Audiobook6 hours
Think Smart: A Neuroscientist's Prescription for Improving Your Brain's Performance
Written by Richard Restak
Narrated by Arthur Morey
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
()
About this audiobook
In Think Smart, the renowned neuropsychiatrist and bestselling author Richard Restak details how each of us can improve and tone our body's most powerful organ: the brain.
As an expert on the brain, Restak knows that in the last five years there have been exciting new scientific discoveries about the brain and its performance. So he has asked his colleagues-among them the world's leading brain scientists and researchers-one important question: What can I do to help my brain work more efficiently? Their surprising and remarkably feasible answers are at the heart of Think Smart.
Dr. Restak combines advice culled from cutting-edge research with brain-tuning exercises to show how individuals of any age can make their brains work more effectively. In the same accessible prose that made Mozart's Brain and the Fighter Pilot a New York Times bestseller, Restak presents a wide array of practical recommendations about a variety of topics, including the crucial role sleep plays in boosting creativity, the importance of honing sensory memory, and the neuron-firing benefits of certain foods.
In Think Smart, the man the Smithsonian Institution has called "wise, witty, and ethical" offers audiences helpful suggestions for fighting neurological decline that will put every listener on the path to building a healthier, more limber brain.
As an expert on the brain, Restak knows that in the last five years there have been exciting new scientific discoveries about the brain and its performance. So he has asked his colleagues-among them the world's leading brain scientists and researchers-one important question: What can I do to help my brain work more efficiently? Their surprising and remarkably feasible answers are at the heart of Think Smart.
Dr. Restak combines advice culled from cutting-edge research with brain-tuning exercises to show how individuals of any age can make their brains work more effectively. In the same accessible prose that made Mozart's Brain and the Fighter Pilot a New York Times bestseller, Restak presents a wide array of practical recommendations about a variety of topics, including the crucial role sleep plays in boosting creativity, the importance of honing sensory memory, and the neuron-firing benefits of certain foods.
In Think Smart, the man the Smithsonian Institution has called "wise, witty, and ethical" offers audiences helpful suggestions for fighting neurological decline that will put every listener on the path to building a healthier, more limber brain.
Author
Richard Restak
Richard Restak (born 1942) is an American neurologist, neuropsychiatrist, author and professor.
Related to Think Smart
Related audiobooks
A User's Guide to the Brain: Perception, Attention, and the Four Theaters of the Brain Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mind Wide Open: Your Brain and the Neuroscience of Everyday Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Your Brain, Explained: What Neuroscience Reveals About Your Brain and its Quirks Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Social Intelligence: The New Science of Human Relationships Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Healthy More Resilient Brain Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Think Tank: Forty Neuroscientists Explore the Biological Roots of Human Experience Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Boost Your Brain: The New Art and Science Behind Enhanced Brain Performance Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Keep Your Brain Alive: Neurobic Exercises to Help Prevent Memory Loss and Increase Mental Fitness Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Make the Most of Your Mind Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Nocturnal Brain: Nightmares, Neuroscience, and the Secret World of Sleep Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Keep Sharp: How to Build a Better Brain at Any Age Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Disordered Mind: What Unusual Brains Tell Us About Ourselves Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Neurofitness: A Brain Surgeon’s Secrets to Boost Performance and Unleash Creativity Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5High-Octane Brain: 5 Science-Based Steps to Sharpen Your Memory and Reduce Your Risk of Alzheimer's Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Scientific American Healthy Aging Brain: The Neuroscience of Making the Most of Your Mature Mind Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBrainscapes: The Warped, Wondrous Maps Written in Your Brain-and How They Guide You Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Superhuman Mind: Free the Genius in Your Brain Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Gut Feelings: The Intelligence of the Unconscious Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Tell-Tale Brain: A Neuroscientist's Quest for What Makes Us Human Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Time Paradox: The New Psychology of Time That Will Change Your Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Who's in Charge?: Free Will and the Science of the Brain Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Why God Won't Go Away: Brain Science and the Biology of Belief Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Secret Life of Pronouns: What Our Words Say About Us Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Our Inner Ape: A Leading Primatologist Explains Why We Are Who We Are Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Passages: Predictable Crises of Adult Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Body Has a Mind of Its Own: How Body Maps in Your Brain Help You Do (Almost) Everything Better Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The 7 Laws of Magical Thinking: How Irrational Beliefs Keep Us Happy, Healthy, and Sane Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Self-Improvement For You
Divine Rivals: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The 48 Laws of Power Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Alchemist Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Mountain is You: Transforming Self-Sabotage Into Self-Mastery Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You’re Not the Only One F*cking Up: Breaking the Endless Cycle of Dating Mistakes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Codependent No More: How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring for Yourself Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How To Win Friends And Influence People Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Courage to Be Disliked: How to Free Yourself, Change Your Life, and Achieve Real Happiness Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The House of Eve Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Reformatory: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Unfu*k Yourself: Get Out of Your Head and into Your Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sure, I'll Join Your Cult: A Memoir of Mental Illness and the Quest to Belong Anywhere Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Twisted Love Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The 5 Love Languages Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Boundaries: When To Say Yes, How to Say No Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Everything is F*cked: A Book About Hope Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Win Friends and Influence People: Updated For the Next Generation of Leaders Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Practicing the Power of Now Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Do Hard Things: Why We Get Resilience Wrong and the Surprising Science of Real Toughness Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Grief Observed Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Highly Sensitive Person Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Banish Your Inner Critic: Silence the Voice of Self-Doubt to Unleash Your Creativity and Do Your Best Work Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for Think Smart
Rating: 3.8965517034482757 out of 5 stars
4/5
29 ratings3 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Interesting review of brain research and what it tells us about keeping our brains in shape. The epilogue gives a pretty good review of the information detailed in the rest of the book. At times,though, I felt like the author was writing for popular magazines (O, Cosmo, etc.) and by throwing in a few "may"s and "could"s, added a few more bits of advice that "may" not be borne out by the current research. Enjoyed the read. Easy to understand.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Well written. Restak has the credentials to write on the topic and demonstrates that he is knowledgeable. Admittedly, the bottom line of a healthy diet, exercise, and mental activity is fairly common sense.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Restak has definitely done the research on this book. He presents not only the brain diet ("if it's good for your heart, it's good for your brain"), but also various exercises to keep the memory and adaptability your brain has and even to improve it. Unfortunately, none of the exercises are particularly exciting and I can't see myself doing most of them with any regularity. He does talk a bit about video games, but in sort of conflicting ways--"here are all the great things you can get from them" vs. "don't spend more than an hour three times a week on them or you could suffer negative effects."Still, the book is definitely worth reading, especially inasmuch he talks about the correlation between dementia and various activities/lack of activities. The various studies are also really interesting, if that's your bag (and it is definitely mine). Unlike many things you'll run across that are based on "junk science," this book is very specific about which things are factual and which are still speculative.