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Life Lessons from a Brain Surgeon: The New Science and Stories of the Brain by [Rahul Jandial]

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Rahul Jandial

Life Lessons from a Brain Surgeon: The New Science and Stories of the Brain Kindle Edition

by Rahul Jandial (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

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THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

*As heard on Chris Evans' Virgin Radio*

'You're amazing I could talk to you (Rahul) all day' Chris Evans

'This is a gripping new book' The Times

World-leading neuroscientist and neurosurgeon Dr Rahul Jandial draws on his years of work with patients suffering from the most extreme cases of brain damage, disorders and illnesses to reveal what they can tell us about the science of the mind.

From a languages teacher who has to choose whether to lose her ability to speak Spanish or English after brain surgery, to a former TV exec, now homeless, who discovers that his life-altering despondency is the result of a tumour, to a fainting teen who learns that deep breathing can mean the difference between life or death, these stories uncover the secret workings of the brain.

Blending cutting-edge research and beautiful storytelling, Life Lessons from a Brain Surgeon is a vital resource on the best ways to boost your memory, control stress and emotions, minimize pain, unleash your creativity, raise smart kids and reduce the risk of Alzheimer's. This is a deeply practical and readable book, which will take you on an expedition through the anatomy of the most fascinating - and mysterious - of organs.

Rahul's new book Life on a Knife's Edge is out now.

Print length

243 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Penguin
Publication date

June 27, 2019
File size

2562 KB
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Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07GRDH1KJ
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Penguin (June 27, 2019)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ June 27, 2019
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 2562 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 243 pages
Lending ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled

Best Sellers Rank: #587,316 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #28 in Neurosurgery (Kindle Store)
- #103 in Neurosurgery (Books)
- #200 in Logic & Brain Teasers (Kindle Store)

Customer Reviews:
513 ratings

About the author

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Rahul Jandial

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Renowned neurosurgeon Rahul Jandial, MD, PhD, an Elsevier Author, is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Neurosurgery at City of Hope. His particular area of expertise is in medical and surgical treatments of cancer affecting the brain, spine, and spinal cord, and he is actively developing surgical devices and investigating the biology of cancer to locate therapies.

For more information, visit http://elsevierauthors.com/rahuljandial.

Customer reviews

5 star		73%
4 star		18%
3 star		6%
2 star		1%
1 star		2%

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Top reviews from the United States

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Amazon Customer

Word for word same book as “Neurofitness”

Reviewed in the United States on July 27, 2019

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ATTENTION: This book is word for word the exact same book as his book “Neurofitness.” I bought this book thinking that “Life Lessons From a Brain Surgeon” was the sequel to “Neurofitness” but it is not.
So if you read Neurofitness don’t buy this book because it’s the exact same.
However if you haven’t read either book, just pick one, it is a phenomenal read! Dr. Jandial presents helpful brain fitness tips in a straight forward and compelling way. You’ll learn a lot from this book!

58 people found this helpful

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Sally C. Moomaw

Informative and Easy to Read

Reviewed in the United States on December 28, 2020

Verified Purchase

This book is easy to read even though it is written by a brain surgeon. His vignettes are amazing. He clearly explains how various parts of the brain function and coordinate with one another as well as the rest of the body. His suggestions for brain health are practical and useful.

6 people found this helpful

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Loving Florida!

Good information

Reviewed in the United States on January 10, 2022

Verified Purchase

I found this a very quick read containing usable data to keep your brain functioning as you age.

One person found this helpful

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Alexandria Sklyar

Very informative a bit too technical

Reviewed in the United States on September 12, 2021

Verified Purchase

I learned a lot from this book. But some parts was difficult to understand. Overall I recommend.

2 people found this helpful

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Bubbe5401

a gift

Reviewed in the United States on May 13, 2021

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it was a gift & was well received. I have not discussed anything further...

One person found this helpful

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Giovanny

Page turner!

Reviewed in the United States on March 20, 2021

Verified Purchase

Fun book, I enjoyed getting into the mind of a brain surgeon for a few pages.

