Buying Options

Digital List Price:	$17.77
Print List Price:	$17.00
Kindle Price:	$11.19 Save $6.58 (39%)
	includes VAT*

Promotions apply when you purchase

Add Audible book to your purchase for just $7.90

Deliver to your Kindle or other device

Added to

Unable to add item to List. Please try again.

Enter a promotion code or Gift Card

Share <Embed>

Kindle App Ad

Look inside this book.

Altered Traits: Science Reveals How Meditation Changes Your Mind, Brain, and Body by [Goleman, Daniel, Davidson, Richard J.]

Audible Sample

Audible Sample

Playing...

Playing...

Loading...

Loading...

Paused

Paused

Follow the Authors

Richard J. Davidson

Altered Traits: Science Reveals How Meditation Changes Your Mind, Brain, and Body Kindle Edition

by Daniel Goleman (Author), Richard J. Davidson (Author)

109 customer reviews

See all 8 formats and editions Hide other formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Kindle

"Please retry"

$11.19

—

—

Audible Audiobook, Unabridged

"Please retry"

$0.00

Free with your Audible trial

"Please retry"

$15.57

"Please retry"

$11.55

Two New York Times–bestselling authors unveil new research showing what meditation can really do for the brain.

In the last twenty years, meditation and mindfulness have gone from being kind of cool to becoming an omnipresent Band-Aid for fixing everything from your weight to your relationship to your achievement level. Unveiling here the kind of cutting-edge research that has made them giants in their fields, Daniel Goleman and Richard Davidson show us the truth about what meditation can really do for us, as well as exactly how to get the most out of it.

Sweeping away common misconceptions and neuromythology to open readers’ eyes to the ways data has been distorted to sell mind-training methods, the authors demonstrate that beyond the pleasant states mental exercises can produce, the real payoffs are the lasting personality traits that can result. But short daily doses will not get us to the highest level of lasting positive change—even if we continue for years—without specific additions. More than sheer hours, we need smart practice, including crucial ingredients such as targeted feedback from a master teacher and a more spacious, less attached view of the self, all of which are missing in widespread versions of mind training. The authors also reveal the latest data from Davidson’s own lab that point to a new methodology for developing a broader array of mind-training methods with larger implications for how we can derive the greatest benefits from the practice.

Exciting, compelling, and grounded in new research, this is one of those rare books that has the power to change us at the deepest level.

Length: 336 pages	Word Wise: Enabled	Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled
Page Flip: Enabled	Audible book: Audible book Switch back and forth between reading the Kindle book and listening to the Audible book with Whispersync for Voice. Add the Audible book for a reduced price of $7.90 when you buy the Kindle book. Available

Customers who bought this item also bought

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

This shopping feature will continue to load items. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading.

Richard J. Davidson

182

Kindle Edition
$10.99
Jon Kabat-Zinn

34

Kindle Edition
$9.99
Daniel Goleman

311

Kindle Edition
$12.99
Joseph Goldstein

38

Kindle Edition
$2.99
Sam Harris

1,216

Kindle Edition
$12.99
John Yates

294

Kindle Edition
$18.99

Product details

File Size: 1459 KB
Print Length: 336 pages
Publisher: Avery (September 5, 2017)
Publication Date: September 5, 2017
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC
Language: English
ASIN: B01N3BUE70
Text-to-Speech: Enabled

X-Ray:

Enabled

Word Wise: Enabled
Lending: Not Enabled
Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #55,862 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #32 in Cognitive Neuroscience & Cognitive Neuropsychology
- #38 in Meditation (Kindle Store)
- #41 in Neuroscience (Kindle Store)

Would you like to tell us about a lower price?

Be the first video

Your name here

109 customer reviews

Review this product

Write a customer review

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Interesting as long as you know what to expect

July 6, 2017

Format: HardcoverVine Customer Review of Free Product( What's this? )

Altered Traits is the joint effort of two highly respected figures in the world of neuroscience and science journalism, Richard Davidson and Daniel Goleman, respectively. They're also longtime friends who share an abiding interest in the power of meditation.

Davidson made headlines several years ago with the results of his study of the brains of Tibetan monks, which showed unequivocally that years of meditation had significantly altered their brains (for the better). Goleman is the bestselling author of Emotional Intelligence.

Altered Traits is a collaborative overview of the history of research on meditation and an analysis of what claims in the mainstream press are legitimate as opposed to those that are overreaching or simply wrong. (The altered traits of the title are those that endure long term, as opposed to those that are transient, taking place during meditation sessions and vanishing shortly thereafter.) The book is written entirely in third person, which is sometimes a bit odd, when it's clearly talking about the experiences of one author vs. the other.

I have to admit that I found the first several chapters tedious--the autobiographical stuff about their trips to India and personal explorations of meditation was okay, but there was a lot of detail about early research studies--what worked and what didn't--that got old for me. A different reader might eat it up, however. The book really got interesting when it embarked on Davidson's studies of Tibetan monks, and that's when I didn't want to put it down.

This is not in any way a how-to book about meditation. (There are plenty of those, as well as CDs and videos and apps, so that's not its purpose.) What it is is a scientific analysis, albeit designed for a general audience, about which claims about meditation are legitimate, which need more, and better, research and which can be debunked altogether. I've already recommended the book to a friend who recently began meditating at the suggestion of his doctor, but as a science teacher has been skeptical about its benefits. He, I would say, would be the ideal audience for Altered Traits.

