The New Brain: How the Modern Age Is Rewiring Your Mind - Softcover

the new brain

How the Modern Age is Rewiring Your Mind

The era of the New Brain is upon us. Once a mysterious, hidden organ locked within our skulls, modern brain science now provides us with insights about the brain that only a few decades ago would have been considered the stuff of science fiction. We can now study the brain in "real time," witnessing how it functions while taking a test, practicing a craft, experiencing an emotion, or making a decision. Brain tests can even indicate when we're telling the truth or when we're lying.

Dr. Richard Restak reports from the frontiers of modern brain science and asks the relevant questions such as, is Attention Deficit Disorder the brain syndrome of the future? Is it a "normal" response to the modern world's demand to attend to several things at once? What happens in our brains when the image replaces language as the primary means of communication? How does exposure to violent imagery affect our brains? Are we capable of "genius" and training our brains to perform at a superior level?

The New Brain is the story of technology and biology converging to influence the evolution of the human brain. Dramatic advances are now possible, as well as the potential for misuse and abuse.

Dr. Restak, author of more than 15 books on the brain, leads you through the latest research and the expanding field of cognitive science, explains its implications, and even offers practical advice such as how to:

* Understand and mitigate the affects of media images and technology on our thoughts and emotions
* Estimate the effects of stress on our brain function and how to predict who is at greatest risk for harm
* Develop the habits that result in peak brain performance

No longer science fiction or fantasy, The New Brain recounts what our brains are capable of-- today.

DR. RICHARD RESTAK, a neurologist and neuropsychiatrist, is clinical professor of neurology at George Washington University Medical Center in Washington, D.C. He has written the companion books to several PBS specials on brain function, including The Secret Life of the Brain. His last book, Mozart's Brain and the Fighter Pilot: Unleashing Your Brain's Potential, was a bestseller. An engaging science commentator, Restak has appeared on NPR's Morning Edition, All Things Considered, the Today Show, Good Morning America, and the Discovery Channel. He lives and practices in Washington, D.C.

Jacket design by Christopher Rhoads

HOW THE MODERN AGE IS REWIRING YOUR MIND

"The wise, witty, and ethical Dr. Restak has given us ... a book vital to understanding our own role in influencing our ongoing evolution as a species. He guides us gently and humbly through synaptic connections we did not know we had, thus igniting us to insatiable curiosity about our potentials."
--Wilton S. Dillon, Ph.D., Senior Scholar Emeritus, Smithsonian Institution

The Era of the New Brain ...
... IS HERE

Genetic mapping, imaging technology, and psychopharmacology have converged to give us an unprecedented understanding of how the brain works and how we can affect its operation. But what does this mean? Already our brains are working differently than they did just one hundred years ago, as we respond to the barrage of media images, violent and provocative, and attend to the demands of the modern world. "Cosmetic" drugs that work in the brain to prevent us from feeling drowsy, depressed, anxious, or fearful, or that enhance concentration and memory are already available. Dramatic treatments to repair damage in the brain are becoming common.

In The New Brain, Dr. Richard Restak guides you through the frontiers of modern brain science and offers cautionary but also optimistic thoughts on the direction of this work. He says that in the era of the New Brain it will be necessary to tread carefully, lest we imprison ourselves in concepts that diminish, rather than enhance, our freedom.