One person found this helpful

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James Murphy

The Brain is a Lonely Hunter

Reviewed in the United States on July 28, 2019

It would be almost impossible to read Life Lessons and not conclude that Dr. Jandial is an exceptional human being, absolutely the kind of guy, crisis having struck, you will want to see walking towards you with clinical purpose in his eyes. The stories of how he opens the skulls of very sick people to reassemble their beige matter are - somehow not quite the appropriate word - truly riveting. Here is a scientist whose scalpel rests on the very rim of the adventure that is human consciousness. And his profession and his experience equip him to provide a good deal of lifestyle-enhancement advice for young and old.

So is there, as they say in Glasgow, a soapy bubble? Well, one issue is that the book has no solid identity. Not that skillful commentators cannot write successful genre-benders, viz part autobiography, part popular science, part futurology, part agony aunt for the soul, part health primer, part myth-busterama, part handy tips for a happier life. This is essentially the package we have here and it can become an ungainly, misshapen read.

It might well be true that Dr. Jandial could be the very best person with whom to talk about how best to avoid dementia, how best to adjust your diet, how best to parent your young, how best to organize your sleep, how best to regulate your consumption of alcohol or caffeine… But even for this super-talented guy this really does become a bit of a stretch. Even the big, big dollop of charm is not enough to fill every analytical cranny, as freewheelingly opened along the way.

The text is too full of “studies show that…” references to a very wide range of academic journals and their sometimes well-informed and/but sometimes rather early conclusions. No doubt that Dr. Jandial is well-read and well-intentioned but, bluntly, he tries to cover too much ground, at a cost of not a little definitiveness. For example, “research has shown”, he says (in the chapter The Older Brain), “that older adults have a greater sense of well-being and greater emotional stability than do teens or young adults”. The implication that the older we grow the wiser and therefore the happier we become is one of the most contestable ideas in the whole of social science. Especially if the claim is based on longitudinal self-reported wellbeing studies, then what we hear is a crescendo of deeply unreliable narration.

Imagine you have turned 75 years of age this very day. Coincidentally contacted by a respectable research agency, you are invited to rate your general level of personal happiness / life satisfaction on a scale of 1-10 (where 10 would equal totally blissed-out). You agree to participate. But a silent inhibition tugs at your guts. If you were to say that you are, in fact, dreadfully unhappy, will the whole world know that this whole life has ipso facto been a failure? And do you really want to admit this to yourself? Is it possible that you will give yourself a defiant score of : 8.2? Will it be just too demoralising and sad to answer : 4.9?

But let’s take another quick thought- bite : Just how regularly could, say, one spouse ask of another at any given dinner-time : Are you happy, darling? Asking it too often could get somehow dangerously irritating, no? And would one indeed be wise to ask it only in circumstances where an enthusiastic and unmistakable affirmative was bound to be forthcoming? In so many situations, how much does such happiness as we hold actually depend on limited disclosure and partial honesty? Happiness has no biology. It is a circumstance. And the gray and the bald are no more favored than the wrinkle-free.

More worryingly still, we do not need a brain surgeon to tell us that alcohol is not “a smart drug”. And we should not at all be concluding that there is a scientific consensus to the effect that moderate alcohol consumption reduces exposure to certain life-threatening diseases and conditions. How many people across the world this very day are really going to be told when visiting the doctor for a check-up : drink more alcohol or indeed start drinking alcohol? Every ad agency and trends analysis company knows that the drinking population will exploit each bit of pseudo-science that appears in the popular press - headlines like “Japanese study confirms that beer boosts muscle development in teenagers”. (We have made up this one). How often have we been drinking wine at a party for the man next to us to say : I read in the paper today that red wine is good for the heart? Or some such drivel? We need a heavy tincture of caution whenever drink is about.

However, it is impossible not to admire Dr Jandial’s overall effort here; the lesson is as provocative as it is humane. We who can but read his books would do well to hear a whole lot more from him. A lot of popular science deservedly gets a, er, kick in the head. But, some quibbles aside, this is good stuff - specially for the sexagenarians in our midst, them that want to become successful centurions.

