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

Norman Doidge, a Psychiatrist and Psychoanalyst has done a great work in the field of “Neuroplasticity” which means ability (flexibility!) of the brain to change. The Brain that Changes Itself, is considered to be 1st part of two volumes by the author (2nd Book : The Brain’s way of Healing), in which he has discussed in detail regarding several recent research articles, interviewed hundreds of Doctors and paramedical persons and patients, to understand how neuroplasticity works in different patients and how it can be utilized in treating dreadful, progressive and degenerative neurological diseases. In very first Chapter, author has described about a woman who was unable to walk properly and difficulty in marinating the balance due to damage to inner ear (Inner ear has two parts : Cochlea: helps in hearing and Vestibular apparatus : helps to maintain equilibrium) because of some drugs which she had to take. Paul Bach-Y-Rita, treating doctor designed the helmet like device with accelerometer sensors, to be worn by patient, which sends the signals to computer which ultimately is transmitted to a strip with electrodes applied on tongue. And ultimately, helping the patient to balance the body and prevent the fall. In short, instead of inner ear, the tongue was helping the patient to send the data about position of body to brain. Most exciting thing in this experiment was that after using and practicing with the device, patient developed the ability to maintain balance without using it, proving that somehow brain learned to accepts the signals about the balance from different part than usual and decode them too. Author Norman Doidge, describes in very lucid and understandable way, about complex neurophysiology. He defies the notion of One function one location and it work like machine (Hence, if there is a damage to any area in brain, person will lose the ability to execute that function, permanently, as Neurons cant get repaired) according to which there are different areas in our brain doing specific predefined function. Author puts lots of evidences based on researches done by the different scientists in the field of Neuroplasticity. Concluding, even though the areas have fixed functions but areas (or neurons making that area) can take up the functions of other areas (or neurons). “Neurons that fire together wire together “. “Neurons that fire apart wire apart.” Author describes astonishing examples of patients who have lost / damaged or didn’t have some part of their brain, and were destined to remain lose the functions normally, goes on to learn and perform those functions and live (near) normal life, and which is only possible by some other part of the brain is trained to learn that functions by gradual mental and physical exercise. Author has also described, the wonderful work done by Merzenick Michael, who developed a computer Program Fast ForWord, which helps autistic children to get cured through regular intense neurological exercise in the form of computer game/program. Author talks about taste and Love neurophysiology by explaining the pleasure systems and how plasticity plays role in person falling in love and falling for particular taste (sexual orientation), and ultimately why so many people in today’s world are getting addicted to pornography, which gives short lasting pleasure involving the role of oxytocin, dopamine and endorphins. Learned Nonuse, the term used when patient learns not to use particular part of his/her body because his/her brain is not receiving the signals from the damaged brain (due to stroke, trauma etc.). Neuroplasticians have been using Constraint Induced therapy for cure of this patients, where patients are forced to use their affected limbs/parts, resulting in regaining the functions. Author describes the concept of “Critical Period”, the time during which child has to get exposed to particular stimulus resulting in development of emotions, feeling and also helps in developing memories. Hence, children raised in orphanage may have higher chances of autism, anxiety, depression, amnesia. There is a chapter in book, which describe the groundbreaking work done by Ramachandran, aka Sherlock Holmes of Neuroscience, in the field of Phantom limb/pain, where patient feels or experience pain the limb which has been amputated. Now it is widely accepted after Ramachandran work, that its because of the neuroplasticity, i.e. change in the brain map after amputation leading to the condition. Imagination, as one of the chapter in the book, shows how just imagining about particular action changes the brain and would fire the same set of neurons as the actions being physically performed and ultimately affecting the plasticity of the human brain. Visually blind people as they are deprived of the stimulus from the eyes to the visual cortex, which later on start sensing touch from the hands. Another amazing case discussed in the book, is about Michelle, who was born without left cerebral hemisphere, who happens to develop savant calculation skills and wonderful memory about calendar events. Whose only hemisphere , right one, develops the maps and functions, which are normally done by left hemisphere, all thanks to the plasticity. To conclude, it’s a book, which has lot of technical information but written in such a manner that anyone from any field can easily understand it. And, most importantly the concept of neuroplasticity is going to change how we used to see and deal with brain injury and diseases.

