Product Description

In Mozart’s Brain and the Fighter Pilot, eminent neuropsychiatrist and bestselling author Richard Restak, M.D., combines the latest research in neurology and psychology to show us how to get our brain up to speed for managing every aspect of our busy lives.

Everything we think and everything we choose to do alters our brain and fundamentally changes who we are, a process that continues until the end of our lives. Few people think of the brain as being susceptible to change in its actual structure, but in fact we can preselect the kind of brain we will have by continually exposing ourselves to rich and varied life experiences. Unlike other organs that eventually wear out with repeated and sustained use, the brain actually improves the more we challenge it.

Most of us incorporate some kind of physical exercise into our daily lives. We do this to improve our bodies and health and generally make us feel better. Why not do the same for the brain? The more we exercise it, the better it performs and the better we feel. Think of Restak as a personal trainer for your brain—he will help you assess your mental strengths and weaknesses, and his entertaining book will set you to thinking about the world and the people around you in a new light, providing you with improved and varied skills and capabilities. From interacting with colleagues to recognizing your own psychological makeup, from understanding the way you see something to why you’re looking at it in the first place, from explaining the cause of panic attacks to warding off performance anxiety, this book will tell you the whys and hows of the brain’s workings.

Packed with practical advice and fascinating examples drawn from history, literature, and science, Mozart’s Brain and the Fighter Pilot provides twenty-eight informative and realistic steps that we can all take to improve our brainpower.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #18717 in Books
• Published on: 2002-10-22
• Released on: 2002-10-22
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

From Publishers Weekly
"Most of us would like to be smarter," asserts Restak (The Brain, companion to PBS's series by the same name), neuropsychiatrist and clinical professor of neurology at George Washington University Medical Center. Restak claims that improving cognition is the answer. In accessible science-teacher style, Restak delineates the brain's attributes, from its weight (three pounds) to the number of nerve cells (100 billion) and its infinity of synapses, explaining what aids communication, informs memory and so forth. Knowing how the brain works is important to building its power, says Restak, and in this high-tech age, we need as much cognition as we can get. He proposes a comprehensive and handy plan to improve one's mind, literally as well as literarily. If one stops learning, one's overall mental capacity diminishes because the synaptic links shrink. Brain stimulation has been declared protection against Alzheimer's. The brain does not age; keeping it "fit" is no more difficult than keeping one's cholesterol under control. In outlining a plan including everything from exercise to learning to play a musical instrument, Restak explains how interconnections between the brain's functions keep it growing. Train your brain through logic problems, complicated games like chess, difficult jigsaw puzzles and widely varied reading. Not surprisingly, watching TV, a passive act, does exactly what your mother always said it did makes you stupid. The extraordinary range of references to literature, science, gamesmanship and even cryptograms makes it apparent that Restak practices what he preaches. This unusual, intriguing book will appeal to the health diligent and the senior contingent.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Neuropsychiatrist Restak (neurology, George Washington Univ. Medical Ctr.) has written numerous books on the human brain, including the very engaging The Brain Has a Mind of Its Own. In his latest work, he offers 28 ways to improve mental fitness, including exercises to enhance memory, concentration, creativity, and analytical ability. The proposed exercises are designed to increase neuronal linkages that will, in turn, improve overall mental functioning. Some of Restak's suggestions require a hefty time expenditure, adequate financial resources (a laptop computer), strong joints and flexibility (tai chi exercises), and a private office equipped with a couch (napping during the work day!). But his point is well taken: practicing simple mind games, listening to music, reading widely, keeping a journal, etc., can greatly enhance the brain's performance. Restak's upbeat and enlightening guide will certainly be a popular addition to public libraries. Laurie Bartolini, Illinois State Lib., Springfield
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From AudioFile
Restak is a practicing neurologist who wants to "enhance your brain's natural biological predispositions in order to enhance your ability to concentrate." In light of recent evidence that vigorous brain exercise retards the effects of the dementias, listeners are exposed to a wide variety of cerebral exercises to constantly form new synapses and maintain established ones. We move from verbal descriptions of Tai Chi for the cerebellum, to examples of brain-twisting memory exercises for the cortex, and are taught the method of calculating the optimum time for brain rest (short power naps) during stressful work. The doctor combines neuroanatomy lessons with lots of advice. His delivery is professional and persuasive. J.A.H. 2003 Audie Award Finalist © AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Customer Reviews

Never too old to use your brain
Ask anyone: you're destined to end in a rocking chair with a shawl...while a 4-inch drool hangs from your lower lip and eyeballs pinwheel in their sockets--right? That's because, as everyone knows, brain cells don't reproduce and just go to brain cell heaven, leaving you with a vacuum--right?

