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

it was just okay, not bad, but not great either.

What did you like best about Brain Rules? What did you like least?

It was interesting finding out how the brain works, but a good part of it was pretty common sense.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

no reaction

What aspect of John J. Medina’s performance would you have changed?

none

Was Brain Rules worth the listening time?

yes, anytime you learn something new it is a good thing.

Inspirational and Informative

Psychiatrist Elyn Saks has schizophrenia and she tells about it in this fine book. The story line is inspirational, disturbing, and informative. Dr. Saks tells about experiencing this disorder and how she came to cope with it. Along the way, the listener learns a great deal about the care of those with mental problems, how drugs taken to remedy their conditions effect them, and how one patient navigated that world. Her descriptions are excellent and the reading is great. When you move from download 1 to download 2, Dr. Saks back tracks making schizophrenia undersandable historically and clinically. Dr. Saks makes her points about problems in the mental health "industry" without being preachy. This is not an ideological work, but one which will inform and inspire.

Fantastic!

Any additional comments?

Brain Rules is not the type of book that I would normally listen to. In fact, I’m not even sure how I stumbled across it. However, it sounded interesting based on some of the other reviews and so I thought “why not?”. I was not disappointed. In fact, I will probably listen to it again. This book summarizes all kinds of brain studies in a simple and straight forward way with humorous examples. (The narrator is dynamic and funny and will keep your interest. Think of this audio as the general education class you dreaded taking in college, but by the end of the semester thought “wow, that was the best class I ever took”. You left with lots of practical information and recommended the teacher and the class to all your friends.)

Brain Rules covers many, many interesting topics. Below are just a few highlights:

* The importance of exercise: Yes we all know how important exercise is and have heard it 1000 times before, but this book made me actually get out and start walking. Did you know that just 30 minutes of walking twice per week can cut your risk for Alzheimer’s in HALF? AND In a study of 27-year-olds, who exercised over a 12 week period, brain function rose by over 30% (wow). When exercise stopped, brain function immediately fell. A little bit of oxygen to your brain via aerobic exercise goes a long way! And it doesn’t take much. If the infomation in this book doesn't make you go out and exercise, nothing will.

* Multitasking: Your brain processes information sequentially. Do you think you are a good at multitasking? Well think again. I know I thought I was until I learned that studies prove that when you multitask you make about four times as many mistakes.

* The impact of stress in a marriage on children: It’s stressful starting a family and stress at home harms children’s brains. It’s amazing just how much. Even babies! Couples who were counseled before their babies were born had babies that cried less and were more stable in several ways then the babies of couples who weren’t.

Add this one to your wish list. You won’t be disappointed.

Good information even if too technical at times

Any additional comments?

This is one of the books that explains how the brain works with tips then on how to get it to run with maximum firing power. I like that Medina makes clear that the studies he cites aren't just studies that support his premises but he only picks ones that have been replicated and are considered established fact. The studies were interesting, and the anecdotes of how their results play out in the real world were good. Where I didn't think Medina did well — and it made it difficult for me to trudge through chapter 2 especially — was in his explanations of brain chemistry, which often meant metaphors about armies. Maybe I'm just not that bright, but he lost me completely in the technical language and biology/chemistry details. That said, there was lots of good information that inspired some changes in my behavior. In short, get enough sleep and exercise and you'll do well.

The author narrates it himself. He's no pro, in that sometimes he reads too fast, but it's mostly out of excitement for his own words so I liked it.

Outstanding

Brain rules is a superb mix of science, analysis, and recommendations. This is not a self help book as much as it is an overview of the current science and a "call for further research," although there is plenty to take away. Recommend for any one who is interested in the mind or science in general.

Useful but tedious

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Information is valuable, but sometimes seems off on the science. Author's voice gets a bit annoying and uninteresting at times despite his obvious enjoyment of the material.

What didn’t you like about John J. Medina’s performance?

His voice grates at times.

Great Lay Science book on Neuroscience

I'm still only about half way through this audio book. I have been enjoying it immensely. It's a pretty serious subject but John Medina (the author and narrator) does a great job making it approachable. Sure, Medina is not a professional voice actor but you get to hear his genuine enthusiasm for the subject.

Can't Overcome the Audio

Unfortunately this author should stick to teaching (which I bet he does well) rather than performing audio books. I know he's well past puberty, but still his voice seems to be trying to change. Listening has become distracting.

There is some interesting and educational content to the book, but it is probably best to read it rather than listen to it.

Funny, witty and informative.

What did you love best about Brain Rules?

It talks about what brains do and cites experiments that talk about it. It offers bibliography that can be used to check it out. It is very funny and entertaining. It made me laugh several times.

On the other hand, I have used some of its explanations when training someone, and it makes a lot of sense to them. It actually helps me teach.

What did you like best about this story?

It is non-technical and fun.

Which scene was your favorite?

There were several. A fragment of one of them was:

"... we came from Africa somewhere between 7 and 10 million years ago. Virtually everything else is disputed by some cranky professional somewhere...For the first few million years, we mostly just grabbed rocks and smashed into things. Scientists, perhaps trying to salvage some of our dignity, call these stones 'hand-axes". A million years later, our progress was still not very impressing: we still grabbed 'hand-axes', but we began to smash them into other rocks making them more pointed. Now we had 'sharper-rocks'...".

What did you learn from Brain Rules that you would use in your daily life?

Techniques on attention, presentations, exercise and other topics.

Any additional comments?

It was a great listen, and I will be looking forward to other books from this author.

Gets technical and stories get lost

The book is good and I have taken a few great points out of the book. I love his explanation around exercise, stress and the effects on brain function.

Some excellent content however gets technical to a point if you have little idea about brain terminology, you get bored and miss exactly what he is saying.

The first half of the book is worth listening to.