Brave New You

Strategies, Tools, and Neurohacks to Live More Courageously Every Day

By: Mary Poffenroth Ph.D Ph.D

Narrated by: Mary Poffenroth Ph.D Ph.D

A groundbreaking guide to master everyday fear and anxiety.

Mary Poffenroth, PhD, is a scientist, professor, and fear expert who has spent her career researching how we can all live more courageously, every day. With anxiety rates tripling and depression rates quadrupling since 2019, Brave New You could not be timelier as it gives readers actionable steps to navigate the underlying cause of our current mental health crisis: fear. Not fight-or-flight, but the kind of pervasive, debilitating everyday fears triggered by problems, stresses, and challenging issues we all face in our day-to-day lives.
Along with the author’s personal stories about overcoming her fears, Brave New You combines the latest research in biology and psychology to help readers identify the hidden sources of struggle while teaching them to use neurohacks that will give them all the tools and strategies they need to live a fuller, happier life.

Brave New You Audible Review

Are you ready to start living more courageously? Researcher and biologist Dr. Mary Poffenroth guides readers through recognizing, understanding, and overcoming fear. No matter what stage you are at in your mental health journey, Brave New You is an essential resource for learning the biological and psychological tools to understand fear and live a more fulfilling life.
I had previously read Brave New You and was recently able to listen to the audiobook version. As someone who has struggled with anxiety, depression, and the fear of not being enough Dr. Ponffenroth’s book, Brave New You, allowed me to look at these fears I have always lived with in a new light. It helped me to begin understanding the reasoning and origins of these fears and how to start overcoming them. While this book is not a replacement for therapy or professional help it is an invaluable aid to anyone working on improving their mental health. The audiobook version of Brave New You enriches this experience as we hear from Dr. Ponffenroth herself.
Brave New You is broken down into three parts. The first section helps readers come to terms with fear and removes some of the taboo feelings we have on the subject. It breaks down how fear is a natural and essential part of human evolution and its interwoven connection with courage as a partner rather than an adversary. Once we understand the subject of fear the book breaks down different types of fears. Such as the difference between factual and fictional fear, how our society and how we interact with fear, and how we biologically react to fear. In the last part of Brave New You readers are given tools and strategies for embracing and working through our fears.
The book is easy to read (or listen to, in this case) and comprehend. Dr. Poffenroth, as the narrator, has a clear and expressive tone. Her enthusiasm for her research shines through and gets the listener excited as well. Dr. Poffenroth also breaks down the biological and psychological reasonings behind fear so anyone can understand it (even the scientifically impaired like me). The book is also littered with what the author terms neurohacks, strategies to help calm and recenter oneself in the face of fear. These range from binaural beats, and certain smells, to simple hand movements. Dr. Poffenroth also provides various journaling and thought exercises for readers to use. Don’t think you have to buy the physical or digital book to have access to these exercises. The audiobook comes with a PDF detailing the same exercises found in the book. No reader is left out. The author also goes the extra mile utilizing her own bravery to share her experiences with fear. This vulnerability struck me the most and helped me connect to the book on a deeper level. I could see myself in the pages and resonate with the author’s own experiences. This is only strengthened by the voice of the author herself sharing these stories and experiences.
Brave New World is a golden toolbox of neurohacks, mental health tips and tricks, easy-to-comprehend science and psychology, and heartfelt stories and advice. Anyone looking to better understand and improve their mental health should read (or rather listen to) this book.

Like an extended TED talk

I loved the conversational tone of her voice, the humor and the mix of science and narrative. Her stories were helpful In illustrating the concepts, and the emphasis in her voice made it clear she wasn’t acting but lived it.

Great advice, a ton of activities to help reduce stress and fear!

Great book on the mixup between stress and fear, as a lot of our stress is fear! I like how she describes various ways to become more brave and confident! She has my simple yet powerful activities to help you focus on making your thought processes work for you and not against you. I think this is a very important audiobook!

Hire a narrator please!

For god’s sake why do authors narrate their own books! She is horrible. An annoying voice and she speaks way too quickly and she has an irritating cadence. Please hire an actor! She’s got some valuable things to say here but I had to quit an order the hardcover!

Amazingly approachable and relatable

I highly recommend this book for anyone who is looking for an incredibly approachable and relatable guide to living more courageously, even if you don’t have a clinically diagnosed disorder and are just dealing with everyday life (let’s face it, we all need a bit of help from time to time). As a person who has clinically diagnosed Generalized Anxiety, I am always looking for tools to help break me out of the stalemates I often find myself in. While Brave New You provides so many wonderful tools (or neurohacks) that do just that, the author also gives you the insights into WHY these these behaviors happen to begin with. From attachment styles to hyper independence, she digs into the science behind things like fear, anxiety, and stress. Getting to the root cause of these behaviors is invaluable knowledge that I will always carry with me. I can now Name It to Tame It, derail a fear response, and call myself out on things (most of the time 😉) before they snowball out of control.

I know a lot of folks will be deterred by the author reading her own work. However, in this case, she is a wonderful narrator and really brings a relaxing vibe to the entire book.