The Brain that Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science

Norman Doidge M.D.

Every so often I read a book that I consider to be so remarkable and wonderful that it makes me "high" and which I truly believe everyone would enjoy and benefit from reading. I recently had the pleasure of reading such a book that I would recommend to young and old, male and female, rich and poor, healthy and infirm. The Brain that changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science, by Norman Doidge, M.D. fills the bill. Please, everyone, buy and read this book and see if you agree with me!

The author is a psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, and researcher on the faculties at Columbia University and The University of Toronto, and an author, essayist, and even a poet. He is uniquely qualified to discover, understand, and explain the breath-taking advances in understanding the growing field of neuroplasticity. One of my favorite books, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, by Oliver Sachs, dealt with the remarkable functioning of the human brain in cases of brain injuries and certain birth abnormalities. If you have never read it, it is another “must-read”. Sachs, in his brief review of Doidge’s book, calls it “remarkable and a hopeful portrait of the endless adaptabilities of the human brain.”

I love books that are fun to read (which this is) and which "blow my mind" and give me great insights and understanding. This book is chock full of fascinating insights into neuroscience. At the same time, it is easy to understand and as engrossing as a good novel.

If you have any interest at all in understanding the remarkable ability of the human will and thinking machinery to do miraculous things, you will love this book. The stories about how stroke victims are able to overcome their disabilities are just the beginning. If you want to understand how autistic children can really be helped to lead more normal lives, or how thoughts or imagination can have major effects on your own physiology, this is a book for you. The research and practical programs available to avoid senile dementia and/or Alzheimer’s disease are not to be missed.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough. The discoveries I made from reading this book have inspired me and uplifted me to the extent that few books have done in many years. I want to make it very clear that not only is this book lucid, it is absolutely fascinating, so even those of you who generally avoid non-fiction should find this most enjoyable and satisfying.

Review by Len Oppenheim