The New Brain - How the modern age is rewiring your mind

• Author: Richard Restak

About Book

• Publisher: Rodale
• Pages: 237
• GoodReads Rating: 3.7

Condition & Size

• Size: Format C (13.8 x 21.6 / 14.0 x 21.6 cm)
• Book Type: Paperback
• Condition: Very Good
  Comments: Forward leaning spine

Summary

From Publishers Weekly Restak (Mozart's Brain), a neurosurgeon and popular science writer on the brain, focuses on new technology for examining the physiology of the brain (such as MRI) and how it allows us to monitor and control a far wider range of activities than was formerly possible. Recent work holds the potential for, among other things, reducing the use of psychopharmacological drugs that have unpredictable side effects; substituting one sense (touch) for another (sight); and direct repair of brain and other neurological damage. Restak also demonstrates how the brain is modified the old-fashioned way, such as by practicing a skill. The negative aspects of recent work are invoked in more polemical than scientific prose, such as the specter of social control through "medicalization" of everything, and how the overstimulation of our brains by modern society is giving us all ADD. Hackles will rise the farthest over the author's proclamation that it is proven that TV violence affects our brains in ways that lead to violent behavior without even mentioning the word "censorship." A compact if sometimes oversimplified introduction to its subject, Restak's latest is best when it stays close to the data. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Scientific American Pity the poor neurologists of yesteryear, saddled as they were with their conviction that our brains are hardwired after childhood. Then celebrate today���s scientists, who are exploiting brain-imaging technologies to show that our brains are capable of profound and permanent alterations throughout our lives. Neurologist Richard Restak does just that in The New Brain: How the Modern Age Is Rewiring Your Mind, even as he argues that we are being negatively altered by the sound-bite, techno environment in which we live. Technology such as functional magnetic resonance imaging, Restak begins, can now demonstrate that as a musician practices for many hours, certain neural pathways are strengthened. He then moves to a profound implication, namely that all kinds of technological stimuli are forging brain circhat may hurt us instead of helping us. For instance, he cites correlations between positron emission tomography scans of violent people and normal experimental subjects who are simply thinking about fighting, then asserts that repeated viewing of violence on television and in video games can set up brain circuits that make us more likely to initiate realworld fisticuffs. Unfortunately, such brain imaging may leave more questions than answers. As Restak himself points out, the technology does not provide "neurological explanations," just "important correlations." Yet he is whipped up enough to diagnose all of modern society with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, the probable result of brain changes we are initiating in our media-saturated world. He reminds us of the antidote, though: we are still in control of what we allow ourselves to see and hear. In the end, Restak fails to create a sense that scientists have revealed a new way of understanding the brain. And the images that inspire speculation in the book still await research that may finally reveal the mechanisms of such phenomena as memory and aggression. -- Now Available in Paperback!The era of the New Brain is upon us! Already our brains are working differently than they did just one hundred years ago. Drugs are already available that work in the brain to prevent us from feeling drowsy, depressed, anxious, or fearful, or that enhance concentration and memory. Dramatic treatments to repair damage in the brain are becoming common. In The New Brain, neurologist, neuropsychiatrist, and bestselling author Dr. Richard Restak tells how technology and biology are converging to influence the evolution of the human brain. Dr. Restak describes the dramatic advances that now are possible, as well as the potential for misuse and abuse, examining such questions as: Is Attention Deficit Disorder a "normal" response to the modern world's demand that we attend to several things at once? What happens in our brains when images replace language as the primary means of communication? How does exposure to violent imagery affect our brains? Are we all capable of training our brains to perform at a superior level?