Almost Perfect! | Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain: How a New Science Reveals Our Extraordinary Potential...

A fascinating read | Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain: How a New Science Reveals Our Extraordinary Potential to Transform ... | Sharon Begley

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	• Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain: How a New Science Reveals Our Extraordinary Potential to Transform ... Sharon Begley Ballantine Books, 2007 - 304 pages average customer review:based on 70 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Begley's Excellent Job Describing the Budding relationship between Buddhism and Neuroscience

For many of those interested in the brain, questions linger about the relation between the brain and the mind. While science typically avoids dealing with the philosophical and religious implications of this dichotomy, this book explores head-on the relationship that has been growing between the new discoveries in neuroplasticity and the ancient traditions of Buddhist meditation practices. I hope to provide a brief overview of Train Your Mind Change your Brain and describe what a fantastic job Begley does of presenting the recent dialogue between neuroscience and Buddhism.

Overall Opinion of the Book:
This is an absolutely terrific read. Clearly written, well-structured, and engaging, this book does a great job of presenting in laymen's terms both the seminal research and the recent studies which validate the now accepted concept of neuroplasticity, and how Buddhism is playing a role in our understanding of this phenomenon. I personally found the book to be intriguing, informative but light, and a pleasurable read.

Recommendation:
With plenty of background and simple explanations, the author does a great job presenting this complex material for all to understand. I highly recommend this book to anyone (high schoolers and above) interested in learning about neuroscience, plasticity, or just explore an area where a great religious tradition and modern science are finding common ground.

Synopsis:
This book really comes as the result of one man's striking curiosity for science, the Dalai Lama of Tibetan Buddhism. In 1990, as part of the Dalai Lama's personal quest for understanding science and seeking Buddhism's footing in the modern world, the Mind and Life Institute began as an annual conference hosted in Dharamsala, arranged as a week of lectures and discussion between Western scientists and the Dalai Lama. The dialogue of the 2004 conference - the focus of this book - centered on the advancements in understanding neuroplasticity and the results of the then recent experiments studying its relationship with intense meditation and mental training. It is from these proceedings that the book gets its major content and structure - discussing the topics and appropriate background of the ideas presented to the Dalai Lama.

While Begley structures the book around the presentations that occurred during the Mind and Life Institute of 2004, she frequently interjects the stories and experiments that carved out the heated debate over plasticity that spanned many decades in neuroscience. The book effectively intertwines the personal stories of the scientists and the research performed by the leading figures on both sides of the historic debate. From describing Merzenich's famous experiment's to the Silver Springs controversy, the author weaves the hard science and research with enriching personal anecdotes and experiences of those behind the discoveries.

First the book explores the discovery of neuroplasticity followed by a treatment on explaining the recent evidence supporting neurogenesis. Next follows discussions on plasticity in developing brains in children, then how sensory experience can induce changes in adult brains, and eventually reaches the debate of whether the mind can influence the structure and function of the brain through plasticity. All the while, Begley adds in commentary from the discussion between the Dalai Lama and the scientists and makes ties to the Buddhist philosophies that relate to the neuroscience being discussed. Finally, the book concludes with a discussion of the experiments carried out on monks and the changes that occur with years of mental training and meditation and how the relationship between Buddhism and science has illuminated new areas of research for neuroplasticity.

Complaints:
While I overall enjoyed the book thoroughly and thought it did a terrific job educating the reader on the advancements and the debate on plasticity, I wished there would have been a slight bit more background on the Buddhist principles and meditation practices mentioned throughout. Begley does a terrific job summarizing the science behind plasticity, but I think lacks in fully explaining the Buddhist concepts that provoked the study of the monk's minds near the end of the book.

Favorite Parts:
I most thoroughly enjoyed how Begley kept the book from being solely focused on the academic side of plasticity. Frequently throughout the book she describes the efforts that research on plasticity has enabled in aiding the treatment of diseases such as depression, obsessive compulsive disorder, and dyslexia, but even more so, how the science of plasticity and the practices of mental training can help improve the general daily lives of anyone, not just those suffering from a disability or injury. Additionally, I appreciated reading of the respectful dialogue that is bridging the gap between modern science and religious traditions - as both disciplines have a tremendous amount to learn from each other as this book shows.

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Almost Perfect!

In this extrodinary book is one statement I disagree with. That is that Christianity presents more of a conflict with the results of the scientific research on the human brain than another religion. I think if the author will read Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis she will find out how well the Faith lines up with the scietific research!!

A fascinating read

This was a very good read on a subject--the brain, neuroplasticity, and the power of the mind--that I have long found particularly interesting. The author writes very eloquently, and at times, in just such a way that I felt was also quite touching. I found this to be an absorbing book, both due to the nature of the subject matter and the writer's wonderful ability to present it. I would highly recommend this book, especially to anyone with a bit higher than average curiosity regarding this particular sort of subject matter. If you are looking for a "self-help" style of book, written in a more personal style, this is not that book.

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Lotus Guide Review

Train Your Mind Change Your Brain
By Sharon Begley
We no longer live in a world where our mind is set in stone. Sharon Begley makes the science of Neuroplasticity and mind science not only comprehensible but meaningful on a very personal level. For anyone who meditates and wonders about the effects of meditation on the brain. [...]

Excellent book

The power of thought has more influence in our physical and mental health than we can imagine. A group of Western and Eastern influencial people work together to discover how our own thinking creates changes in our brain. This book has already changed my brain This is one of many great books that talk about neuroplasticity. I strongly recommend this book to anyone and everyone.

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In this fascinating and far-reaching book, Newsweek science writer Sharon Begley reports on how cutting-edge science and the ancient wisdom of Buddhism have come together to reveal that, contrary to popular belief, we have the power to literally change our brains by changing our minds. Recent pioneering experiments in neuroplasticity?the ability of the brain to change in response to experience?reveal that the brain is capable of altering its structure and function, and even of generating new neurons, a power we retain well into old age. The brain can adapt, heal, renew itself after trauma, compensate for disabilities, rewire itself to overcome dyslexia, and break cycles of depression and OCD. And as scientists are learning from studies performed on Buddhist monks, it is not only the outside world that can change the brain, so can the mind and, in particular, focused attention through the classic Buddhist practice of mindfulness.

With her gift for making science accessible, meaningful, and compelling, Sharon Begley illuminates a profound shift in our understanding of how the brain and the mind interact and takes us to the leading edge of a revolution in what it means to be human.

?There are two great things about this book. One is that it shows us how nothing about our brains is set in stone. The other is that it is written by Sharon Begley, one of the best science writers around. Begley is superb at framing the latest facts within the larger context of the field. . . . This is a terrific book.?
?Robert M. Sapolsky, author of Why Zebras Don?t Get Ulcers

?Excellent . . . elegant and lucid prose . . . an open mind here will be rewarded.?
?Discover magazine

?A strong dose of hope along with a strong does of science and Buddhist thought.?
?The San Diego Union-Tribune

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