161 people found this helpful

Comment

I actually started skipping through the book to see if there was something useful. There is some useful stuff

September 17, 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

I agree with the others who complained about the first few chapters. I actually started skipping through the book to see if there was something useful. There is some useful stuff, however, I am disappointed in this book. I really liked Richard Davidson's previous book, so I was excited about this one. However, I don't think it is well written, and the research points are not explained well in some cases. And there is too much bias towards Buddhism and Tibetan monks. Yes, fine, after tens of thousands of hours of meditation, they are much less reactive than the rest of us when looking at disturbing pictures. And supposedly after a different really hard stress test as well (although I'm not really sure the data proved their point). But let's have one of these long-time meditators be responsible for a toddler day after day after day. Then let's see how non-reactive they are. (Wink).

I do think this book does a service in pointing out that much of the research done on meditation has major flaws, and there needs to be better studies done. They also point out that there are many different kinds of meditations that have very different effects, and that they need to be studied separately. This is very important and helpful. But I am dismayed at the bias towards a state that certain types of meditation help you achieve. The bias is that this is the best state to be in and the desirable goal for everyone. I disagree. The state that they describe is not what I am aiming for. And despite my public name (Ananda means 'bliss' in Sanskrit), I don't think that constant bliss or joy is the best goal. After all my years of meditation, I find that a calm peacefulness is best for me, and a better indication of emotional regulation than a state of bliss or joy. The authors of this book seem to think that the Gamma wave state/trait that their long-time meditators have is the ultimate goal. If so, I would say that we are going to have to use neurofeedback to get there, because meditation takes too long. Don't get me wrong. I encourage certain types of meditation and meditate regularly myself, but it takes more than meditation, for most of us, to really achieve the results that we are looking for in a more realistic time frame. Transcranial magnetic stimulation is looking promising for having a positive effect on brain structures, too. And I highly recommend looking into Attachment Theory and working towards secure attachment, which is where emotional regulation comes from, in my opinion. Basically, it is difficult to calm an overreactive amygdala through meditation alone, although I do believe it is a necessary and helpful part of the process.

I recently read "Brain Rules" by Jon Medina, and I was looking for the research explanations and notations in this book to be on the level of Medina's book. This book falls really short in this area. Also, I recommend "The Happiness Trap" by Russ Harris for a different approach to learning to be less reactive. It is similar to MBSR, but I like it better and it was life-changing for me.

Overall, I am glad that they are stating that achieving nice 'states' of mind during meditation is good, but the ultimate goal is to have this state become a trait, so that we are less reactive overall (again, this is called 'emotional regulation' in attachment theory). I also like that they point out the flaws in much of the research on meditation so far, and that future research needs to be of higher quality (and they specifically state the criteria for high quality research). And most importantly they state that the different types of meditation need to be studied separately. But the disappointments that I mentioned above are the reason for the lower rating that I gave the book.

258 people found this helpful

Comment

A Welcome Arrival

September 25, 2017

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

I'm a long-time meditator, psychoiogist, and teacher, and have long wanted to meet Richie Davidson so I could ask him this question: "What do you really think we have in the way of reasonably reliable research findings about the effects of meditation on the human brain and behavior?" This book answers that exact question, so I was truly excited about its arrival on the scene.

Davidson and Goleman do a very good job of explaining the history of meditation research, the findings, the strengths and weaknesses of many of the studies, current trends, and -- in answer to the question I wanted to ask -- what they, as scientists, really think the research has given us, so far, by way of reliable findings. The field is still young and science takes a long time to come to consensus, so the "solid" results are few and far between, but there are trends, and they are intriguing. This book gives me a good set of summaries I can offer my students.

I must say that, towards the end, the book got a bit repetitive; it could have been a good 50 pages shorter, easily. Looks as if they were trying hard to hit the 300 page mark. But that does not detract from the substance of the book, and, for me, that's the analysis of and summations of the current research findings.

32 people found this helpful

Comment

Set up an Amazon Giveaway

Altered Traits: Science Reveals How Meditation Changes Your Mind, Brain, and Body

Amazon Giveaway allows you to run promotional giveaways in order to create buzz, reward your audience, and attract new followers and customers. Learn more about Amazon Giveaway

This item: Altered Traits: Science Reveals How Meditation Changes Your Mind, Brain, and Body

Set up a giveaway

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

This shopping feature will continue to load items. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading.

Richard J. Davidson

182

Kindle Edition
$10.99
Shinzen Young

75

Kindle Edition
$10.99
Jon Kabat-Zinn

34

Kindle Edition
$9.99
Daniel Goleman

25

Kindle Edition
$6.99
Daniel Goleman

311

Kindle Edition
$12.99
John Yates

294

Kindle Edition
$18.99

Feedback

If you need help or have a question for Customer Service, contact us.

Would you like to report poor quality or formatting in this book? Click here

Would you like to report this content as inappropriate? Click here

Do you believe that this item violates a copyright? Click here

English $USD - U.S. Dollar United States

Conditions of Use
Privacy Notice
Interest-Based Ads
© 1996-2019, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates