Buddha's Brain

The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love & Wisdom

By: Rick Hanson Ph.D., Richard Mendius MD, Daniel J. Siegel M.D. - foreword

Narrated by: Alan Bomar Jones

Length: 6 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's summary

The Buddha and other great teachers were born with brains built essentially like anyone else’s - and then they changed their brains in ways that changed the world.

Science is now revealing how the flow of thoughts actually sculpts the brain. By combining breakthroughs in neuroscience with insights from thousands of years of contemplative practice, you, too, can use your mind to shape your brain for greater happiness, love, and wisdom.

Buddha’s Brain draws on the latest research to show how to stimulate and strengthen your brain for more fulfilling relationships, a deeper spiritual life, and a greater sense of inner confidence and worth. You’ll learn how to activate the brain states of calm, joy, and compassion instead of worry, sorrow, and anger. This clear, down-to-earth book is filled with practical tools and skills that you can use in daily life to tap the unused potential of your brain and rewire it over time for greater well-being and peace of mind.

©2009 Rick Hanson (P)2010 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Learning about yourself

This book is good to learn about how your brain works, where does it come from and it's relationship with current real life phenomena but the title doesn't honor the content because the depth of Buda's teachings is less than 5%
The other 95% is about neuroscience which is ok but I expected more about budas teachings and brain functions

Robot used for narration

No idea why the narration was done by a computerized voice, but it ruined this audible for me. I returned it after trying to get through the first hour. Such a bummer for such a great book.

Really good book

HAd a lot of good topics that can be used to be much happier. I feel like everyone can use this book no mater there background

Very cerebral

Good material for a neuroscience class or lecture, but not much practical applicability. Good research.

Hard to follow reader's unusual speaking style.

The reader often uses odd inflections, diminishing the meaning of each statement. The book itself is fantastic, but I often felt like the reader stopped thinking about what he was reading and, when that happened, so did I.

Great place to start

Would you consider the audio edition of Buddha's Brain to be better than the print version?

Personally I find the audio version of books great as they can give me autonomy with my time e.g. I am free to do other things and still absorb the content of the book.

Further I personally find I tune into the content or put another way get into the zone of content absorption better if I am doing other things such as weeding the garden or folding laundry etc. Usually task that do not require thinking.... :^)
I am sure this method wouldn't work if I was performing some of my other task such as problem solving computer issues....

Having said that I believe that unabridged is possibly better read in text form as unabridged audio tends to be harder to follow in books like this.

I am an absolute beginner this is my first unabridged audio book as I have also listened to abridged versions from the same authors

What was one of the most memorable moments of Buddha's Brain?

As part of my tertiary education where human biology was studied (in particular the brain) I found this aspect fascinating. One does not have to have thin knowledge to learn from and understand this book but for me I really enjoyed this aspect the most.

How could the performance have been better?

I believe that if the co-authors Rick Hanson and Richard Mendius had narrated this it would have been much better. I say this because of the other works of these authors where they narrated it was far better in my view.

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

I listened to this book over a week or so on and off.

Any additional comments?

I have and will recommend this book to others who wish to not only understand more about how the mind and brain work together to create who we are and how we feel from moment to moment. Definitely people who want to make a change for them selves to live a more fulfilling happy joyful life.

From my personal experience listening to this book and others by the same authors have found it has made profound changes for me personally which has had the effect of changing the lives of my significant others and further more those who they have contact with and as described in this book it can effect many more besides.

Great content !

I felt the narration was Kind
OF mechanic AND monotonous.

That difficulted a lot the comprehension OF the neurological data AND the spiritual experience of the buddist content.

The Book is great!!!! The audible version not so much.... :(

Great chapters on forgiveness and understanding. A bit heavy on the science.

Title was misleading. More of a brain science book for psychologists. A bit heavy for the layman. Great section on forgiveness. I liked the stories when the author provided them. Lots of hard work by the author and narrator in conveying the science with examples.

The Narrator Sounds like a Robot

I really enjoyed the content of this book but found the narrator’s voice too robotic to really enjoy it.

Live a full life

This book is an excellent examination of the evolution of our brains and the science of training the mind.