THE BRAIN THAT CHANGES ITSELF --- STORIES OF PERSONAL TRIUMPH
FROM THE FRONTIERS OF BRAIN SCIENCE
by Norman Doidge. Viking, 2007
NOTE TO THE READER (pxi)
PREFACE (pxiii-xvi)
This book is about the revolutionary discovery that the human brain can change itself --- as told through the stories of the scientists, doctors, and patients who have together brought about these astonishing transformations.
1) A woman perpetually falling --- (p1-26)
Rescued by the man who discovered the plasticity of our senses
2) Building herself a better brain --- (p27-44)
A woman labeled "retarded" discovers how to heal herself
3) Redesigning the brain --- (p45-92)
A scientist changes brains to sharpen perception and memory, increase speed of thought, and heal learning problems
4) Acquiring tastes and loves --- (p93-131)
What neuroplasticity teaches us about sexual attraction and love
5) Midnight resurrections --- (p132-163)
Stroke victims learn to move and speak again
6) Brain lock unlocked --- (p164-176)
Using plasticity to stop worries, obsessions, compulsions, and bad habits
7) Pain --- (p177-195)
The dark side of plasticity
8) Imagination --- (p196-214)
How thinking makes it so
9) Turning our ghosts into ancestors --- (p215-244)
Psychoanalysis as a neuroplastic therapy
10) Rejuvenation --- (p245-257)
The discovery of the neuronal stem cell and lessons for preserving our brains
11) More than the sum of her parts --- (p258-286)
A woman shows us how radically plastic the brain can be
APPENDIX 1 --- The culturally modified brain (p287-312)
APPENDIX 2 --- Plasticity and the idea of progress (p313-318)
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS (p319-322)
NOTES AND REFERENCES (p323-408)
INDEX (p409-427)
Go to Brain Essay-Set #2:
Focus on the Brain Science Facts of Life
Go to: Interactive Index of Factual Ideas