Brilliant Mind, A: Proven Ways to Increase Your Brainpower [Paperback]

Frank M.D. Minirth (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2007

Most people use less than 5 percent of their overall brain potential. A Brilliant Mind helps readers tap into the other 95 percent through the mental exercise of vocabulary building and memorization. With the exercises in this book, readers can improve test scores, increase IQ, memorize more information, communicate more effectively, and excel in work and interactions with other people. Developed from Dr. Minirth's vast experience as a psychiatrist, A Brilliant Mind contains dozens of word lists to memorize, a process that will not only increase vocabulary but also change and grow the brain itself. The book also reveals eight time-proven memory techniques, encourages Scripture memorization, and offers insights into language that will open new doors for any reader. A Brilliant Mind will be especially helpful to baby boomers looking for mental exercises to sharpen their minds and improve their memories.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

EXCERPT FROM CATALOG: Increasing brain power does not depend upon age, station in life, or intelligence; what matters is desire. No matter your age--seven, seventeen, fifty-seven, seventy-seven--you can exercise your mind. A desire to empower one's mental capacity, coupled with effective techniques of vocabulary recall, will lead most anyone to excel. Thomas Edison, thought by many to have the highest IQ in the last millennium, was dismissed from school because his teacher thought he did not have the intelligence to succeed academically. Albert Einstein could not read until he was seven and still was considered a slow learner in high school. Winston Churchill was last in his class in school but developed a remarkable vocabulary that led him to become one of the greatest orators of all time. If Edison, why not you? If Einstein, why not you? If Churchill, why not you? Your mental muscles can be developed as surely as your physical muscles. Most of us naturally use less than 5 percent of our overall brain potential. The development of the other 95 percent lies in our own hands. The brain can be tuned, developed, and improved. It is the most highly developed computer ever made, and yet the circuits and the cells must be sharpened until it becomes analogous to a highly tuned engine. By tuning your brain, you create innumerable new opportunities for growth, communication, and experience, and you save countless hours formerly spent retrieving information--hours that can now be spent in fruitful enterprise and relationships.

From the Back Cover

You can have a brilliant mind, greater intelligence, and an excellent command of language. All you need is a little exercise. Just as we can develop muscle cells through physical exercises, so can we develop brain cells and connections through mental exercises. In this book you will find time-proven techniques and exercises for building a more intelligent mind. Written by acclaimed psychiatrist Frank Minirth, it provides a way for you to increase your IQ memorize more information improve test scores communicate more effectively excel in the business world prevent cognitive decline Most people use less than 5 percent of their overall brain potential. No matter what your age, you can tap into the other 95 percent through the mental exercises contained in this book. Not only will your vocabulary and opportunities increase, but you will actually change and expand your brain to become more brilliant. Frank Minirth is president of the Minirth Clinic in Richardson, Texas, and one of only 122 doctors in America and Canada certified by the prestigious American Society of Clinic Psychopharmacology. He is the bestselling author of Happiness Is a Choice and can be heard weekly on both local and national radio.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Revell (January 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0800731875
• ISBN-13: 978-0800731878
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #830,555 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I recommend "A Brilliant Mind", January 16, 2007

By 

Colleen Bachna "CJB" (NE OHIO) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Brilliant Mind, A: Proven Ways to Increase Your Brainpower (Paperback)

Just as our bodies need physical exercise to stay in top form, our brains must be exercised as well. "A Brilliant Mind" is a worthwhile book to purchase or borrow from the library. Read it daily to keep the mind focused; challenge yourself to learn a new & different way of doing something you already do. We do so many things by rote- mix it up to help your brain stretch. Try a recitation. Do a puzzle. For Baby Boomers out there, learn poetry, expand on something you learned in school. I keep this in my car & find plenty of downtime to use the book. I recommend.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars The Legendary Frank Minirth M.D. Makes Big Promises, February 4, 2008

By 

Anthony Centore Ph.D. "Anthony Centore Ph.D." (www.ThriveBoston.com (Cambridge, MA)) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Brilliant Mind, A: Proven Ways to Increase Your Brainpower (Paperback)

Neuroplasticity and neurogenesis, two terms that mean the brain can be molded and the brain can grow, are touted as evidence that increasing word power may improve intelligence. In what is ninety percent a book of vocabulary words and definitions, the introductory chapters of A Brilliant Mind make a case for how memorizing the word lists within will increase one's brainpower. Some anecdotal evidence is cited (historical persons attributing their fame and success to their vocabulary) as well as a few related academic studies (including ones that show that the nervous system can change over time based on experience). However, consider these two Q&A points:

Q: Have the word lists in this book been in any way empirically validated for improving intelligence?

A: Nope.

Q: Has there ever been a study where memorizing vocabulary has produced an increase in IQ?

A: No. None mentioned in this book, anyway.

Perhaps it is this lack of empirical support that persuaded Dr. Minirth to backpedal from the claims on the cover and make this vague promise at the end of chapter two, "My contention is that a brilliant mind--indeed, a healthy, peaceful mind--may be within reach for many." Notice the multiple qualifiers; stating `my contention' (my take on it), then equating brilliant with healthy/peaceful, then writing it `may' (or may not) be with in reach for many (but not all).

So, the `ways' in Minirth's book aren't really `proven' as the title suggests. However, for those wanting to expand their vocabulary, this book might be a good choice. In the end, even if your IQ stays the same, you should be able to impress your friends and colleagues by using some big words.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Increase Your Word Power, December 12, 2008

By 

Rebecca Johnson "The Rebecca Review" (Washington State) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Brilliant Mind, A: Proven Ways to Increase Your Brainpower (Paperback)

"Everyday, choose one word, one you're not sure you know, and look it up in the dictionary." ~ Marilyn vos Savant

Frank Minirth has written a very useful book but it should be more appropriately titled: A Brilliant Vocabulary: Proven Ways to Increase Your Word Power.

This book is mostly made up of word lists with short definitions. At this point you may be asking whether it would just be better to buy a dictionary and read it over a year's time. I'd suggest doing that anyway and I did it once. However, this book has words in lists of various categories like art, music, physics, chemistry and biology.

Frank Minirth believes you can develop a photographic memory. But will this book do that for you? I don't think simply memorizing words or Bible verses (there is a chapter filled with Bible verses) will do that for you. This book does however teach you how to remember words through memory techniques.

One of the things I love to do while reading is to write down unfamiliar words, which I then look up at dictionary dot com. This has been very helpful as I branch out into new territories where understanding a word becomes essential to understanding new concepts and ideas. This book will help you in a similar way although it presents the words without using them in sentences. For that you may want to look up specific words online to see how they are used and in what context.

I wouldn't recommend that you read this book all at once. That would be overwhelming. Perhaps read the introduction to each chapter and then go back to the lists as you have time to learn new words. One of the words I learned was "philomuse - lover of poetry."

Since mental exercises help to develop brain cells and connections you may also want to use this book to prevent age-related cognitive decline. At the end of the book there is a casual discussion about the benefits of certain drugs that affect memory as we age.

So if you love reading dictionaries this book will be wildly enjoyable for you. I'd suggest reading just a few word lists a day to increase your vocabulary over the next year.

~The Rebecca Review