Customer Reviews

Your Brain: The Missing Manual (Missing Manuals)

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I read a lot of books on science and the human body, so I expected the usual on this book. Matthew MacDonald's book, "Your Brain, The Missing Manual" blew me away. In this book MacDonald covers the entire brain from neurons, to glands, to emotions. The book starts out covering the brains biological workings. It covers neurons, synapses, the Endocrine system and the Nervous system. Next he covers how the brain uses energy and how it gets its food. In this section MacDonald includes the Brain-Friendly Diet and explains how Protein, Fat and even Chocolate affect the brain. There is a great explanation on how the Human Appetite works. In one chapter he discusses the brain and sleep. He writes how the human brain needs light and dark to regulate the sleep cycle. In the book, MacDonald, state how sunlight or bright lights can wake you up fasters. I tried it for myself, I got out of bed early one morning and stepped outside and faced the morning sun. I was amazed at how fast my mind woke up and how clear my mind was.

The Sections on the mind's visual perception and memory were extremely interesting. I enjoyed the Optical Illusions that he included in the book. One thing I would like to point out is that MacDonald references several websites throughout the book were you can get additional information. I found this very useful and learned a lot on these websites. In addition, the section on how to improve your memory helped me significantly. There MacDonald lists several methods on how to boost your memorization powers, don't skip this section trust me.

The author goes on to cover such topics as Emotions, Reason, Personality and more. MacDonald lays all the information out in an easy to understand format. This is one of those books that you're skeptical on getting, but once you've read it you know it was well worth the purchase price. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to better understand the brain, or just wants to improve their memory. This books is a must have on every book shelf, you won't be disappointed with "Your Brain, The Missing Manual".

When you think about it, the thing we think *with* is one of the biggest mysteries to us. In Your Brain: The Missing Manual by Matthew MacDonald, you'll gain some level of understanding about how the brain works, what makes it tick, and how you can manipulate it to work better. Even better, you don't have to be a brain surgeon to understand it all.

Contents:
Part 1 - Warming Up: A Lap Around the Brain; Brain Food - Healthy Eating; Sleep - Taking Your Brain Offline
Part 2 - Exploring Your Brain: Perception; Memory; Emotions; Reason; Your Personality
Part 3 - Understanding Other People's Brains: The Battle of the Sexes; The Developing Brain
Index

The thing I appreciate most about the Missing Manual series is the way they are designed to be readable for a "normal" person. Part 1 takes you through more of the "hardware" part of the brain... what the different parts are, the roles they serve, and how they interact with each other. Couple clear writing with plenty of illustrations, and you end up with a firm foundation in Brain 101. From there, MacDonald starts digging into more of the "software" aspect of the brain, as in how are memories stored. He uses the most current studies and findings to explain what makes you, you. The items that made this exceptionally interesting to me are the examples of people who, through some abnormality in the brain, don't quite process things the same way we do. For instance, "Henry M." had his hippocampus removed in 1953 to prevent seizures. The side-effect was that he lost his ability to form long-term memories. Imagine your mind stuck in a time warp, where your last memory is as it was before your surgery. Anything presented to you since then only lasts a few minutes before you have absolutely no recollection of it. By tracking what he could and couldn't do in this state, researchers were able to draw conclusions as to what role the hippocampus played in memory. That kind of stuff is something that amazes me, and confirms the fact that we still only have a fraction of a clue as to how the mind works.

If you're at all interested about your mind, or if you're simply curious about how such things as optical illusions work, this would be a great book to read.

Your Brain: The Missing Manual is an okay book. It seems to have gotten a lot of positive reviews, but if you're anyone who is keeping up on any sort of reading on the brain, the information contained in this book is not new. If you've not read anything on the brain before, this book might be more worthwhile to you.

Much of the practical information in Your Brain: The Missing Manual is repeated from books like Mind Performance Hacks: Tips & Tools for Overclocking Your Brain (a book I highly recommend). With prosaic tips like "get enough sleep" and "eat correctly", the information in this book is not particularly novel or even all that worthwhile. (Who doesn't know to do that in general, let alone that it might help your brain?)

