The Scientific American Day in the Life of Your Brain [Hardcover]

Judith Horstman (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0470376236 | ISBN-13: 978-0470376232 | Publication Date: August 31, 2009 | Edition: 1

Have you ever wondered what’s happening in your brain as you go through a typical day and night? This fascinating book presents an hour-by-hour round-the-clock journal of your brain’s activities. Drawing on the treasure trove of information from Scientific American and Scientific American Mind magazines as well as original material written specifically for this book, Judith Horstman weaves together a compelling description of your brain at work and at play.

The Scientific American Day in the Life of Your Brain reveals what’s going on in there while you sleep and dream, how your brain makes memories and forms addictions and why we sometimes make bad decisions. The book also offers intriguing information about your emotional brain, and what’s happening when you’re feeling love, lust, fear and anxiety—and how sex, drugs and rock and roll tickle the same spots.

Based on the latest scientific information, the book explores your brain’s remarkable ability to change, how your brain can make new neurons even into old age and why multitasking may be bad for you.

Your brain is uniquely yours – but research is showing many of its day-to-day cycles are universal. This book gives you a look inside your brain and some insights into why you may feel and act as you do.

The Scientific American Day in the Life of Your Brain is written in the entertaining, informative and easy-to-understand style that fans of Scientific American and Scientific American Mind magazine have come to expect.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this thorough health and science overview, journalist Horstman (Overcoming Arthritis) reviews a full day of brainwork by accounting for the mental processes of everyday activities, arranged by hour, beginning with 5 a.m. and "coming to consciousness." Fascinatingly, Horstman shows how, as hormone and neurotransmitter levels change throughout the day, there may be an optimal time for everything. Moving through the workday, Horstman discusses stress, decision-making, hunger and fatigue, ADHD and more, before returning home to cover music, humor, sex, fear and sleep. Horstman's lively prose is packed with useful information: meditation increases attention while delaying aging; brain exercise and a strong social network decrease the odds of developing dementia; diet can quell morning crabbiness, increase afternoon focus, and promote sleep. Multitasking, as Horstman explains, is less like an efficient model of problem solving and more like channel-surfing; stress, she says, "may be the single worst thing your brain does to your heart." Information-packed and fully referenced, this Scientific American publication is perfect for anyone with interest in mind/body interaction, mental health or aging.
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Review

In this thorough health and science overview, journalist Horstman (Overcoming Arthritis) reviews a full day of brainwork by accounting for the mental processes of everyday activities, arranged by hour, beginning with 5 a.m. and “coming to consciousness.” Fascinatingly, Horstman shows how, as hormone and neurotransmitter levels change throughout the day, there may be an optimal time for everything. Moving through the workday, Horstman discusses stress, decision-making, hunger and fatigue, ADHD and more, before returning home to cover music, humor, sex, fear and sleep. Horstman's lively prose is packed with useful information: meditation increases attention while delaying aging; brain exercise and a strong social network decrease the odds of developing dementia; diet can quell morning crabbiness, increase afternoon focus, and promote sleep. Multitasking, as Horstman explains, is less like an efficient model of problem solving and more like channel-surfing; stress, she says, “may be the single worst thing your brain does to your heart.” Information-packed and fully referenced, this Scientific American publication is perfect for anyone with interest in mind/body interaction, mental health or aging. (PublishersWeekly.com, August 24, 2009)

STARRED REVIEW
Drawing on neurology articles from Scientific American and Scientific American Mind, science journalist Horstman creates a seamless and fascinating look at our brain's functioning throughout the day, adeptly noting cycles and processes that may occur by mentioning them in a time context that makes sense. Beginning her exploration at 5 a.m., when the brain begins to return to consciousness, she bases the chapters on each hour in a 24-hour period and groups hours into sections related to typical activities, such as "Winding Down" from 9 p.m. to midnight. She examines how and when other bodily processes and functions, such as hunger, impact the brain. Drops in blood sugar, for example, also indicate lowered levels of serotonin. The explanations are easy to read, and they incorporate anecdotes and callouts that deftly explain neuroscientific content. VERDICT Appealing to lay scientists, Scientific American readers, and all those interested in how to care for their brain as it matures and ages, this book will be a popular science title. (Library Journal)

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 264 pages
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass; 1 edition (August 31, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470376236
• ISBN-13: 978-0470376232
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 7.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #281,215 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Website: www.judithhorstman.com

Judith Horstman is an award-winning journalist who writes about health and medicine for doctors as well as the general public. She has been a Washington correspondent, a journalism professor, a Fulbright scholar, and has written and edited in just about any medium including newspapers, newsletters, special health publications, radio, video, the Internet, annual reports and books.

