The Neuroscience of You: How Every Brain Is Different and How to Understand Yours
- Downloads：6454
- Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
- Create Date：2022-07-30 20:21:35
- Update Date：2025-09-06
- Status：finish
- Author：Chantel Prat
- ISBN：1524746606
- Environment：PC/Android/iPhone/iPad/Kindle
Reviews
Paul Vogelzang
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Great book and fun to read。 I learned much and will interview Chantel Prat about her amazing work。
Mayda （My Book Cafe Life）
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The Neuroscience of You has great information about the brain and it’s working mechanism。 As well as some exercises and tests。 I sadly didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought。 I found it to be more research and reference focused rather than an actual educational conversation or thorough analysis about the subject。 It also felt more of a personal essay and how it applied to the author， more so than how your brain works for you。While I didn’t love it， I would recommend it。
James Treyens
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What a great and fun book！ I highly recommend it！ This book has something for everyone， from those with no prior exposure to neuroscience to those of us who have spent years studying it but sometimes lose the forest for the trees。 Chantel Prat teaches us about neuroscience in an engaging， fun （and funny） way。 She opens up the world of neuroscience in the way Carl Sagan opened up the cosmos。 She uses stories to show how neuroscience has helped her understand why she is the way she is， as well as What a great and fun book！ I highly recommend it！ This book has something for everyone， from those with no prior exposure to neuroscience to those of us who have spent years studying it but sometimes lose the forest for the trees。 Chantel Prat teaches us about neuroscience in an engaging， fun （and funny） way。 She opens up the world of neuroscience in the way Carl Sagan opened up the cosmos。 She uses stories to show how neuroscience has helped her understand why she is the way she is， as well as why each of us is the way we are， and she does this with great enthusiasm and humor。 She even contrasts her brain with the brains of those to whom she is closest， her husband and daughter。 I really appreciate this since one of my own motivations in studying neuroscience and psychology has been to understand why I seem so different from most people I know。 Throughout the book she shows how neuroscience can help you understand why you are the way you are， and why you are unique and different from everyone else。Prat’s own career has focused on understanding individual differences， and she uses her own research as well as that of many others to stress that everyone is unique。 Her perspective is a very different from those who might be interested in classifying people as “normal” or “abnormal” on various dimensions。 She is interested in where each person lies on a variety of measures， for example， how they utilize each hemisphere of the brain or how their mix of neurotransmitters （the chemicals neurons use to communicate with each other） might be different from others， and how this helps or hinders a person in particular situations。 She also provides many tests， exercises， and games （both in the book and on the associated website） that give you insight into how your own brain is organized and how it is different from others。Another theme in the book is that because research cognitive psychologists have focused on trying to describe the “normal” or average brain in understanding brain function， often eliminating from their studies people categorized as not normal， and because their results are typically presented as summaries or averages， they sometimes completely miss what is going on in individual brains。 In the worst case， they describe a mythical average brain which is in fact different from almost any actual person’s brain。 Prat illustrates this in her own research on how the left and right hemispheres of the brain work together in language understanding， and how they work differently in different people。As a researcher， Prat does not oversimplify how our brains work， and she accurately describes neuroscience as a work in progress， where we are always learning new things about the brain and revising what we thought we previously knew。 This gives the book an integrity that is sometimes lacking in books written for people new to a field。The book is divided into two parts。 The first part focuses on what Prat calls brain designs， or how differences in the biology of different people’s brains influence the way they think， feel， and behave。 The second part focuses on brain functions， primarily how people’s brains interact with their environments to enable them to act and adapt in their worlds。Neuroscience of You is full of fun facts and stories， while also informing you about some of the latest research in neuroscience。 Read it for fun and to learn， and then reread it。 I guarantee that each time you read it you’ll pick up something new， and if you’re interested in learning more， Prat provides notes that point you to further research on the topics she covers。This is Prat’s first book and we can only hope that there will be many more to come！ 。。。more
Andrea Stocco
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I had a chance to read this book while it was still in press， and， WOW， that was a BIG surprise！ As a working neuroscientists， I have been frustrated for a while with the many popular books about the brain， which basically rehash common "this part of the brain does X" tropes。 As it turns out， contemporary neuroscience has largely moved from this paradigm and instead is dealing with the problems of functional networks， connectivity， and （painfully） individual variability。 And THEN， this book came I had a chance to read this book while it was still in press， and， WOW， that was a BIG surprise！ As a working neuroscientists， I have been frustrated for a while with the many popular books about the brain， which basically rehash common "this part of the brain does X" tropes。 As it turns out， contemporary neuroscience has largely moved from this paradigm and instead is dealing with the problems of functional networks， connectivity， and （painfully） individual variability。 And THEN， this book came along！ It is a stunning tour de force that deals with individual variability across all levels， from brain structure to brain oscillations。 The book is impossible to put down， full of funny personal anecdotes and addictive trivia （including a meta-trivia on why trivia are so interesting！）。 And somehow this highly enjoyable thrill ride through your brain packs an enormous amount of current， cutting edge neuroscience。 Prat does not shy anyway from any experimental finding， no matter how tricky and confusing， but has a natural talent for scaffolding material and breaking it down along the way so that， when presented with it， the reader finds it easy to digest （believe it or not， you will learn a lot about machine learning and brain-computer interface along the way， without breaking a sweat！）。 At the end， it is Prat's enormous love for how different everyone is in subtle ways that comes through， and will make you fall in love with the brain！ 。。。more
Kelly Paradis
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