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Rating: 
Summary: Pointless waste of innocent trees
Review: According to the cover blurb this book reflects the very latest brain research. In fact it is almost completely based on what is known as "Hebbian Learning", or as this author puts it (over and over and OVER again) "cells that fire together, wire together." Is this new? Not unless you count research circa 1949 as new. Despite the author's impressive CV, this book has a single message - brain cells don't regenerate, but the more you use your brain the more new connections it will develop. Question is, how to you string this message out to over 250 pages? With lots of waffle and SERIOUS repetition. That's how. Not even a total newcomer to the subject will be able to extract much from this simplistic, even patronising text. Conclusion: Like the headline says, a pointless waste of innocent trees.
Rating:
Summary: Pointless waste of innocent trees
Review: According to the cover blurb this book reflects the very latest brain research. In fact it is almost completely based on what is known as "Hebbian Learning", or as this author puts it (over and over and OVER again) "cells that fire together, wire together." Is this new? Not unless you count research circa 1949 as new. Despite the author's impressive CV, this book has a single message - brain cells don't regenerate, but the more you use your brain the more new connections it will develop. Question is, how to you string this message out to over 250 pages? With lots of waffle and SERIOUS repetition. That's how. Not even a total newcomer to the subject will be able to extract much from this simplistic, even patronising text. Conclusion: Like the headline says, a pointless waste of innocent trees.
Rating: 
Summary: A must read.
Review: Excellent summary of recent, direct explorations of how the brain works, such how it learns, and the implications of such knowledge to individuals, schools, governments, societies, and human evolution. The examples are fascinating. The writing, by a person of deep knowledge of his subject, is efficient, humble, and, at times, humerous, The author has successfully made some important, liberating, and inspiring information accessible to general readership.
Rating: 
Summary: Highly Recommended!
Review: This first-rate study of the workings of the brain is required reading for anyone interested in how advertisers influence consumers, how mental exercise can improve both mental and physical performance or how parents can stimulate mental activity in their young children. That probably doesn't leave out many curious readers. Starting with a basic explanation of how the brain initially forms, Ian H. Robertson logically proceeds into his explanation of mind sculpting, which is nothing less than the process through which the mind is continuously evolving. His treatment of the staggeringly complex topic is surprisingly accessible, enabling you to make the intuitive leaps from biological detail to the practical manifestations of these phenomena without handholding. In short, we [...] recommend that you read this book.
Rating:
Summary: Tosses out the old, negative myths about the brain
Review: This is an excellent book about the latest research on brain structure, and perhaps the best thing about the newest information is how hopeful it is. Robertson shows that your brain is what you make of it, day by day. We can make new patterns and neural pathways in our brain all the way through old age, simply by putting new demands on it. This book is must reading for anyone who was depressed by the idea that their brain stopped growing and started dying at age 15. If you keep on using your brain, it will keep on growing.
Rating:
Summary: Tosses out the old, negative myths about the brain
Review: This is an excellent book about the latest research on brain structure, and perhaps the best thing about the newest information is how hopeful it is. Robertson shows that your brain is what you make of it, day by day. We can make new patterns and neural pathways in our brain all the way through old age, simply by putting new demands on it. This book is must reading for anyone who was depressed by the idea that their brain stopped growing and started dying at age 15. If you keep on using your brain, it will keep on growing.
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