Book review: Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School, by Dr John Medina.
“Would you get your dog up for a cup of coffee and a doughnut in the morning?” asks Jack LaLanne. The godfather of the American fitness movement, LaLanne, now in his nineties, once exclaimed to Larry King: “I tell people I can’t afford to die. It will wreck my image!”
“If you ever have the chance to hear him in an interview,” says Brain Rules author Dr John Medina, “your biggest impression will not be the strength of his muscles but the strength of his mind.” Dr Medina, a developmental molecular biologist and research consultant, is an affiliate Professor of Bioengineering at the University of Washington School of Medicine. He is also the director of the Brain Center for Applied Learning Research at Seattle Pacific University.
Brain rules, OK
Medina uses LaLanne’s incredible story to introduce the first of his 12 ‘brain rules’: Exercise boosts brain power. How many brain rules do you follow? To find out, here are the others:
EXERCISE | Rule #1: Exercise boosts brain power.
SURVIVAL | Rule #2: The human brain evolved, too.
WIRING | Rule #3: Every brain is wired differently.
ATTENTION | Rule #4: We don’t pay attention to boring things.
SHORT-TERM MEMORY | Rule #5: Repeat to remember.
LONG-TERM MEMORY | Rule #6: Remember to repeat.
SLEEP | Rule #7: Sleep well, think well.
STRESS | Rule #8: Stressed brains don’t learn the same way.
SENSORY INTEGRATION | Rule #9: Stimulate more of the senses.
VISION | Rule #10: Vision trumps all other senses.
GENDER | Rule #11: Male and female brains are different.
EXPLORATION | Rule #12: We are powerful and natural explorers.
This is a great read; it’s an honest, entertaining, and well-written book based on years of research into the interesting subject of how the brain works. Yet Medina is humble enough to admit that there are many things he and his colleagues still don’t know about the brain. To my mind, this gives the book a lot of credibility.
You can pick up a copy of John Medina’s book here.
