Psychotherapy: A Comprehensive Overview and Guidebook
Synopsis
The author of the bestselling
What Makes Your Brain Happy and Why You Should Do the Opposite delivers 30 science-based actions to enrich your life.
Science writer and bestselling author David DiSalvo returns with Brain Changer: How Harnessing Your Brains Power to Adapt Can Change Your Life. Drawing on the latest research in cognitive psychology, neuroscience, behavioral economics, and communications, DiSalvo replaces self-help with science-help,” giving readers practical steps to change their thinking and their lives.
Known for his accessibility and applicable findings, DiSalvo explains that the human mind operates via a series of feedback loops” generated in the brain. By identifying how these systems work, DiSalvo shows we can actually redirect our thinking through metacognition, a tool for thinking about thinking, to influence the brains response.
Using relatable examples and tackling major aspects of our lives including relationships, careers, physical health, and personal development, DiSalvo demonstrates how the brains enormous capacity to adapt is the most crucial factor influencing how we feel and acta powerful tool we can control to change our lives.
About the Author
David DiSalvo is a science writer and public education specialist who writes about the intersection of science, technology, and culture. His work has appeared in
Scientific American Mind,
Psychology Today,
Forbes,
The Wall Street Journal,
Mental Floss, Salon,
Esquire, and other publications, and he is the writer behind the blogs, Neuropsyched, Neuronarrative, and The Daily Brain. He is frequently interviewed about science and technology topics, including appearances on
NBC Nightly News and
CNN Headline News.
DiSalvo has also served as a consulting research analyst and communications specialist for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and several public and private organizations in the U.S. and abroad. His first non-fiction book,What Makes Your Brain Happy and Why You Should Do the Opposite, has been translated into seven languages and is available worldwide.