Most of the book is devoted to how the brain interprets or comes up with various things, from perception to emotion to reason to personality. The chapter on the developing brain (chapter 10) was interesting, and the chapter on the difference between the sexes (chapter 9) picks up on the "controversial" view that men's and women's brains work differently for different things. (Duh.) I don't know whether that was because they were hoping to generate books sales or because the author thought it was really pertinent, but as with the rest of the book, it's information that's not new.

'Your Brain: The Missing Manual' is a different book than most of the fare that Pogue Press puts out, but this doesn't mean that it's not a good read!

The Missing Manual line of books is simply one of the best publishers I have ever had the PLEASURE to read. I stress the word pleasure because TMM books truly are what they say they are. Incredibly laid out, easy to follow, and enjoyable to read and hold in your hand, most of The Missing Manual books I have read I give 5 stars and it's no mistake.

With 'Your Brain' this book looks at how the brain works from all different perspectives: logic, eating, aging, sex, stress, pleasure. It examines how the brain interacts with these subjects and why things work they way they do.

If you like previous Missing Manual books or are curious how the brain works, you owe it to yourself to pick up this book. Jam packed with color pictures and a small footprint with a small size of 250+ pages, this is a great weekend read that will entertain and TEACH you something as well!!

***** RECOMMENDED

When I picked up this book I thought it was going to be yet another one on memory and techniques for recall. I could not have been more wrong. This is an excellent book on understanding the brain and how it works in all its wondrous details. The author delves into the physical structure, the synapses, effect of hormones on the brain and the effect that diet has on those hormones, how it interacts with your appetite and other aspects of the physical brain. Not contented to stop there he then goes into other aspects of the brain including the effect of sleep or lack thereof, perception, emotions, and personality. Your Brain: The Missing Manual is very interesting and highly recommended.

I heard of "Your Brain: The Missing Manual" from the technical podcast "The Java Posse". I wasn't disappointed.

This book gives the casual reader a detailed exposition of the brain, its parts and their functions. It mixes in quite a bit of fun facts about the brain functions, such as optical illusions, with practical ways for how to better use them, such as memory improvement tips.

This is a thin book, and can be read over a weekend.

Opinion

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. After purchasing this book, I briefly skimmed through the pages of the book to get an idea of what it would be like. I was surprised to find the book was full of pictures and diagrams. It seemed like the book would be very lacking in actual scientific facts and more geared towards a shallow description of the brain. Surprisingly the book has a good foundation in science. The book is designed more as a practical guide to understanding and improving brain function, but it also provides the necessary scientific knowledge to understand what is happening in the brain. This books is a good mix of brain exercises and science and is worth reading.

Section Synopsis

The book is divided into three general sections titled: "Warming Up," "Exploring Your Brain," and "Understanding Other People's Brains."

The warming up section focuses on the basic functions and needs of the brain. It covers the general anatomy and connections of the brain, the importance and results of eating on the brain, and the effects of sleep on the brain. This section of the book introduces the reader to the brain and focuses mainly on the science of the brain.

The second section of the book explores perception, memory, emotions, reason, and personality. It looks at the specific regions of the brain that are activated when the processes are going on. It also analyzes how and what factors promotes and limits these processes. Common misconceptions, voluntary and involuntary control, and evolutionary context are all addressed when describing these various processes.

The final section of the book looks at differences in sexes and development of the brain. The chapter on gender looks at genetic factors, relationships, and mindset in conceptual differences and relationships. It also goes into great detail mentioning the effects of various hormones. The development chapter gives a good, scientific description of changes in the brain at different stages of life. It describes the effects of aging on your brain and the age old question of nature versus nurture.

