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Moheb Costandi

Neuroplasticity (The MIT Press Essential Knowledge series) Paperback – Illustrated, August 19, 2016

by Moheb Costandi (Author)

207 ratings

Part of: The MIT Press Essential Knowledge (84 books)

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The real story of how our brains and nervous systems change throughout our lifetimes—with or without “brain training.”

Fifty years ago, neuroscientists thought that a mature brain was fixed like a fly in amber, unable to change. Today, we know that our brains and nervous systems change throughout our lifetimes. This concept of neuroplasticity has captured the imagination of a public eager for self-improvement—and has inspired countless Internet entrepreneurs who peddle dubious “brain training” games and apps. In this book, Moheb Costandi offers a concise and engaging overview of neuroplasticity for the general reader, describing how our brains change continuously in response to our actions and experiences.

Costandi discusses key experimental findings, and describes how our thinking about the brain has evolved over time. He explains how the brain changes during development, and the “synaptic pruning” that takes place before brain maturity. He shows that adult brains can grow new cells (citing, among many other studies, research showing that sexually mature male canaries learn a new song every year). He describes the kind of brain training that can bring about improvement in brain function. It's not gadgets and games that promise to “rewire your brain” but such sustained cognitive tasks as learning a musical instrument or a new language. (Costandi also notes that London cabbies increase their gray matter after rigorous training in their city's complicated streets.) He tells how brains compensate after stroke or injury; describes addiction and pain as maladaptive forms of neuroplasticity; and considers brain changes that accompany childhood, adolescence, parenthood, and aging. Each of our brains is custom-built. Neuroplasticity is at the heart of what makes us human.

Print length

192 pages
Language

English
Publisher

The MIT Press
Publication date

August 19, 2016
Dimensions

5.06 x 0.53 x 7 inches
ISBN-10

0262529335
ISBN-13

978-0262529334
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Moheb Costandi writes the Neurophilosophy blog for The Guardian and is the author of 50 Human Brain Ideas You Really Need to Know.

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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ The MIT Press; Illustrated edition (August 19, 2016)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 192 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0262529335
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0262529334
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 7 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.06 x 0.53 x 7 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #194,743 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #65 in Physical Anthropology (Books)
- #1,236 in Evolution (Books)
- #1,277 in Biology (Books)

Customer Reviews:
207 ratings

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5 star		74%
4 star		17%
3 star		6%
2 star		1%
1 star		2%

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Jerry W. Rudy

Home Run

Reviewed in the United States on January 12, 2017

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Congratulations to Moheb Costandi! He has produced an elegantly written book that concisely presents the concepts central to an educated discussion of neuroplasticity and situates them in many of the domains of concerned to neuroscientists and the layperson. It completely stays away from the hyperbole that surrounds popular press usage of the term. Instead it provides the reader with a basic understanding of the field and its history. I was especially impressed by what he chose to present and how clearly he described the central concepts and issues. It should especially valuable to students wanting to study neuroscience but are initially blown away by the details of the field and to the layperson that wishes to gain a basic understanding of this broad field. This book is a home run!

67 people found this helpful

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Christian Moussa

Repetitive, yet Somewhat Informative

Reviewed in the United States on August 22, 2020

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Having read this book over the course of a few days, I must say that it could EASILY be condensed into approximately 75 pages from the 150+ pages without losing ANY valuable content. Chapters 1 through 5 are unnecessarily redundant, with numerous instances of nearly identical paragraphs between the chapters. That being said, the historical background of the development of early theories of neuroplasticity is there, even if it is somewhat incoherently distributed throughout the first 5 chapters.

For example, Sensory Substitution (Ch. 2) precedes Developmental Plasticity (Ch. 3). While the reason this order was adopted seems to be an attempt to engage the reader in the early history (empirical studies on Blindness and Deafness) before an understanding of early childhood development, this seems to my mind to produce a dissonance in the flow of the narrative. Chapters 6 through 9 are much more coherent and informative than the previous chapters, with concrete examples of neuroplasticity in case studies and some speculation on the unknown aspects of the internal mechanisms.

Furthermore, I did not appreciate the 20 pages with gigantic quotes from the text on them in high contrast white text on black background print, which makes it difficult to concentrate on the adjacent page. It also seemed completely unnecessary given the fact that the book content is already redundant enough, and even if the content was not so, it still does not make sense to repeat content at a different scale. It's not a newspaper or magazine article... A poor design decision on the part of the publishers.

8 people found this helpful

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Anthony

Reassuring

Reviewed in the United States on March 15, 2021

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It’s nice to be reminded that the brain is an amazing adaptable learning machine throughout an entire lifetime. And that an old ( or older ) donkey is still capable of learning new tricks. In a short space there is a considerable (and sometimes daunting) level of detail of relevant historical neuroscience results. Ie relating to plasticity as opposed to the old view that in early adulthood the brain freezes into a ice block of fixed connections never to change much again. The politico/economic factors/dogmas/practises behind such a view are not investigated or even mentioned.
I was horrified when I first learnt years ago that 50,000 brain cells die off every day - and an additional 25,000 per shot of whiskey. You start off with only 100 billion and they never grow back. You do the math.
The discovery of not just plasticity but actual neurogenesis was a great relief. New brain cells even in adults! But as this book makes clear only in the hippocampus, not that many, and the function of the new growth is not that clear. So maybe still lay off the whiskey.
The book warns of any simplistic application of notions of neuroplasticity to the self development industry. And warns of a few marketing gimmicks around products most likely useless.

3 people found this helpful

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D. A. Fisher

Neuroscience writing at its best

Reviewed in the United States on September 8, 2017

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I am a neuroscience aficionado. This i.s the most informative enlightening and thought provoking tract or article I have read on the subject. In addition, unlike much science literature, it is quite well written and lucid. I highly recommend it for anyone interested in human biology.

32 people found this helpful

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Bruce Lindgren

Educators Take Note.

Reviewed in the United States on May 12, 2018

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Costandi explains what is perhaps the most important consideration of neuroscience for educators. Very well written at a level of depth that is both useful and understandable.

12 people found this helpful

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Deb

Fascinating how a brain can essentially repair itself

Reviewed in the United States on July 2, 2021

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This book is one of many books I've been reading about neuroplasticity and applications to improve cognitive and PHYSICAL functions. It's fascinating is how the brain compensates and rewires itself when damaged from accidents or disease progression. However, this book is written from a high level, medical school point-of-view so I suggest beginning with other brain plasticity books first.

One person found this helpful

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Anthony Mazzucca

Our Brains aren't dead yet. Here's why.

Reviewed in the United States on November 28, 2018

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I think we need to go deeper. this is a very complex subject with implications for all ages but specifically the over 65. We need tools to figure out what to do. This is a great start.

5 people found this helpful

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allison

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States on May 18, 2018

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Great read, helpful and easy to understand. It's a small book so easy to carry with you as well

6 people found this helpful

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