Brain Rules

12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School

By: John J. Medina

Narrated by: John J. Medina

Length: 7 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's summary

Most of us have no idea what's really going on inside our heads. Yet brain scientists have uncovered details every business leader, parent, and teacher should know - such as the brain's need for physical activity to work at its best. How do we learn? What exactly do sleep and stress do to our brains? Why is multi-tasking a myth? Why is it so easy to forget - and so important to repeat - new information? Is it true that men and women have different brains?

In Brain Rules, molecular biologist Dr. John Medina shares his lifelong interest in how the brain sciences might influence the way we teach our children and the way we work. In each chapter, he describes a brain rule - what scientists know for sure about how our brains work - and then offers transformative ideas for our daily lives.

Medina's fascinating stories and sense of humor breathe life into brain science. You'll learn why Michael Jordan was no good at baseball. You'll peer over a surgeon's shoulder as he finds, to his surprise, that we have a "Jennifer Aniston neuron". You'll meet a boy who has an amazing memory for music but can't tie his own shoes.

Visit brainrules.net/dvd to view videos mentioned in the book.

©2008 John J. Medina (P)2008 Pear Press

Excellent research-based information

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes. Research based evidence on how our brains work, excellent for becoming more focused on work and school.

What other book might you compare Brain Rules to and why?

I would compare to Talent is Overrated, but this book has a greater emphasis on replicated research.

What does John J. Medina bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

John reading his own book makes it feel much more personal.

What’s an idea from the book that you will remember?

We are incapable of multitasking, and our current classrooms are the worst possible design for how we learn.

Any additional comments?

If you are an education administrator, teacher, parent or student this is a must read. Very insightful, great stories and information, and great narration.

Learnt so much

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to understand themselves & wanting to improve. Great information

Good information

The narration on the audio is a bit grating but the information is good.

Brain Rules RULES!!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Every one would truly benefit from "reading" to this work. Not only is the material fascinating, but the narration by the author is captivating! I have taken one of his rules to heart, and listen to about three chapters and then listen to the same ones again. The material and the reading are so well presented that retention is easier for what may be dense information to those new to neurobiology, and neuropsychology.

What other book might you compare Brain Rules to and why?

Magnificent Mind at Any Age. Again great easy to grasp info on how our minds work, the different parts of our brains, how things like exercise impact our cognitive functioning.

Which scene was your favorite?

Haven't decided.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No, even the author would, I beleive, recommend against listening to it in one sitting. Better absorbed in small chunks.

My favorite book for students.

Sick of "how to" books, as an avid listener of audiobooks, I like well researched, well presented, compressed books that are narrated by the author. this one scores on all counts. as if they had audio rather then print in mind all along!

As an academic student I've long since been looking for someone to give me the gist of how to study, without patronizing tones and "you can do it" over piano music. Medina really gives you intuitive yet academic based understanding of what methods are best to help you study

This book has finally caused me to get off the computer and go excercise, for my brain's sake.

Thanks John!

Extremely Interesting and Engaging

This is was an excellent read for someone who is not trained in brain science but interested in understanding how the brain works. If you have children and are interested in helping them learn, you will find this one interesting - that's why I chose it. It has changed how I am with my boys, trying to slow down and let them be explorers.

Interesting, but pedigree is weak

This book starts out with the promise that all of its statements are based on peer-reviewed studies whose results have been reproduced many times. Yet many of the book's claims about the brain are based on our presumed evolutionary past. Whatever the merits of the evolutionary claim, certainly its impact on our brain function could never be reproduced in any scientific study. Interesting book, but it makes scientific pedigree claims it cannot back up.

Owning Your Brain Made Easy!

I listen while I walk everyday, and Medina assures me that's the best way for a brain to learn anything! I enjoyed listening and hearing a lot of the same brain stuff I already know... but he also assured me that repetition is the only way my brain ... and yours... learns. I recommend this book highly.

Brain rules is good FYI

What made the experience of listening to Brain Rules the most enjoyable?

This audio covers how the brain works in an entertaining style unlike many others on the subject.

What did you like best about this story?

It provides a list of rules that will improve your ability to learn or teach a subject.

I enjoyed the enthusiasm of the reader.

The content was very interesting and some of it surprising. pour brains are amazing and compared. If we know all of this, why aren't we changing the way we teach our children?