Her journalism career spans 40 years, from a small-town newspaper, The Ithaca Journal, to USA Today and Gannett News Service in Washington, D.C. In 1986, she was awarded a Knight Science Journalism Fellowship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. From 1988 to 1994, she taught journalism at Keene (N.H.) State College, Oregon State University, Santa Clara (Calif.) University, and in Budapest, Hungary, where she was awarded back-to-back Fulbrights to set up the American Journalism Center and lecture at universities throughout Eastern Europe. While living in Hungary, she wrote the text to a book of photographs by Pulitzer-prize winning photographer Tamás Révész, "Open Air." (http://www.revesz.net/americanwest.html)

She has edited health articles and books for TIME Inc. Health, including "Dr Koop's Self Care Advisor," worked as an editor and writer for the Stanford University Medical Center News Office, and written for the Harvard Heath Letter and Johns Hopkins' White Papers. She was a consultant and editor for a website dedicated to ALS (amytrophic lateral sclerosis) that she helped establish; and contributed as an editor, consultant and writer to a website on lupus (systemic lupus erythematosus, or SLE).

Ms. Horstman has practiced meditation and yoga for more than 35 years, and is known for her expertise in describing complementary therapies. For many years she was a contributing editor for Arthritis Today, the magazine of the Arthritis Foundation, for which she wrote the well-regarded book, "The Arthritis Foundation's Guide to Alternative Therapies." She has been a Tai Chi student of Dr. Paul Lam, who is the co-author of "Overcoming Arthritis," a 2002 book on complementary therapies and Tai Chi for arthritis. (http://www.taichiproductions.com/secureshop/product.php?ProductID=252)

"The Scientific American Day in the Life of Your Brain" was published Sept. 8, 2009. Her newest book, "The Scientific American Brave New Brain," was published in April 2010.

She lives in California near her children and grandchildren, and travels as widely and often as possible.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Reason Behind the Rhyme, August 29, 2009

By 

J. T. Long "Co-Author, Writer's Secret: Maste... - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Scientific American Day in the Life of Your Brain (Hardcover)

Thank you Judith Horstman for doing the impossible. You took these mysterious creatures called humans and explained what is really going on behind the scenes in the brain hour by hour, seemingly random emotion by random emotion. You showed in scientific terms that there is a reason behind the daily rhyme. My afternoon mocha cravings are based on my hormonal cycles. My tendency to forget what I needed at the grocery store is because of changes in my neurotransmitters after age 40. Best of all, you gave me the practical tools for making the most of my potential brain functioning by scheduling appropriately, relieving stress and focusing on the possible. This well-researched book moves beyond pop-science to applied research.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars diary for my mind and yours, September 10, 2009

By 

judith A. (los angeles, california) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Scientific American Day in the Life of Your Brain (Hardcover)

this book strikes a marvelous balance between medical research and popular curiosity, satisfying both the lay person and the professional. it can surely be equally at home on the bookshelf of a physician or a housewife. it's comprehensive, but VERY digestible. the organization is quite clever, and it's written in an extremely readable style - it just whizzes along, and I gleaned a great deal along the way: about brain chemistry, up-to-date research in neuro-transmission, the inner workings of brain functions in the most ordinary of activities. it offers a great way to UNDERSTAND! I highly recommend this.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a great book!, August 29, 2009

By 

Ferris Buck "mindfulness meditation teacher" (Vermont, USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Scientific American Day in the Life of Your Brain (Hardcover)

This book gives is a thorough description of the workings of the brain, written for us, lay people! Judith Horstman's lively, readable prose, presents much useful information: meditation increases attention while delaying aging; brain exercise and a strong social network decrease the odds of developing dementia; diet can quell morning crabbiness, increase afternoon focus, and promote sleep. This book gives complete descriptions and is perfect for anyone interested in mind/body interaction, mental health, or aging.