33 people found this helpful

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Lance B. Hillsinger

Two books in one, one better than the other

Reviewed in the United States on May 2, 2022

Life Lessons from a Brain Surgeon: Practical Strategies for Peak Health and Performance is really two books in one. One is the author’s autobiography, and the other is, as the subtitle implies, ways to improve one’s cognitive abilities. Of the two, the autobiography is the most interesting. The “practical ways” is the standard fare of: eat healthy, get enough exercise, don’t smoke, stay mentally engaged, avoid excessive use of alcohol, etc. The “practical ways” are presented in about as interesting a manner as possible but is still “standard fare.”

The life story half of the book (and the two halves alternate throughout) has several interesting case studies. Many are the author’s own patients. Much of the text is also devoted to the anatomy of the brain. The anatomy “lessons” are told in an interesting and informative manner. The reader learns, for instance, that “Broca’s area” is not necessarily always where Broca said it was.

As a fair portion of the text is “standard fare,” Life Lessons does not deserve five stars but does deserve a solid four.

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Top reviews from other countries

Amazon Customer

Thoughtful and engaging treatise on brain function

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 26, 2019

Verified Purchase

Dr. Jandial not only gives you a detailed insider’s view of the grueling daily challenges of a brain surgeon, but he also provides valuable insights into the inner workings of this most mysterious of organs while debunking some common misconceptions about how the brain works. Loaded with powerful and emotional tales of seemingly miraculous recoveries, it is a fascinating account that has you peering over his shoulder as he delicately dissects, realigns and repairs the bodies master controller, the seat of consciousness, and possibly the soul. Beyond these gripping forays into the operating room, each chapter is also filled with practical advice to help you maximize your brain potential based on the latest advances in neuroscience; and information on what to avoid. Dr. Jandial steers you clear of the glut of false and misleading information on brain supplements and unproven gimmicks advertised to improve memory and cognitive function, and gives honest assessments about what likely works and what is probably worthless. There is some wonderful information designed to help parents guide their children towards healthy emotional and cognitive development, with some sage and poignant advice from this polymathic surgeon, PhD researcher, and doting father of three active boys. The book concludes with a final chapter on how to deal with and ameliorate some of the cognitive changes that we all must face as we grow old. There is something fascinating and practically useful on every page, and each chapter is accompanied by concise references and notes for those who wish to explore in greater depth. Written in a clear and engaging style easily understood by the layman, but with much to offer even to the specialist, I can’t recommend this book highly enough for any person who wishes to know more about the brain - the seat of cognition, emotion, and essential human nature.

32 people found this helpful

Anne E

Very small print.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 19, 2020

Verified Purchase

Be prepared for very small print. I won't be finding find out if it's an interesting book because the print is too small for me. I'd have preferred to pay more for a larger book with larger print.

14 people found this helpful

Hebridean exile

Fascinating stories, and some useful tips

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 6, 2020

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This book intersperses stories from the author's work as a brain surgeon with loosely related tips for living that are explicitly based on research, and often aimed at debunking popular views with no research backing.

The stories are fascinating (though not all for the squeamish), and many of the tips seem useful - eg that the best way to memorise things is to keep testing yourself on them..

(Good news for people with diabetes taking Metformin, and people with high blood pressure taking statins - both these medicines apparently also protect against dementia.)

4 people found this helpful

Jack

Improve your Brains Fitness

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 26, 2019

Verified Purchase

Interesting read on improving your brains fitness and how to go about this, also, there are many stories on patients who have suffered brain injuries, or conditions affecting the brain, and how they are treated effectively. Some of the authors own, very interesting life is shared and how he became a Neurogurgeon.
There is also a lot of explantions on various functions and parts of the brain, and it is easy to understand and not made more complex than it needs to be from a general book on the brain.

6 people found this helpful

Philip Chadwick

A bit of a parson's nose of a book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 29, 2021

Verified Purchase

A book that is also - when it is good, it is very very good and when it is bad, it is horrid
This is really a self help/mindfulness/wellness/etc. type of book interspersed with some very pointed observations, though these are often based on statistically dubious "research"
You will probably get something out of it though

One person found this helpful

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