Switch on Your Brain

The Key to Peak Happiness, Thinking, and Health

By: Dr. Caroline Leaf

Narrated by: Joyce Bean

Length: 4 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's Summary

According to researchers, the vast majority - a whopping 75-98 percent - of the illnesses that plague us today are a direct result of our thought life. What we think about truly affects us both physically and emotionally. In fact, fear alone triggers more than 1,400 known physical and chemical responses in our bodies, activating more than 30 different hormones! Today our culture is undergoing an epidemic of toxic thoughts that, left unchecked, create ideal conditions for illnesses.

Supported by current scientific and medical research, Dr. Caroline Leaf gives listeners a prescription for better health and wholeness through correct thinking patterns, declaring that we are not victims of our biology. She shares with listeners the "switch" in our brains that enables us to live happier, healthier, more enjoyable lives where we achieve our goals, maintain our weight, and even become more intelligent. She shows us how to choose life, get our minds under control, and reap the benefits of a detoxed thought life.

Full production copyright: Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved. Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version. © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations labeled AMP are taken from the Amplified® Bible, © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. Scripture quotations labeled ESV are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV Text Edition: 2007. Scripture quotations labeled GW are from GOD’S WORD®. © 1995 God’s Word to the Nations. Used by permission of Baker Publishing Group. Scripture quotations labeled Message are taken from The Message by Eugene H. Peterson, © 1993, 1994, 1995, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations labeled NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.TM Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. Scripture quotations labeled NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations labeled KJV are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

©2013 Dr. Caroline Leaf (P)2013 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

The information, amazing, the voice, can't take it

The information in this book is amazing. I would even say life-changing. I was enjoying the physical copy so much, but I don't have the time to sit for very long and read. So I got the audio version so that I could do my mindless editing and still be able to take it all in. The way that the narrator reads this book makes it almost impossible to follow. She's reading it like a textbook. The way she reads it makes the sentences not make sense. really disappointed, but will have to make time to read the hard copy. This will not work for me. Is there a way to find a different audio version?

Author should narrate

The content is amazing, however I wish the narrator sounded more like a friend. After hearing a few of Dr Leafs conferences I think I just expected the same vibe. Normally when read by the Author, though read, it's coming from there heart and has a particular conviction that connects with me.
Blessings

why is a heading required if it's "optional?"

Sounded like a computer reading text. Horrible. Monotone. The book has merit, but the audio diminishes it.

Warning "God bother"

I was expecting a scientific view not constant bible references. Beliefs are personal and I can read any regilous text if I choose to. If the book was titled
The bible and how to switch on your mind. I never would of purchased it. very disappointed

Amazing Book but narration isn't great

The information in this book is so important that after listening to it I bought a hard back copy and will listen again, making notes and highlights in the printed book. This book really is one to visit again and again. The only negative is the narration. I found it monotone and dry - even though the subject is exciting to me. Still, I'll endure it to hear this book again.

awesome for your brain

Helps you understand why you think the way you do & how to heal your brain from negative thinking & trauma from your past. Highly recommended. It's a Godsend

Amazing!

I liked that the book explains things from a science-based perspective so even if you're not a "religious" person the content still makes sense based on years of practical application and research. This book was recommended to me by my therapist, and I love it so much I'm going to get the hard copy just so I can take it all in visually.

Good concepts, but very repetitive.

The main concept is very helpful. However, the book is so repetitive that it is hard to stick with. It seems to have a lot of filler material. Listen to it once and you have listened to the same thing ten times. If I had to do it over again, I would buy the hard copy and read the last five or so chapters.

Not good for audio version

What disappointed you about Switch on Your Brain?

I like Leaf's work, but the narrator reads a list of bible verses frequently which makes it impossible to concentrate on the content. When you are reading a physical book, you can just skip over the lists, but when I have the audio running in the background, I don't want to keep running back to skip over every long list of verses. I wish they would take it out for audio version so that there's a flow.

What three words best describe Joyce Bean’s performance?

She sounds irritated and her fast tone of voice makes it seem like she just wants to get through this book as soon as possible. We want to feel relaxed when listening to audiobooks, not rushed. It's worse when she's reading through the long list of bible verses. She seems to be annoyed by it, too. (Which is understandable, because I get annoyed listening to the list.)

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Switch on Your Brain?

The long list of bible verses.

Any additional comments?

It seemed like good book that I would've enjoyed listening to, such a shame.

