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

Highly interesting! Would ready/listen again.

The clarity of the text makes the content very easy to be understood. The author gives valueable information and has a way to make you excited about what comes next. I'll certainly will ready again. I find that I've got very valuable information from this reading!

An Entertaining Book About a Serious Subject

I'm not sure why I bought this book, but I'm glad I did. It tells about brain function in a very entertaining way. It is full of stories that are fun to repeat to friends. I've actually listened to portions of it several times.

Great work to introduce how the mind works

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

examples, stories, recaps, online resources (chapter summaries) - highly recommend for anyone wanting to better understand and improve their performance

Great information.

What did you love best about Brain Rules?

Great outline of important ways to maximize brain performance through lifestyle. It wasn't any new information for me, but the reminder of the scientific data behind the principles was good.

What about John J. Medina’s performance did you like?

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Any additional comments?

Useful And Enlightening

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

In 2011, I suffered a Traumatic Brain Injury and was diagnosed with a Diffuse Axonal Injury. 90% of people with this injury never regain consciousness. Those who do wake up will often remain significantly impaired or in a vegetative state. I have been studying brain health in a quest to rebuild my brain to the best of my abilities. This book was very useful!

Any additional comments?

I love the studies that are referenced, but I still need to check them out too.

good book, terrible narration

If you could sum up Brain Rules in three words, what would they be?

read, don't listen.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Brain Rules?

the narrator's terrible reading style.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

his voice squeaks, especially at the end of sentences, much like a pre-teen struggling with hormonal changes during puberty. it was very distracting and it is taking me a long time to get through the book because it is so irritating and annoying. he seems to do it on purpose and it just sounds awful.

Any additional comments?

due to the narration, i would recommend that anybody interested buy the hard copy and read the book themselves.

Loved It!

If you could sum up Brain Rules in three words, what would they be?

Insightful, informative, well researched

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

Your Brain at Work; David Rock or The believing Brain, Michael Shermer.

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

A great insight into how we think, learn, remember and perceive our world!

Excellent overview of modern Brain Science

Where does Brain Rules rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This will remain as one of my top ten that I plan to listen to again. It's a lot to digest and I'm convinced the material is absolutley life changing if studied and applied. Good stuff here.

What did you like best about this story?

He has a theory on education that he applies in his writing of the book and it's loaded with illustrations, even if the illustration doesn't directly apply to his point, it introduces the idea and that is enough to keep your mind engaged. As a communicator, it's fascinating to see the concept applied.

Have you listened to any of John J. Medina’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

John does his own narration which is good on one hand, he adds so much of his own experience and personality to the performance that it feels more like a

Food for brain

Compelling book, sometimes hard to follow via audio. I'm thinking about buying hard copy, there are chapters I plan to go through several times.

Awesome little tidbits all throughout

Where does Brain Rules rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This book was well read and I definately enjoyed the authors voice being connected to the book. The only qualm i have with it is the way he pronounced the word neuron, which might be trivial sounding but leaves you wondering if he did it purposely (read the book and you'll clue in). It covers alot of what I'd like to call pop culture psychology and biology which won't be new to anyone who covered an intro course or has gone to the museum recently. However, it's still riddled with good knowledge and does apply a lot of the knowledge to real world scenario's and he does well at applying what he's teaching us in the audiobook. Overall I'd recommend this book to anyone who's looking for an informative "fun" read away from a text book.