Outdated. ( )

The title is a bit of a misnomer, not so much in content but in tone. The blurb on the front of my copy mentions "man on the street vocabulary." I'm not quite sure I would go that far. This book IS accessible, but I'd say the man on the street who hasn't gone to college might have some trouble. It's not so much the vocabulary. Although the book doesn't shy away from the neuroanatomy jargon, it does tend to explain the terms fairly well and shows pictures. Still, there is a lot of content, and if someone came to this "user's guide" with no background in psychology or neurology, he might encounter quite a challenge with information density. The approach is definitely from a medical angle in many places; e.g., here's what can go wrong when this part of the brain doesn't develop properly. Readers can learn about the workings of the brain in Everyman as well as the brain basis for psychiatric and neurological conditions. Because of the author's background, there is a little extra attention paid to autism and attention deficit disorder, but more common conditions such as stroke are also given their due.

While there are certainly anecdotes peppering the text, this book isn't as approachable as the set of stories in a more Oliver Sacks-style approach. This book does read more like a survey course in psychology than entertainment for the curious. And survey it does, building a good case for the importance of the often taken for granted aspects of perception and cognition that underlie the development of behavioral differences so often treated as simple "chemical imbalances" for which a pill is a simple cure. I appreciated that the author brought to an intelligent public the subtleties of how genetics and environment interact. Where such writers as Damasio and Schacter have written books catering to subtopics (the role of emotion in rationality and memory respectively), Ratey wants to tackle developmental psychology and plasticity following brain injury and genetic differences and the impact of social environment and...and...and. Having read fairly widely in the area of popular cognitive science, I didn't find a lot that was new here, but I was struck by the breadth and the ambitiousness of bringing so much together in what seems to be intended as a popular book. Although a brief list of suggested reading is presented, it too seems a bit confused as to its aim, sometimes aiming for the average educated layperson and sometimes a bit higher than that. The book did not seem quite "popular" enough in style to eliminate all references, but there were none. There were also some passages that seemed a bit repetitious in certain sections of the book, where descriptions had been added in two places, but editing didn't remove redundancies.

I enjoyed reading this book and integrating so many areas of neuroscience and psychology, but I think perhaps the author and his ghostwriter were still not quite sure of their audience. The parts are pulled into a whole rather well, and there is a good deal to savor. There are important discussions about how small differences untreated can lead to large difficulties in social and occupational functioning, but also important things to say about the resilience of the brain when given targeted treatment. I do recommend the work, although perhaps not to those uninitiated, who do not already know of Phineas Gage or who have never heard the terms aphasia or serotonin.

This is perhaps one of my favourite non-fiction titles. Clear and well organized, Ratey does an excellent job of making something so complex rather simple. Through usage of common vocabulary and (non redudant) repition, he explains many of the brains workings to the average reader (though perhaps one with an interest in the field). This was one of my first explorations into neurology, and it most certainly set up a good understanding for all the personal research I've done since. Highly recommended. ( )

This was a very intelligent and fascinating book. I think it's supposed to be a "popular science" book on neuroscience (learning, memory, motor function, etc.), but I wouldn't recommend it to someone who is completely unfamiliar with the field. He does assume the reader is already comfortable with some of the basic terminology and concepts (like brain anatomy). Perhaps, then, it would be best for people who are already interested in the topic and would like to learn more. ( )

Excellent book.

It's a mature book from a mature writer. It's organized, fairly to the point, and has not of the personal rhetoric that plagues many writers of this field. A lot of these books tend to have writers that want to spout off their personal crap without proper finding/or half decent research to back it up. Ratey usually stops before too much of his opinions start to effect what he was really trying to say.

There are a lot of new information even for a reader like me who reads a lot of these types of materials. I was especially intrigued by the researches into the motor functions, memories and learning. The parts about language learning in the brain also helped to reinforce some of my ideas about language learning.(since I have taught ESL part time for nearly 10 years) I had some indications/ideas that motor functions effects learning and memories, but I never knew that it was this much.

I would say that this is a level up book from books like "Mind, Wide Open", since we are introduced to more technical jargons/research, but it's still in plain enough writing for us to understand.

It also opened my eyes to other possibilities of psychological problems, such as perception. Frankly, as wanna be student of psychology, I am ashamed to say that I didn't think a Vision problem can contribute that much to a person's psyche. It helped me organized some ideas that I had about the brain, and it also challenged some of my beliefs on psychology.

All in all, an excellent book. I would recommend it. Use it or Lose it! ( )