How Your Brain Works: A User's Guide to Neuropsychology

By: Gerald Griffin

Narrated by: Gerald Griffin

Length: 5 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

How does your brain work?

This 15-lecture audio course will increase your excitement and wonder about the mysterious organ responsible for so many of the invisible but important things (like love, personality, and emotion) that make us who we are.

The field of neuroscience is booming, heralding bold new discoveries and fresh insights into human nature, our behaviors, the mind - body connection, and even artificial intelligence.

Now, How Your Brain Works: A User’s Guide to Neuropsychology gives you exactly the sort of orientation you need to contextualize these discoveries and understand your brain.

Your guide is Professor Gerald D. Griffin (PhD, University of Pennsylvania), winner of several awards from national research institutions and of the Janet L. Andersen Excellence in Teaching Award at Hope College.

You will find that Prof. Griffin brings an infectious energy to every lecture. He makes you appreciate what a fascinating and multidisciplinary field neuroscience is - building on the discoveries of biology, chemistry, physics, and psychology to arrive at new understandings of the nervous system and behavior.

Though this course, you will gain a better understanding of how the chemistry, structure, and electrical connections of your brain give rise to complex perceptions and behavior. By the end, you will understand how a multitude of small, delicate changes in the nervous system shape your reality.

©2019 Now You Know Media (P)2019 Now You Know Media

Outstanding lectures, Dr. Griffin!

It was a privilege to listen to each lecture/chapter narrated by Dr. Gerald Griffin. Also, I extend my thanks and appreciation to Dr. Griffin for sharing his personal story (as an infant) in Chapter 14 and being most humble and grateful at present for his “God-given gift” to teach, research, etc. about a field of study he loves and cherishes. Moreover, I appreciate how Dr. Griffin presented the research in the lectures by referring to his students, colleagues, and supporting research.

Finally, I plan to listen to the lectures again within the next week or so. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to them!

A job well done, Dr. Griffin!

-JS

Great explanation of the brain for the layperson

I enjoyed this title by Dr. Gerald Griffin, who is professor of Psychology and Biology at Hope College. Neuropsychology is definitely not a straightforward topic, but Dr. Griffin explains things very clearly. He covers everything from the structure of the brain and nerve cells to the senses, behavior, motivation and bonding. Even though this is pretty scientific, I found a lot of hope and inspiration in the work, for example where he talks about how the brain really holds infinity in its 100 billion cells. Recommend.

Discover Your Brain Completely

Neuroscience courses usually focus on certain aspects; for example, the structure of the brain, how it works, its psychology, mental illnesses, or any other topic. However, if you want a comprehensive course, this one is for you.

The course starts by simplifying the structure and functions of the human nervous systems; both peripheral and central. I cannot believe that Gerald managed to simplify such a thing; I’m a senior medical student and I know what I’m talking about.

The course then moves to the psychology of the brain and how it works in different situations. I loved this part so much because of the way Professor Gerald teaches it. I didn’t feel bored at all, which is weird since I overslept during similar lectures in college. When I reached the lectures of fear, anxiety, motivation, memory, mood, attention, and consciousness, I was surprised by how great they are. They are rich in content, yet well-explained.

If you want to understand how our brains work and why we do whatever we do, this course is your best guide.
I’ll never say that neuroscience is difficult again thanks to professor Gerald.

Thank you, professor Gerald, for this great course!

Brain Science for Any One

Griffin explores the ‘life of the mind’ from a biological perspective. He begins with the brain’s control of basic bodily processes like vision and balance. He then discusses the brain’s role in bonding and prosocial behaviors. There are also discussions of fear and anxiety, motivation, and memory.

I thought Griffin did a nice job of balancing hard science (he's done a lot of original research and works in a lab work) with an eye towards helping people in their everyday lives.

Narrator unskilled

I could not get through more than a couple chapters of it before I finally got too frustrated with the narrator's reading of this book. His pacing is very off as he constantly pauses in the middle of sentences. Listing to this is like listening to a a school kid trying to read out loud for the class and it is just overall immersion breaking for me.