“The Brain that changes itself” Book Review In “the brain that changes itself”, Norman Doidge investigates a new field called neuroplasticity. As the name implies, this field studies brain’s ability to transform itself. The book has demonstrated just this. Using plain and lucid sentences, Norman Doidge elegantly unveils this newly discovered scientific phenomenon that will leave all readers in awe. Yet, by weaving his arguments through various “stories of personal triumph”, he allows readers to fully appreciate its potential implications. Throughout the book, Doidge elaborates on various related experiments, a vast amount of solid evidence, and stories of people who have greatly benefited from numerous practices that have been derived from neuroplasticity. People are now able to “see” without their eyes and balance without their vestibular systems (which are supposed to be responsible for balance in human). Stroke patients can not only move again but also regain the mobility they used to own. It turns out that descriptions such as “part of me is lost” after a breakup have now been proven quite literally correct, and that problems such as OCD, and phantom limbs can finally be explained in a simple and straightforward way that actually makes sense. According to Norman Doidge and the scientists he has interviewed, the brain is not a rigid, indifferent machine, the functions of which are inherently ingrained in different regions in the brain. Instead, the brain is highly plastic and adaptable. People tend to see the brain as something they simply utilize for learning. However, the brain is more than that. The brain itself learns to learn. As one is learning how to use the brain to navigate in the unpredictable world, the brain is learning how to facilitate its owner’s learning experiences. The brain is the ultimate supercomputer. Written mainly as an introduction to a still developing field, the book is more than adequate to general readers. However, since it focuses mainly on anecdotal evidences, its depth and degree of validity can be easily called into questions by more science-oriented people. Doidge makes few uses of scientific terms and tries to keep the science part of the book easy to be understood. Such consideration facilitates the reading experience for most readers and keeps them interested in the topic; however, it can also be interpreted as an oversimplification that may undermine the credibility of the book. Furthermore, the book is almost exclusively dedicated to the positive aspects of neuroplasticity. The readers are able to see the glamorous and miraculous sides, but are uninformed of the negative aspects or the ineffectiveness of it. Whether the later exists or not is unclear, but the discussion of it will certainly reduce the bias of the book. Overall, the nature of the book is more informative than scientific. However, it delivers to the readers a message that can be life-changing----one possesses a lot more power than he thinks.
“The Brain that changes itself” Book Review
ReplyDeleteIn “the brain that changes itself”, Norman Doidge investigates a new field called neuroplasticity. As the name implies, this field studies brain’s ability to transform itself. The book has demonstrated just this. Using plain and lucid sentences, Norman Doidge elegantly unveils this newly discovered scientific phenomenon that will leave all readers in awe. Yet, by weaving his arguments through various “stories of personal triumph”, he allows readers to fully appreciate its potential implications. Throughout the book, Doidge elaborates on various related experiments, a vast amount of solid evidence, and stories of people who have greatly benefited from numerous practices that have been derived from neuroplasticity. People are now able to “see” without their eyes and balance without their vestibular systems (which are supposed to be responsible for balance in human). Stroke patients can not only move again but also regain the mobility they used to own. It turns out that descriptions such as “part of me is lost” after a breakup have now been proven quite literally correct, and that problems such as OCD, and phantom limbs can finally be explained in a simple and straightforward way that actually makes sense.
According to Norman Doidge and the scientists he has interviewed, the brain is not a rigid, indifferent machine, the functions of which are inherently ingrained in different regions in the brain. Instead, the brain is highly plastic and adaptable. People tend to see the brain as something they simply utilize for learning. However, the brain is more than that. The brain itself learns to learn. As one is learning how to use the brain to navigate in the unpredictable world, the brain is learning how to facilitate its owner’s learning experiences. The brain is the ultimate supercomputer.
Written mainly as an introduction to a still developing field, the book is more than adequate to general readers. However, since it focuses mainly on anecdotal evidences, its depth and degree of validity can be easily called into questions by more science-oriented people. Doidge makes few uses of scientific terms and tries to keep the science part of the book easy to be understood. Such consideration facilitates the reading experience for most readers and keeps them interested in the topic; however, it can also be interpreted as an oversimplification that may undermine the credibility of the book. Furthermore, the book is almost exclusively dedicated to the positive aspects of neuroplasticity. The readers are able to see the glamorous and miraculous sides, but are uninformed of the negative aspects or the ineffectiveness of it. Whether the later exists or not is unclear, but the discussion of it will certainly reduce the bias of the book.
Overall, the nature of the book is more informative than scientific. However, it delivers to the readers a message that can be life-changing----one possesses a lot more power than he thinks.