Twitter and Facebook

Tuesday 15 December 2015

Better with Age: The Ultimate Guide to Brain Training by Phyllis Strupp

 (I received the Kindle version of this book, free of charge, from Netgalley in return for an honest independent review.)

The Brain Explained                                            My rating  4 out of 5

This is a fascinating, easy to read, book for the ordinary person who wants to know how the brain works, and would like some ideas about how to get it working even better.  It has lots of clear explanations - like why we feel stress after the cause has gone, and lots of diagrams and pictures to complement the text. 

At the end of each of the 7 chapters there are questions to ponder on, and at the end of the book there is a list of further resources that relate to each chapter. 

There are many interesting facts/statements such as "95% of Alheimers' cases are not linked to the genes you are born with"  and there are many case histories given, including some which have been in the public eye. 

The main message (I got) is "Use it or Lose it", or work hard to regain/learn it.  Therefore it is important to continuously train your brain.  The book suggests you need work each part of your brain, and provides a few worksheets to help you understand which parts you are currently using effectively, and then offers a lot of ideas on how to get the other parts working better.  There are also examples of neuroplasticity where people who have lost the use of parts of their brains, have been able to retrain other parts of their brain to take over these lost functions. 

The book is clearly set out, so it is easy to refer back to particular sections of interest - helped by an extensive Index at the back.  There is also a useful glossary of terms - though I (with no medical background) had no need of the glossary whilst reading the book.


A fascinating book, that I shall certainly be referring back to again and again.  I'm not sure how well it would work on an e-reader, give that there are various worksheets - which once completed need cross-referencing with activity sheets.  Colour is also important for the diagrams.  

No comments:

Post a Comment