Amazon.com Review Before consulting with customer service, it's always a good idea to read the manual. Psychiatrist John Ratey has condensed years of research on one of the most intimidating yet ubiquitous pieces of hardware in the world into the ever-handy User's Guide to the Brain. More intellectually stimulating than day-to-day practical, the Guide uses tales from Ratey's practice and other clinical venues, tidbits from neuroscientific research, and plain common sense to suggest how the brain develops and manifests personality and behavior. With section titles like "Free Will and the Anterior Cingulate Gyrus," many readers will feel intimidated, but Ratey is careful to direct his explanations to all--even those without a PhD in neuroanatomy. His interesting four-theater theory of mental function is the most directly practical section of the book, incorporating the author's years of experience with patients into a sensible framework that readers can use to better tune their own systems. Describing the changing of the guard from psychoanalysis to a more biological paradigm, Ratey writes:
Neuroscientists have, in a sense, simply taken over the elite, almost clerical office once held by analysts. The language used to describe the brain is, if anything, more opaque than any of the old psychoanalytic terminology, which was itself so obscure that only trained professionals could wade through the literature. Most people never even bother to learn such terminology, deeming that, like the language of the computer scientists of the early 1970s, it is better left to the nerds.
Determined to help us overcome our sense of helplessness in matters cranial, Ratey has shown that we can understand ourselves better and can learn quite a bit from the nerds. --Rob Lightner
Product Description John Ratey, bestselling author and clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, here lucidly explains the human brain’s workings, and paves the way for a better understanding of how the brain affects who we are. Ratey provides insight into the basic structure and chemistry of the brain, and demonstrates how its systems shape our perceptions, emotions, and behavior. By giving us a greater understanding of how the brain responds to the guidance of its user, he provides us with knowledge that can enable us to improve our lives.
In A User’s Guide to the Brain, Ratey clearly and succinctly surveys what scientists now know about the brain and how we use it. He looks at the brain as a malleable organ capable of improvement and change, like any muscle, and examines the way specific motor functions might be applied to overcome neural disorders ranging from everyday shyness to autism. Drawing on examples from his practice and from everyday life, Ratey illustrates that the most important lesson we can learn about our brains is how to use them to their maximum potential.
Use your brain - change your lifeAugust 31, 2008 This book is insightful, very readable and inspirational. Understand the working of your brain and live life to the fullest.
Definitely not a user's guide. It's much better than thatAugust 4, 2008 The introduction to this book captivated me, where the author describes the plasticity and flexibility of the neuronal connections and the "reconnections" that can take place after brain injuries. This book is awe inspiring when talking about the marvelous mechanisms at play and the grandeur of our brains.
This was the first book on neurosciences that I read and it proved a very good and complete introduction to the topic. The book is extensive and covers a wide range of aspects. I would not regard it as a user's guide to the brain, since it definitely is not a "How to use your brain..." book. Advise and recommendations for the care of your brain are scarce and only to be found in the last chapters.
I would say that it is a comprehensive science book that outlines and summarizes the investigations done in neurosciences. I know too little on this subject to say this, but the topics that I have read in other books are covered at least briefly in this one. Starting with this book, you can read more detail on any brain function or process that you are interested in.
This book introduces perception and the 5 senses, attention and consciousness, memory (long and short lived), motion, mathematical and musical abilities, language, emotions, etc. along with several clinical cases in each section which lead to a better understanding of how the various parts of the brain work and interact.
It is a long and sometimes difficult to read book, but every bit of it is worth the effort.
Intriguing, Interesting, but Lacks CitationsJune 14, 2008 2 out of 2 found this review helpful
"A User's Guide to the Brain" is an intriguing essay on the mind, as the subtitle implies: Perception, Attention and the Four Theatres of the Brain. Written in 2001, the 401 pages over ten chapters is more of Dr. Ratey's personal memoirs and anecdotes written in the first person than a medically written essay without any interjected opinions or afterthoughts, which is more of what I was hoping to find. Dr. Ratey, however, makes several claims and refers to several papers without the much needed citations that allow the reader to follow in the doctor's footsteps.
For example, on page 109, Dr. Ratey states, "There are countless reports in history about people with an extraordinary ability to know where they are going: pathfinders, guides, mariners, pioneers..." Being more of a general statement, it would not be reasonable for the reader to expect the author to cite the "countless reports," but in the next paragraph, Dr. Ratey states, "Joseph Kirschvink and researchers at the California Institute of Technology have identified the same kind of magnetite particles in human brain tissue." At the end of this statement, a footnote or an endnote should follow immediately, or at least an APA reference that allows the reader to investigate the claim further. It seems that the author's unwillingness to cite his sources means he expects his readers to believe whatever he says, and I understand I make take a few unhelpfuls for that, but when it comes to making a claim about a study, find or statistic, professional writing demands that such claims be backed up with a footnote, endnote or bibliographic reference. For general knowledge, a writer could do it all day long. But with medial science, no way.
Another example of a missing citation: page 263, paragraph 2. "Researchers Jenny Saffran and colleagues at the University of Rochester reveal a study showing that infants' learning ability may greatly exceed previous expectations." Which study? No reference, no citation, no follow-up possible.
On page 373: "One recent advance that seems straight out of science fiction is transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)...Twelve patients diagnosed with OCD were given the stimulation at several different points on their skulls. The patients found that stimulation to the frontal lobe on the right side of the head resulted in a reduction in compulsions and an improved mood." Right there, at the end of that sentence, there needs to be a citation or link to the aforementioned "transcranial magnetic stimulation."--otherwise, as the author states, it might just _be_ science fiction. It's not? No? Then cite the source. In the very next statement, Dr. Ratey even mentions indirectly that his omissions are intentional: "More research needs to be completed before we truly understand the possibilities of this new technology." Dr. Ratey, it is your job as the writer to do that research. The reader's job is to be excited with your presentation and follow your work, not to do your work for you.
The missing citations are more of the fault of the editors at Pantheon books. I'm surprised the manuscript ever got past the senior editor. Until the myriad of missing citations are put into a revised first edition of "A User's Guide to the Brain," unfortunately, Dr. Ratey's work here cannot be accepted as conclusive. To avoid work, Dr. Ratey included a "suggested reading" list in the back, which conveniently frees him of his responsibility as an author. This type of text would be much improved and vastly more accepted if it were strictly a third person narrative. Otherwise, it's mostly hearsay, although we would like to believe Dr. Ratey has no intention to deceive his audience, credibility demands that no non-general claims are left unsubstantiated.
Best Book On The Brain YetJune 2, 2008 0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is the best written book on the brain and mind that I have seen yet, and I've seen and read a bunch. Ratey can write so well that it was a pleasure to read. The book is very comprehensive and insightful. I'd give it 10 stars if the rating system could handle it.
Great bookApril 19, 2008 This is a book that is very understandable to read for someone that is not medical. It is an enjoyable book with information anyone can understand. There are only a few illustrations but they are useful.
I recommend this book for anyone pursuing a better understanding in the workings of the human processor "brain".
