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| Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School (Book & DVD) | 
 enlarge | Author: John Medina
Publisher: Pear Press
Category: Book
List Price: $29.95
Buy New: $17.97
You Save: $11.98 (40%)
New (25) Used (7) from $17.97
Avg. Customer Rating:  38 reviews
Sales Rank: 442
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 301
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.3
ISBN: 0979777704
Dewey Decimal Number: 612.82
EAN: 9780979777707
ASIN: 0979777704
Publication Date: March 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand new item. Over 3.5 million customers served. Order now. Selling online since 1995. Order with confidence. Code: B20080904214033T
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| Customer Reviews:
 Updated Easy to Understand Brain Science for Everyone April 19, 2008
11 out of 12 found this review helpful
This book is chock full of the latest brain science in an easy to understand format by an extremely engaging, funny, sharp man who will change the way you think about yourself, others, and the human brain. It's a must read for teachers and business owners but it's honestly totally accesible to anyone from any walk of life and the concepts apply across the board to everyone on earth. Best of all, it dispels many commonly held beliefs (right brain/left brain, 'you only use 10% of your brain' etc) in very clear terms. I am buying copies of this book for all family and friends for the next year until I've gotten through their birthdays and holidays. It really is that good. Do yourself a favor and spend the paltry amount of cash this excellent book costs. You will wind up inspired!
Incidentally, if you ever have the opportunity to see John lecture, see if you can find a way to attend. His presentations are the living embodiment of the fundamentals from the book and he will have you in stitches to boot!
Fascinating look at the space between your ears, as well as practical application... May 29, 2008
10 out of 11 found this review helpful
When an author and industry expert you hold in high regard says a book is the best one s/he's read in 2008, it's probably a good idea to take notice. So when Garr Reynolds of Presentation Zen fame recommended Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School by John Medina, I decided that should be something I get sooner rather than later. After reading, I can see why he recommends the book so highly. Medina's 12 "brain rules" are based on solid science, but they're presented in such a way that you can actually apply your new-found knowledge.
Contents:
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.
Acknowledgements
Index
When Reynolds reviewed the book on his site, he focused on how these rules pertain to the art of making presentations. Attention, as explained by Medina, means that the brain does not multitask (much to your bosses dismay), we notice patterns and abstract meanings better than recording detail, and you have basically 10 minutes before the audience checks out without a new stimulus. Vision, the sensory "trump card", is the dominant sense, our brain controls what we see (and it's not totally correct), the processes to "see" something are very complex, and most importantly, we remember and learn best through pictures and not written/spoken words. That one insight alone should be enough to make you totally rethink the way we attempt to present to people...
Now, even if you're not approaching the book from a presentation angle, the book is still outstanding. Something like memory, an act we take for granted, is a deep mystery that we still don't understand. Medina shows by studies and real-life examples how things *might* work, knowing full well we haven't even begun to understand but a fraction of what goes on there. Sleep, something that boosts brain power, is *not* a time of relaxation for the brain. In fact, it often kicks into overdrive. Why? There are still no definitive answers. But he does go on to prove how *lack* of sleep can utterly render you incapable of rational thought and physical action. When you've worked through all 12 of the brain rules, you'll have a more complete understanding of how you can affect the quality of your brain functioning, all the while being entertained and amazed at what lies between your ears.
Every time I got to the end of a chapter, I started to put the book down. But then I'd think "just one more and then I'll turn out the light." Needless to say, I was at the end before I knew it. Like Garr Reynolds, this is one of the best books I've read this year, and one that I'd recommend to others for a number of reasons and purposes.
What we all need to know about how the brain works July 30, 2008
7 out of 9 found this review helpful
In the Introduction, John Medina expresses his concern that most people are "out of the loop" in that they are unaware of recent and important revelations in modern neuroscience concerning "how the mind works." His purpose is to explain 12 "brain rules" and devotes a separate chapter to each. "Easily the most sophisticated information-transfer system on Earth, your brain is fully capable of taking little black squiggles on this piece of bleached wood [i.e. ink on paper] and deriving meaning from them. To accomplish this miracle, your brain sends jolts of electricity crackling through hundreds of miles of wires composed of brain cells so small that thousands of them could fit into the period at the end of this sentence. You accomplish all this in less time than it takes you to blink. Indeed, you have just done it. What's equally incredible, given your intimate association with it, is this: Most of us have no idea how our brain works."
At this point, I need to reassure those who are now processing the "little black squiggles" that comprise this review that the key ideas in Medina's book are readily accessible to a layperson such as I who - until reading his book - had little (if any) understanding of "how our brain works." It is amazing but nonetheless true, Medina asserts, that there is a young man who can multiply the number 8,388,628 x 2 in his head in a few seconds "and he gets it right every time," that there is a girl who can correctly determine the exact dimensions of an object 20 feet away, and that there is a child who at age 6 drew "such lifelike and powerful pictures" that she got her own show on Madison Avenue.