Structure of Book

As mentioned above, the book is divided into three sections. Within each section are chapters that related to the overall theme of the section. A typical chapter of the book begins with a brief overview of the chapter. It then briefs the reader on structural portions of the brain and the role and effects it plays in the process the chapter describes. For instance the chapter on sleeping begins with a description of the biological clock, "This time-keeping device is embedded in a region of the brain called the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN)." The chapter then typically describes the components of the specific process such as the different stages of sleep and what goes on during these stages. The chapter then ends on how best to utilize the process described in order to achieve certain goals. In the sleep chapter the book describes the amount of time one should sleep and nap to optimize the learning process. This is general format for each chapter in the book.

Interesting Elements

The book is full of good pictures, graphs, and puzzles. It offers great optical illusions for the perception section and interesting puzzles for the logic section. The book also has unique notes, tips, and science boxes that are separated from the text. These are similar to "related information" sections one might encounter in a text book. The notes section typically introduces an interesting fact. Tip boxes offer addition reading and websites where a reader can learn more about a specific topic. Most of the books and websites mentioned are relatively new and current with the field of neuroscience. The science box gives an in depth description of a certain topic that may have been briefly introduced in the main text. The book also has a personality questionnaire and analysis the reader can follow in order to determine his or her personality type.

Interesting Quotes

"They [dolphins] have the remarkable ability to keep an ever-watchful eye on their surroundings by putting half of their brain to sleep at a time."

"It's thought that over the past few million years, our brains tripled in size while our [prefrontal cortex] grew a staggering six times bigger."

"The amygdale is mature at birth, but the pathways that connect the cortex to the amygdale aren't as developed. This immature wiring just might be to blame for raging toddler tantrums."

Recommendation

I feel that this book is worth getting for anyone interested in the brain or improving and understanding daily interactions. This book is not a reference book or textbook. The information in this book is scientifically based and does introduce neuroscience concepts and structures, but does not give an in depth understanding of neuroscience. Instead it uses the scientific information to explain neuroscience processes in a manner that relates to everyday uses of the brain. This book is an easy read and is packed with informative illustrations that make concepts easier to understand. This book can be purchased online or at any major bookstore.

Science meets self-help in a survey for general-interest readers which covers everything from brain function to quirks, aging changes, boundaries between physical brain activity and psychology, and more. YOUR BRAIN is studded with color sidebars of information and plenty of color illustrations for maximum impact, making this a pick not just for high school to college level health and science collections, but for the general-interest library, as well.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Was initially drawn in by the title of the book actually.

Some portions are pretty interesting. On a number of occasions, gives you a quick laugh and makes you think "oh, that's why i feel that sometimes".

Though i find couple of sections are abit tough to digest cos they introduced a number of medical terms, but overall it's still quite good.

I would describe it as a good factual book (interesting facts that you don't even realise even as you do some of those stuff everyday)... and which at the same time, also has a number of tricks you can apply or look out for in your actual daily life.

Overall, not a bad read.. assuming if you can pull yourself past the medically technical portion.

This book, which was written in the style of the many other The Missing Manual books offers a slightly different angle than the rest of the series. Of the many other books I have read in this series, this one was the most gripping. The human brain is the most complex computer ever created and so much more. Covered in this manual are concepts in physiology, psychology, and philosophy. The structure is well thought out with ample side notes and references for further reading in other books and websites.

This book also offers a foray into some self-help concepts. There are a number of exercises the reader may use to fortify brainpower in memory, social interaction, and emotional well-being. It encourages interaction with quizzes the reader may complete, and offers more examples of more quizzes with Internet references.

I am a diehard computer geek, but I'm a medical professional by trade. Some of the didactic science behind the physiology is a bit simplified for people in the medical field, but it seems about right for the target audience of curious brain owners. I would have liked to have seen more sources cited. Some of the stories presented as examples can only be considered anecdotal, unless references are indicated. Footnotes would have been very nice, speaking as a scientist.

This book was an enjoyable read and hard to put down. There was just enough humor to balance the heavy content in some parts of the book.