Richard says "no" to both. He says that your 3-pound brain is unlike any other organ...that it never wears out or grows old! Sure, and brain cells reproduce. In exact opposition to common belief, your brain is capable of both learning and growth in size and complexity until the day you die.


And no, Richard is no flower-child-kook or cult leader. If you "Google" Richard Restak, you'll get 37,200 hits. He is an MD neurologist, also a neurophychiatrist, and a clinical professor of neurology at George Washington University's Medical Center. If that isn't good enough, he has written some 18 or 20 well accepted books...at least two of which were main selections of the book of the month club.

Richard is the first to say that you'll acquire your 4-inch drool if you let the circuits and connections--that you took great effort to establish in younger years--atrophy from disuse. As your daddy always told you, "what you don't use, you lose".

So...Richard is a head-guy, right? As such, he'd like to keep you sharp and eagle-eyed and forever becoming smarter and smarter. To do that, he offers-up a litany tasks and brain exercises that you'd easily spend 24-7 before getting started...some hard, really hard. Stuff you would hate doing...though he claims you'd love in the end. Maybe drools ain't that bad. Or, maybe you'd get a "lot of bang for the buck" by doing some of these exercises. Read his "Mozart's Brain and the Fighter Pilot" to judge for yourself.

That you're not doomed to the rocker isn't his only revelation...here is a big one. You'll first need to bear with me. Learning involves establishing more and more connections...but in varying specific brain locations, depending on the type of learning. Now, the left hemisphere stores thoughtful/reasoning, analog-type stuff...like language, chess playing, results of reading or mathematics study, and etc. The right hemisphere stores digital-type stuff, as images.

Here is the thing: before television, much learning resided in the logic-based left hemisphere. You played cards and told stories with your friends, or read books, or played musical instruments. So, your left hemisphere became the 900 pound thought gorilla. Television spoon-feeds your right hemisphere with digital information...MTV, sound-byte news, and etc...leaving the logic circuits of the left hemisphere with nothing to store, and undeveloped! Among the nasty results, says Richard, is runaway Attention-Deficit among children and now adults. There is developing a universal inability to focus on a given subject lasting more than a 3-minute sound-byte.

Oh, and bye the way...once storage and connections are formed, they never disappear...they atrophy. Restoring atrophied connections is often accomplished quickly.

I thought you'd like to know that there is hope for you.

Mozart's Brain
This book would be most useful to students of human anatomy,
medicine and biology. The author begins with an exhaustive
description of how the brain operates. He explains that we
should not be wedded to notions of rationality or order.

Three important states are described. These are the passive
state. The passive state is conceptually similar to watching
TV or listening to calm music. The intellectual state involves
solving an involved puzzle, playing chess or reading. The
physical state involves playing sports. Our brains cope with
all three states.

Another important point enunciated involves differential
time frames to co-exist simultaneously in our brain.
Associative links can lead to new learning by aiding recall.
Remembering can be enhanced through exercise and practice.
Individual thoughts are characterized by the left brain;
whereas, images are articulated in the right brain.

The author mentions unique ways to cope with uncertainty
and ambiguity through deep concentration and reflection
techniques. Overall, this work provides important
perspectives on how the brain operates and how to
enhance its current/potential functioning. There are
important implications for Alzheimer's patients.
The acquisition would be a worthy purchase for students
of biology, medicine, biochemistry, psychology and anatomy.

Bogged Down, Too Brainy
Although there were some interesting parts, this book (I had the audio-book version) ultimately disappointed as it bogged down, and got downright boring.