Briefly, here are five of 12 principles for surviving and thriving at work, home, and school. Medina's analysis of each responds to two questions "How?" and "Why?":
#5: Repeat to remember.
Excerpt: "We now know that the space between repetitions is the critical component for transforming temporary memories into more persistent forms. Spaced learning is greatly superior to massed learning."
#7: Sleep well, think well.
Excerpt: "The brain is in a constant state of tension between cells and chemicals that try to put you to sleep and cells and chemicals that try to keep you awake."
#9: Nourish the five senses with increased stimulation.
Excerpt: "Our senses evolved to work together - vision influencing hearing, for example - which means that we learn best if we stimulate several senses at once."
#10: Vision trumps all other senses.
Excerpt: "We learn and remember best through pictures, not through written or spoken words."
#12: Our brains are by nature highly inquisitive (i.e. "powerful explorers")
Excerpt: "Babies are a model of how we learn - not by passive reaction to the environment but by active testing through observation, hypothesis, experiment, and conclusion."
To repeat, Medina's explanations of "how" and "why" are presented in layman's terms without "dumbing down" what is obviously complicated information. He succeeds brilliantly, not only when explaining "how our brains work" but also when and why they work best... or when and why they don't. After reading Chapter 4 in which he explains what he calls "the 10-minute rule," I decided to limit my subsequent reading of his book to 10-minute increments, then shifted my attention to another task. After you read Chapter 4, you'll understand that decision.
A DVD is provided with each copy of this book and John Medina suggests (as do I) that it be viewed before processing the "little black squiggles" that comprise his lively narrative.
One final point: I wish this book had been available years ago when I was completing my formal education, beginning a career as an English teacher, and then starting a family. That said, I can at least purchase copies for my three sons and daughter...and will.
 Brain Rule #0: Tell me something I don't know August 3, 2008
6 out of 10 found this review helpful
In Brain Rules, Mr. Medina proves incessantly that he has a talent for stating the obvious:
Rule #4: We don't pay attention to boring things
Rule #5: Repeat to remember
Rule #6: Remember to repeat
Rule #7: Sleep well, think well
Mr. Medina explains in every chapter what is currently known about a particular brain function and its deficiencies, and offers "transformative" ideas-solutions to aid people at work, home and school. In the latter, Mr. Medina's efforts leave a lot to be desired. Many of his ideas are impractical and borderline juvenile. Any entity or individual handing out grants for serious scientific work should pause for a moment before funding ideas such as putting a treadmill in every classroom and cubicle. "What if, during a lesson, the children were not sitting at desks, but walking on treadmills?... Until brain scientists and education scientists get together to show real-world benefit, the answer is: Nobody knows," asserts Mr. Medina in the chapter about "Rule #1: Exercise boosts brain power". There are a plethora of more pressing and immediate problems such as acquiring the ability to speak, read and write standard English, and teen pregnancy that can put to better use the $500-$1,000 per treadmill per pupil it would cost to implement Mr. Medina's idea of getting more oxygen to the brain during class lectures. And as for his idea of putting treadmills in boardrooms for use during board meetings, well, while we're at it, why not have all board members wear adult diapers to cut down on bathroom breaks to increase productivity while walking on the treadmill at 1.8 miles per hour?
Mr. Medina seems, rightfully so, to be very fond of Google's practice of allocating 20% of its employees' work hours to the exploration of new ideas. "Fully 50% of new products, including Gmail and Google News" were a result of these exploratory sessions. The problem is, instead of discussing successful and proven ideas not yet adopted in business, home or the classroom, Mr. Medina dabbles mostly in the 20% brainstorming territory in what he himself calls "fantasy" sometimes.
Brain rules, despite these quirks still offers the reader value, particularly in chapters 10 (Vision trumps all other senses), and 11 (Male and female brains are different).
In the last chapter, "Exploration", Mr. Medina mentions "Mirror Neurons" in the brain. Human mirror neurons are scattered across the brain, prompting imitative behavior. Stick your tongue out at a newborn, as Mr. Medina did to his 30 minute old son, and he will do the same. The impact of mirror neurons, however, is still speculative - something not mentioned by the author. I've begun an experiment to test its validity, and I plan on updating my review as soon as my 3 month old daughter sticks her tongue out after I do. So far, after one day of experimenting, I've gotten a few smiles out of her, but no tongue. Stay tuned...
Brains Rule! April 12, 2008
5 out of 7 found this review helpful
I went to see John speak in Seattle this week. He is very compelling speaker, and as in the book, he is able to take complex phenomenon and explain it clearly for non-science types. I highly recommend this book for anyone in the business world.
Very useful tips on some ideas to improve your workflow and your life!
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