The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science - Paperback

by Norman Doidge (Author)

"Fascinating. Doidge's book is a remarkable and hopeful portrait of the endless adaptability of the human brain."--Oliver Sacks, MD, author of The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat

An astonishing new science called neuroplasticity is overthrowing the centuries-old notion that the human brain is immutable, and proving that it is, in fact, possible to change your brain. Psychoanalyst, Norman Doidge, M.D., traveled the country to meet both the brilliant scientists championing neuroplasticity, its healing powers, and the people whose lives they've transformed--people whose mental limitations, brain damage or brain trauma were seen as unalterable. We see a woman born with half a brain that rewired itself to work as a whole, blind people who learn to see, learning disorders cured, IQs raised, aging brains rejuvenated, stroke patients learning to speak, children with cerebral palsy learning to move with more grace, depression and anxiety disorders successfully treated, and lifelong character traits changed. Using these marvelous stories to probe mysteries of the body, emotion, love, sex, culture, and education, Dr. Doidge has written an immensely moving, inspiring book that will permanently alter the way we look at our brains, human nature, and human potential.

Author Biography

Norman Doidge, M.D., is a psychiatrist, a psychoanalyst, and the New York Times bestselling author of The Brain's Way of Healing, which was the winner of the 2015 Gold Nautilus Book Award in Science & Cosmology. He was on the Research Faculty of the Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research at Columbia University's Department of Psychiatry in New York City, and on the faculty of the University of Toronto's Department of Psychiatry for thirty years. He lives in Toronto.