Evolve Your Brain: The Science of Changing Your Mind

Very good book and can change your life if you apply it.

Evolve Your Brain: the Science of Changing Your Mind by Joe Dispenza is an informative book that aims to teach anyone the basic inner workings of the brain and mind. Given the knowledge of how the brain functions, the author guides the reader through how they can use the power of their own mind to change themselves mentally and physically. Joe Dispenza is a Doctor of Chiropractic Medicine who studied biochemistry at Rutgers University, holding a B.S. degree with an emphasis in Neuroscience. He then received postgraduate training in neurology, brain function and chemistry, and memory formation.Dr. Dispenza devotes the first chapter to explaining his own background and what influenced him to write this book. He tells his story of how he was hit by a truck while competing in the cycling portion of a triathlon, basically destroying his back. After consulting multiple neurosurgeons, every one of them recommended Harrington rod surgery immediately. He instead attempted a natural recovery, going through a long and rigorous rehab program. He attributed his knowledge of neuroscience and the power of the mind to helping his recovery, and decided to write a book to inspire people to use the power of their own mind to get through life's most difficult physical and mental problems. Throughout his descriptions he provides examples of medical cases and recent scientific studies to illustrate how much is being discovered about the plasticity of the brain in recent years.From there Dr. Dispenza breaks down the central and peripheral nervous systems, explaining the cells involved (neurons and glia) and the different forms each have. He explains action potentials, describes chemicals of the nervous system, and maps out synaptic transmission. The next section breaks down the different areas/structures of the brain. He then describes and diagrams the four neocortical lobes, going into detail the history of how it was believed they were projected and what is known now based on functional imagingNext, Dr. Dispenza covers different stages of brain development, from conception through the mid twenties. This is where he starts to go into neuroplasticity, describing neural networks. He explains how new synapses are formed, and how weak ones become strong, because of the effects of neurotrophins such as nerve growth factor (NGF). This is connected to a model created by a neuropsychologist named Donald Hebb, who said "Nerves that fire together will wire together." Over time, neurons that consistently fire action potentials with each other build stronger connections and fire together faster and more efficiently. He then starts to use everything he has explained so far to start talking about how routines are formed based on the strengthening of neural networks. Basically, habits are created by strengthened neural nets that have become really efficient at firing, and with effort they can be broken and replaced with better habits. He expands on all of the information he has presented with more cases and how this concept of learning creates habits and memories. Most of the content for the rest of the book breaks away from the solid neuroscience and more into how the reader can break habits and make new ones.Written for readers of all backgrounds, this book is accessible to almost anyone with an interest in neuroscience, and serves as a guide to help people get rid of bad habits and create good habits. The term used that becomes a recurring theme throughout the book is neuroplasticity. He defines and discusses this term at multiple points throughout the book to reiterate how strong its effect is on the continuing function of the brain. He helpfully uses actual cases to demonstrate the power of the brain and how its plasticity allows people able to be able to adapt in their own lifetime, allowing changes to the brain at virtually any point in life.Although it is an excellent book with a lot to offer in terms of both science and philosophy, it was not deliberately paced and found itself wandering on tangents too much. This led to me giving the book a rating of four out of five stars instead of the full five. He covers a lot of the chemical side of neuroplasticity, but leans heavily on the physiological side of the nervous system to explain it, which works well. He uses great analogies throughout the text to help the reader relate. I thought the book was a good read; it was easy to follow the neuroscience because of the background he provided, and those with none should have no trouble learning with his great descriptions. The transition from the science based part of the book to the self-improvement side was redundant. It seemed as if he did not know how to separate the science from the rest of the material he wanted to talk about.As mentioned before, the author often went on tangents explaining certain cases to emphasize the material he had just covered. Because he would leave the material right in the middle to explain these cases, he would offer a brief review of the material each time he came back. Although it was a good idea, it was boring after many of these instances because he had explained certain concepts so many times before. For someone without a background in neuroscience, this may not even be an issue, but for people who have a background in biology or psychology, much of the material begins to feel stale later in the book.A great upside to the book is its extensive use of figures and diagrams. Much of the material would be extremely difficult to visualize without the help of visual aids, and they are placed extremely well throughout the text to help the reader become engaged with the corresponding information. Another good strategy is the use of very general terms for the many complicated parts of the nervous system. The author gradually shifts from using layman's terms for many of the structures to using the actual names.Dr. Dispenza set out to write a book that anyone could pick up and understand, and he did pretty well. Evolve Your Brain is an excellent tool for people who want to know how their brain and mind work, and how they can change themselves with this information. He uses a wide variety of examples to exemplify the power the mind has over the body. For someone who knows no biology to someone with an extensive background, this book has the potential to pique many interests, and has something to offer for almost everyone.

L’autore è un biochimico di formazione e questo rende interessante il libro, perché viene individuato un collegamento tra pensiero e processi chimici all’interno del nostro corpo: il pensiero, positivo o negativo, influenza la biochimica del nostro organismo. Affascinante!

Scent is beautiful

Just received. So love. I didn’t get email picture of package that was quite unusual yet you all have picture here in your site. Love the clarity and breakdown. Science is I believe gift used in right ppl with mind and heart. Joe has it

Se você já leu outros livros do Joe Dispenza, este acaba sendo um pouco repetitivo. Porém, se for a 1a compra, é muito bom