Mind Over Gray Matter:
Practical Neuroscience
from the Decade of the Brain

by John D. MacArthur

Once Upon a Time Thousands of generations ago, something happened that was unprecedented in the story of life on Earth. Somewhere in the evolutionary backwoods of humanity, a threshold was crossed. The capacity of the human brain surpassed the ability of its genes to store information: not only store, but integrate and manage that information to accelerate its natural inclination to learn and grow. In our time, this evolution is undergoing another quantum leap, an explosion of self-knowledge as the brain turns attention upon itself. The ancient mandate "know thyself" has led us inside the brain to a new dimension of self-awareness. Your sense of who you are emanates from a vast inner galaxy of brain cells that harmoniously interact to orchestrate the symphony of consciousness. Home to your mind and personality, your brain houses your cherished memories and future hopes. It gives you purpose and passion, motion and emotion. Your amazing brain senses its environment, recalls experience, imagines possibility. It reasons and learns, animates and astounds – ever seeking to understand itself and its place in the web of life. You have been entrusted with the care and feeding of this most complex and extraordinary creation. But what do you actually know about your brain? These pages contain practical neuroscience you can use to help achieve the best performance of your life: information with the potential to make your life worth living, your job worth doing, your relations worth having. So please dive in. Get to know your brain: the nourishment it needs, the exercise it craves, the rest it requires, the protection it deserves.

Mind Over Gray Matter | Table of Contents

256 pages • ISBN 978-1-43489401-4
Published July 20, 2011 • $9.95

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