Our brain has amazing power to adapt, modify, train itself- and these powers remain grossly under-utilised as most of the people are not aware of it. Example 1: video signals can be fed from an electronic camera to brain through tongue, brain on its own figure it out that the signals coming from tongue are not corresponding to taste but rather of vision and reroute the signals to the area of the brain that processes visual signals (from eyes) where the signals are decoded and person can see the image being captured by video camera- without using eyes!!! Great potential for blind population which has blindness due to eyes problems (and not due to brain itself- like in stroke)! Example 2: paralysed people can regain movement of affected part! it is demonstrated through experiments that movement can be learnt again. when the brain area controlling movement is damaged due to stroke or haemorrhage, neighbouring brain area can take over its role provided regular training is given for a period of time. Real reason of a part remaining impacted is that the people shift the burden to other limb and do not attempt to make the affected part work after a while believing that it can't be used forever! Why to read this book: none of us is having a perfect brain. we or people we love may be struggling with brain handicaps without being aware of it - and which can be easily addressed provided they are identified! we may attribute many of our weaknesses to lack of interest, effort, potential, etc. We are good at finding some reason, answer to observed phenomenon. we accept easy explanations... for example, if a student is poor in maths.. usual explanation is: he doesn't put enough effort/ he doesn't like math/ he doesn't have potential for math, etc. even seemingly normal people may be having difficulty in certain areas and are not even aware about it- like some student may be having problem in maths, like one of the scientist's story in this book, though he/she may be bright in other few subjects. This may be attributed to a small area in the brain which needs to be strengthened. and when exercises aimed at that particular area of the brain are undertaken difficulty in maths problem evaporated! this approach is very different from the one which aims to train the brain as a whole. Here the cause of poor performance in specific domain (like maths) is pin pointed to specific area/region of the brain and then that specific brain region is targeted with very specific exercises (like, clock reading exercise where the clock has 10 hands instead of usual 3 of hour, minute, second).

The book gets interesting with each chapter. The whole idea of brain plasticity and the various contexts it has been put in and explored is just fascinating. Since it's specifically scientific material, you need to have some background to connect to it and the fascination actually comes from knowing what has been claimed till date and how it gets debunked in these stories. This was my first detailed read in brain plasticity so don't have much to compare with but definitely builds a good base to explore further. Just one thing that sets me off is, there is more of the story and less of the research. Which is good to begin connecting and getting in the flow but after some point you start to look for more subject matter and less of stories. But again, the disappointment is possibly a result of setting wrong expectations, when the title clearly says, "Stories of Personal Triumph". There are some really interesting findings that can be used even in day to day life to make good use of mental capacity, especially when it comes to learning new skills. The other good part is the extreme conditions where the methods have been deployed and have shown results; builds a strong case for hope when it comes to cases of long-lasting damage done to the brain or any organ. Overall a good read!

This book helped in understanding why neuroplasticity happens and why it is so important. It helped me understand many things about myself and about people around me.

Very well written. Kept me hooked till last page. People who are not from science background can also understand most of the book.

Very good book

One of the must read books on human brain . If you are from a non medical background you might find it even more interesting .Brian is one of the most fascinating organ in the human body . You are just the brain and it's bunch of neurons ... And the rest of the body just assisting them

DIY hacking guide to the human brain. It is the equivalent of reading many books at once. A dense read. BUT worth it. Go slow. Take notes. Follow up on the research presented. You WILL be rewarded! Highly recommended!

This is a terrific book. I highly recommend it. The book focuses on neuroplasticity (the terrific functional flexibility of the brain), and very often is able to tell the story of the latest ideas in that field whilst relating them to particular human stories. It is written in a clear, thoughtful, engaging way. It's an important book because it is popularising important new ideas. I rather agree with the reviewer who says that Doidge overstates his case and tends to explain everything in terms of neuroplasticity, ... but I am very impressed by the quality and clarity of the book as a whole. I have had a stroke, and I read with interest chapter 5 (which deals with stroke). I felt it was well written and convincing. I found the basic message (that the brain's ability to recover from injury is enormously greater than conventionally understood) tremendously encouraging. That is not to say that my problems of hemiplegia have been solved, but my understanding of the potential for recovery, and how to achieve it, has been improved. As I read the book, I felt that important insights and clues to research were sometimes introduced briefly with little fanfare. E.g. 1) I think the discussion about neuroplastic change and evolution should lead us to question further the orthodoxy about how species evolve, that is natural selection is not the only force at work; and 2) isn't it a puzzlement that in a plastic environment anything is stable and solid? I wonder if the plastic brain is analogous to a fly-by-wire aircraft?

Ottimo libro sulla plasticità cerebrale spiegato in modo semplice e con numerosi esempi.

Good book , better understanding of human Brian

日本語版を読むより、内容理解がスムースでした。なぜかは、ご推測ください。人間の「脳」の素晴らしさ、神秘さを知り、自分でも更に何か出来そうだぞと確信でき、元気が出てきました。 まずは、TOEICテストに、６７歳にして初挑戦しようと計画しております。以上

To Amazon, The book came a little dented at the spine, so I suggest you start wrapping it with bubble wrap so this doesn't happen anymore (I've seen more people with this problem). To the readers, I'm not English so I was a little scared that the book might be written in very technical language. However, the writing is very fluid and simple, it is very easy to understand and visualize what the author is telling us and explaining. I've only read the first chapter yet, but so far the book is super interesting (not boring at all) and almost makes me hooked. I totally recommend it - especially if you have an interest in neuroscience and neuropsychology!!