Customer Reviews

Building Mental Muscle: Conditioning Exercises for the Six Intelligence Zones (Brain Waves Books)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The 5 star ratings are very suprising to me. This is an informational manual on how the brain works and that's about as far as it goes. It provides different puzzles for you to do, but the puzzles are presented as a side note, are very complicated and are never explained as to why or how they got the answer. You have to crawl before you can walk, and this book assumes that you are already a marathon runner.It would be analagous to buying a book on how to build your biceps. The author explains how the biceps work and as a side note tells you to do a set of 10 curls with 100 pound dumbells in each hand, but the author never describes to you how to actually do the curls, assumes that your biceps can handle that much weight, and never gives you any exercises or explanations on how to work up to that level of training. The author is obviously well versed in the functions of the brain, but is an extremely poor mental muscle trainer and fails to realize that if someone was gifted enough to understand all of the mysterious and esoteric puzzles in his book, then they would not need to buy a book on how to build their mental muscle.

I had one main motivation for getting your book. To recapture my learning power! My second motivation was to understand why it needed to be recaptured.

Not only did I want to gain back my "Mental Muscle", but I wanted to understand why and how my learning capacity diminished in a few short years. I also wanted to understand preventative measures. And I wanted this information backed by research. So you see, your book was a perfect match.

The book is more entertaining than I anticipated! That has been the biggest surprise- it's fun. The mix of puzzles, exercises, research studies and explanations is like a song with an interesting and varied melody. It never stays in one place long enough to tire of it. Also, the information on how the brain functions (how it can become more/less powerful) was exactly what I wanted to know. Things like how the Hippocampus routes and retrieves data, how stress interferes with memory and how exercise helps the retention of mental function not only enlighten, but serve as positive motivation that the brain can be made strong again. Probably my favorite parts are those that explain the underlying logic needed to work through and solve the exercises. Like in the "Familial Dilemma" exercises.

As you can tell, I feel you have written a fine book and I am excited to see how my learning will be impacted. (bangonrecords.com -Music Production for film and television)

I've always felt it was important to take care of my body...with good food and exercise. After having read this book I realize that I have been taking my brain for granted. Building Mental Muscle has made be aware of the necessity for improving mental performance. The exercises are fun and informative. It's worth the read.

This book - Building Mental Muscle - is chock-a-block full of puzzles, games and other conundrums which you can share with your family and friends. It provides wonderfully clever ways to giving insights into the thinking process while entertaining with a variety of challenges and tests. Mensa would be's will be intrigued!

What a great book. I really enjoyed reading "Building Mental Muscle." When I decided that I wanted to study whole brain thinking, I spent over $1,300 on books and yours was exaclty what I was looking for-among the very best. Congratulations!

This is one of the few books on the market which aims to
sharpen intellectual skills. The author gives the reader an
important portal into how people learn and retain information.
For instance, the authors teach us how to learn by excluding
all other information from consideration while in deep concentration. Protein synthesis occurs with long term learning
wherein events may be emotionally charged in order to retain
them permanently. The conscious recognition of facts is different
from the unconscious recognition of facts. Memory may sharpen
with practice and by association with key words/phrases or
attributes. For instance, associate Mr. Green's green shirt
with Mr. Green. Sometimes name recollection can have associative
aspects. The work even has religious sayings.
For instance, Proverbs 17:22 states that " A cheerful head
is good medicine. "

This book won't make you smarter; however, it will assist in
utilizing your intelligence in a more organized/rational manner.
The author's presentation can benefit by organizing study
sessions rationally so that material can be recalled by a simple
collection of associations.

Medical professionals and also anyone interested in the brain/intelligence will certainly benefit from this book. For the beginner, it is an invaluable starting point to a lifestyle, if one so chooses to undertake it, of "neuro-fitness". It is also just an interesting book to read, with medical terms that may get heavy, but are explained in full for the laymen. For the professional, it is an interesting layout of research and ideas which may apply to better yourself, your children, or maybe even your patients, if that applies to your field.
I am not saying it is the best book of all time, but it is worth the money and a weekend to read and digest it.

Based around the six "intelligence" zones (social, memory, emotional, language, math & spatial) the book aims to present both background information and exercises for bulking up each of the relevant mental areas above.
With ample information of the neurology of the brain, solid examples to support the information and some rather neat practice exercices, this is a solid example of a boox that does what it says it will.
It's well worth a read and very recommended.

(Sorry about spelling etc,.. I'm from norway. Age 44. Male. BsC.)

This book was a interesting surprise to mee. I thought I was going to read about psychology (I was right there), and that maybe it could give me a clue to improve my poor memory (It did).

But what's realy stuck in me after reading this bokk (I skipped all the exercises), is the relation between stress and deseases like alzheimers.

If you want to have many years of good living ahead, the first half of this book is realy worth while.

Other parts (second half) are just stating what humanity knows this far about how hearing and vision works, and could be of interest to someone who have not read any pshychology before, but the fact is, we still don't know how our brain works, so not practically usefull for living a better life, like the first half was.

I hope this was a alternative view to some of the other reviews :-)

This book is entertaining. It contains a mix of puzzles, exercises, research studies and explanations. Also, the information on how the brain functions (how it can become more/less powerful) was exactly what I wanted to know. Other interesting points: how the Hippocampus routes and retrieves data; how stress interferes with memory and how exercise helps the retention of mental function. Probably my favorite parts are those that explain the underlying logic needed to work through and solve the exercises, like in the "Familial Dilemma" exercises.

I give it four stars because some of the information and recommendations have been proven to be incorrect. For example, the book recommends that men take the supplement DHEA (for various benefits) BUT DHEA has been proven in medial studies to do more harm than good.