Mental Brain

For the modern world, it seems as if sexuality and spirituality have always been at odds. But what if the two are actually deeply connected? And what if science could prove this connection? From neuroscientist Andrew Newberg, Sex, God, and the Brain argues that our religious and spiritual experiences derive directly from our sexual being. While others have speculated on a connection between religion and sex, Newberg is the first to demonstrate that the underlying biological mechanism of religious, spiritual, and sexual experiences are identical.

The most important thing we can do for our children is to have conversations with them. Parent-child talk is a fundamental, critical factor in building grit, self-control, leadership skills, and generosity. This landmark account of a new scientific perspective by the founder and director of the Thirty Million Words Initiative, Professor Dana Suskind, describes what works and what doesn't. Discover how to create the best "language environments" for children by following the simple structure of the Three Ts: Tune In, Talk More, Take Turns.

Ever notice that all watch ads show 10:10 as the time? Or that all fast-food restaurants use red or yellow in their logos? Or that certain stores are always having a sale? You may not be aware of these details, yet they’ve been influencing you all along. Every time you purchase, swipe, or click, marketers are able to more accurately predict your behavior. These days, brands know more about you than you know about yourself. Blindsight is here to change that.

The statistics on suicide are staggering. The World Health Organization estimates that nearly 800,000 people die by suicide every year, which is one person every forty seconds, and for each completed suicide there may be twenty or more attempts. In How I Stayed Alive When My Brain Was Trying to Kill Me, Susan Blauner is the perfect emissary for a message of hope and a program of action for these millions of people.

A prize-winning journalist with a background in neuroscience, Helen Thomson spent years tracking down people who live with the world's most extraordinary neurological disorders - like a man who tried to break his back because his legs no longer felt like his own, and another who believed that he was dead for nine years. Not content to simply read about these cases on paper, Thomson reached out to 10 people with these afflictions, and they agreed to tell her their stories.

Welcome to the better half of your life. The New York Times best-selling author of The Female Brain explains how a woman’s brain gets “upgraded” in midlife, inspiring and guiding women to unlock their full potential. With guidance for navigating the perimenopausal and menopausal storm while it lasts, and actionable science-backed steps for preserving brain health for the rest of your life, The Upgrade is a stunning road map, told through intimate stories, to a new brain state and its incredible possibilities.

Dr. Faith Harper lays it all out: what anxiety is, what it's good for - that's right, it's actually a necessary response that helps to keep us alive in bad situations - how to know when it's gone overboard, and practical tips on how to deal with it when it gets bad. This book is a lifesaver for panic attacks, breaking out of flight-or-fight-or-freeze responses, and for chronic anxiety. It's also good for folks who aren't daily burdened by anxiety, but want to better cope with those tough situations that affect us all.

The idea that “thoughts become things” has become a meme in popular culture. It’s held as a firm proposition in metaphysics, and some spiritual teachers ascribe infinite powers to the mind. But are these claims scientifically accurate? What does the scientific evidence tell us about the scope of the human mind to transform thoughts into reality?

Throughout our life, we look for ways to keep our minds sharp and effortlessly productive. Now, globetrotting neurosurgeon Dr. Sanjay Gupta offers “the book all of us need, young and old” (Walter Isaacson, number-one New York Times best-selling author of The Code Breaker) with insights from top scientists all over the world, whose cutting-edge research can help you heighten and protect brain function and maintain cognitive health at any age.

There is a process called neuroplasticity that occurs inside the human brain that essentially allows the development of new brain cells. New brain cells are born out of new experiences. The application of positive or negative habits can transform you, respectively, into a better or worse person. So, can you really learn to rewire your brain through the construction of new habits, positive restructuring of thoughts, becoming more organized, and zeroing in on your mental health problems? Yes, you can!

A chronic sense of unease. Nagging what-ifs. Worry about what other people think. Paralyzing phobias. Full-blown panic attacks. Anxiety shows up in a lot of different ways and can permeate every aspect of your life. The good news is that although it can feel confusing and overwhelming—as if things will never get better—it is possible to retrain your brain and put yourself back in the driver's seat.

Attention is not just receptive, but actively creative of the world we inhabit. How we attend makes all the difference to the world we experience. And nowadays in the West we generally attend in a rather unusual way: governed by the narrowly focused, target-driven left hemisphere of the brain.

After the birth of her baby triggers a manic maelstrom, Dyane Harwood struggles to survive the bewildering highs and crippling lows of her brain's turmoil. Birth of a New Brain vividly depicts her postpartum bipolar disorder, an unusual type of bipolar disorder and postpartum mood and anxiety disorder. During her childhood, Harwood grew up close to her father, a brilliant violinist in the Los Angeles Philharmonic who had bipolar disorder. She learned how bipolar disorder could ravage a family, but she never suspected that she'd become mentally ill - until her baby was born.

Why do I feel so overwhelmed? Why did I say that embarrassing thing? Is everyone else achieving more than me? What can I actually do to make a difference? Am I the only one feeling this way? In her internationally bestselling debut book—which draws on her own experience with mental health issues and neurodivergence—writer, podcaster, and advocate Gemma Styles captures the voice of her generation as she gets curious about how we tick in order to better understand and navigate the unique pressures of life today.

Are art and science separated by an unbridgeable divide? Can they find common ground? In this book, neuroscientist Eric R. Kandel, whose remarkable scientific career and deep interest in art give him a unique perspective, demonstrates how science can inform the way we experience a work of art and seek to understand its meaning. Kandel illustrates how reductionism - the distillation of larger scientific or aesthetic concepts into smaller, more tractable components - has been used by scientists and artists alike to pursue their respective truths.

We all know how to nudge our brains to perform better. A strong cup of coffee helps us get through a dull meeting, and a brisk walk helps us think more clearly. But what if some nudges could optimise how we focus, create and process information even more effectively, to take mental performance to new heights?

For the last decade, Silicon Valley entrepreneur Dave Asprey has worked with world-renowned doctors and scientists to uncover the latest, most innovative methods for making humans perform better - a process known as "biohacking". In his first book, The Bulletproof Diet, he shared his biohacking tips for taking control of your own biology. Now, in Head Strong, Asprey shows listeners how to biohack their way to sharper, smarter, faster, more resilient brains.

Let me tell you something. Science has proven that 80% of our thoughts are negative; on top of that, 90% of people have "bizarre" thoughts about contamination, harm, religious impropriety, losing control, and sexual perversion. It is normal to think alarming or negative thoughts, but you have to know how to deal with those thoughts in the right way to prevent and treat mental health issues. Always keep in mind, your thoughts are not your reality. Yet there is a key to handle those thoughts in the right way to make sure you can live a life without fears and self-sabotage.

In The Influential Mind, neuroscientist Tali Sharot takes us on a thrilling exploration of the nature of influence. We all have a duty to affect others - from the classroom to the boardroom to social media. But how skilled are we at this role, and can we become better? It turns out that many of our instincts - from relying on facts and figures to shape opinions, to insisting others are wrong or attempting to exert control - are ineffective because they are incompatible with how people's minds operate.

Dr. Oliver Sacks argues the migraine cannot be understood simply as an illness, but must be viewed as a complex condition with a unique role to play in each individual's life.