SAMPLE! couldn't get past the voice of the narrator. Credit wasted.

I feel bad for giving this review. My suggestion would be to listen to the sample first...something I didn't do. I'm a fan of Dr. Caroline Leaf's but with this book I don't even know if the content is good because I couldn't get past the narrators voice. Though I'm sure Joyce Bean is a nice person...but for some reason her voice is like nails on a chalk board to me. It doesn't even sound like someone reading me a book...she seems more concerned with how her voice sounds than keeping the vulnerability of the content. I wish I could retuen my credit...oh well. Lesson learned. Always sample the book.

Warning! Try before you buy..

If this book wasn’t for you, who do you think might enjoy it more?

It tries to be accessible claiming it is not a "scientific tome" but I didn't find it very easy to follow or comprehend. Expect a lot of neuroscience technical terms and some made-up terms like "milkshake multitasking". In the most part, I got the gist of the narration however there were plenty of times when my reaction to what I was hearing was one of complete bewilderment.

I sympathize with people who did not know the relationship between the author's Christian faith and her scientific research. The description should have made this explicitly clear and it is baffling beyond belief why this glaring omission has been made.

I did enjoy listening to examples of her research - the personal and very human stories of people who have made amazing medical recoveries. I was disappointed that her scientific mind did not deliver more sound and persuasive reasoning. It is facile to simply throw biblical quotes at people to "prove a point" especially when not given their proper context. For example, when the Bible talks about the "body" it is sometimes referring to "a body of people" or "the church" and not your physical body. Context is everything.

I found the egotistical nature of this book very off-putting. The book is all about the author, her research, her clinics, her clients, her 21 day brain detox plan and even plugs some of her other products. Christianity however doesn't place importance on self but in the personhood of Jesus Christ and selflessness.

Has Switch on Your Brain put you off other books in this genre?

Nope. This particular genre is somewhat muddled. It is filed in the "Health and Personal Development" category but could equally be filed away in "religion and spirituality". Towards the end of the audiobook it makes references to "Mindfulness" and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) so it could be filed away in that genre also.

Would you be willing to try another one of Joyce Bean’s performances?

Not really impressed by the narrator.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Switch on Your Brain?

Take out the last couple of minutes which contains all the boring copyright statements for all the different translations of the Bible used throughout the audiobook. It was a painful listen. Also stop throwing quotes around like a Study Bible. I don't want to pause and look stuff up when I'm listening to an audiobook. I have real books for that.

Any additional comments?

I really wanted this book to "blow my mind" as one of my friends suggested it would. Sadly, I feel deflated by it.

Exactly what I need

Loved it. Been wanting to know how to renew my mind and this is it.

Religious/Christian

Very Christian views which I did not get from the previous reviews. I am Christian but feel at unease with this level of pushing without prior knowledge of it.

Incredible

Incredible. Yet readable. Understandable and achievable. I look forward to applying these truths and see progress in my own life. Feeling encouraged. And determined.

cutting edge stuf

If you could sum up Switch on Your Brain in three words, what would they be?

the truth everybody needs to hear

Any additional comments?

one of the best books i have ever read

Tour de Force!

What a read! Dr Leaf breaks down quantum theory! Epi genetics! Quantum Zeno Effect! God's position in and on it all! Amazing! Woven together with skill, practical application and love! Well done you! MB

Heavily linked to the scriptures and bible.

i found the book difficult to follow at first and not keen on the biblical referencing, however once I adapted my listening there was some very good and informative information.

Educational, but not entirely practical

I thoroughly enjoyed being educated re brain chemistry and how it worked and I also value the repetition and summary, however the steps lacked any real life examples, the author could have cited one specific thought and gone through the series of steps and outcome. Hence the 3 stars

It's ok,

Positive; Dr Leaf teaches the most important things we need to know about the fact that we are 100% responsible for our life, which are created by our thoughts, these are actually physical (chemicals, cells, connections etc) "things" rather than some etheric substance, and therefore can be changed. These things work 100% because long time ago I developed this methods myself and transformed my life with it.
Negative; doesn't give real life examples which will make following her five steps very difficult for many of us. Seriously too many psalms! I have nothing against people expressing their religious believes but sometimes I felt almost mentally abused with the way they were used. It almost felt like would listen to Joan of Arc, probably because of the way it was read rather than anything else. Reading is too melodramatic, felt almost brainwashing.

Great great great

Very well written. Shows you how your brain works. Would have loved to hear more real life examples.