East Meets West in Book About Neuroscience

Did you know that the Dalai Lama, Buddhist monks and some of the world’s leading neuroscientists get together once a year to discuss the latest research on neuroplasticity, i.e., ways that the human brain can change itself? Did you know there’s groundbreaking research being done on how the mind can affect the brain’s physical structure?

I didn’t know this until I read science writer Sharon Begley’s well-researched and well-written book Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain: How a New Science Reveals Our Extraordinary Potential to Transform Ourselves.

Begley writes about a complex subject thoroughly, but concisely without oversimplifying. The book provides a fascinating account of the history of neuroscience research and changing attitudes about the brain’s capacity to heal and compensate for deficits, leading up to the most recent studies that suggest the mind can play a key role in changing the brain.

The book (for all its scientific discussions) is relatively easy reading. And for someone with a neurological disorder (like, say, dystonia), it presents a lot of hopeful possibilities.