Product Description

An exploration of the nature of our mind, from the inside out, by a leading neurobiologist.

Over the last twenty years, there has been growing attention in the Western world to mindfulness—paying attention to life in the present moment. Here, Daniel J. Siegel investigates the phenomenon of mindfulness as it impacts our daily lives, offering readers insight into personal relationships, emotional behavior, parenting, and work.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3643 in Books
• Published on: 2007-04-01
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 256 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Siegel, co-director of the UCLA Mindful Awareness Center, blends personal experience with scientific research, attempting to capture the spiritual as well as the physiological phenomenon of "mindfulness"-or, in Siegel's acronym-speak, COAL: the state of simultaneous Curiosity, Openness, Acceptance and Love. Siegel's endeavor is timely and well-intentioned, but his is an elusive subject, and his text is peppered with confusing, semi-technical descriptions of mind-states (like meditation) and processes (like egocentric and allocentric circuitry) that frequently frustrate. Despite this, Siegel does introduce persuasive scientific evidence that meditation and the mindful state not only produce improvement in well-being, but also detectable physical changes in the brain, such as a thickening of the middle prefrontal lobes. He also introduces exotic new vocabulary, such as "ipseity," "the core sense of self beneath the usual personal identity." If the result of Siegel's marriage of medicine and mysticism is something of a muddle, he is to be commended for the effort, and his attitude toward science is unique in a medical doctor (tellingly, Siegal took a sabbatical from med school after being reprimanded for empathizing with his patients, rather than objectifying them, and used the time to pursue drawing and dancing). Though uneven and weighed down with too many acronyms, this is a notable science title that smartly combines the personal, the clinical and the spiritual.
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Ellen J. Langer, Ph.D., author of Mindfulness
Bravo! While especially relevant for practitioners and teachers, the student in all of us will prosper from reading it.

Jack Kornfield, Ph.D., author of A Path with Heart
[S]tands out for its skillful weaving together of the interpersonal, the inner world, the latest science, and practical applications.

Customer Reviews

Similar sentiment as another Reviewer
The topic of mindfulness has been around for many millenia, & espoused by many religious & spiritual sects throughout the world, primarily in the East. The topic fascinates me, as I have taken a course in Asian Philosophy and have read many neuroscience books the last couple of years. Despite this, the book was unable to keep my attention, ironically, because of the redundant writing style. While eloquent, Siegel is often rearranging the same statement without adding much knew to it. Perhaps this is great for a more global, holistic view of the subject, but it is difficult to maintain attention (ironically) when you lose your place from feeling like you just read the same thing.

The neuroscientific aspects of resonance circuitry (and mirror neurons) isn't a new idea but Siegel skillfully expounds upon it and how it relates to mindfulness. All in all, despite some glaring flaws in my opinion, the book was worth buying for this alone, but if you're expecting an emphasis more on the brain rather than a subjective perspective on mindfulness, I find the balance of the book to be tilted in the other direction--so it may disappoint you if that's the case.

Compassion, Mirror Neurons, & Neuroplasticity - Excellent!
I think that this is most important book that Dr. Siegel has written. There are many comprehensive reviews here, so I want to limit this one to a few additional points. First, Siegel has integrated mirror neuron theory into his model, with great finesse. Mirror neurons hypothetically allow us to experience in our brain what other people are thinking and feeling in their brain. This neural "resonance" may be an essential key to understanding how empathy and compassion works, and meditation practices appear to strengthen those parts of the brain where mirror neurons reside.

Siegel's model, as a prior reviewer pointed out, is hypothetical, but interestingly Andrew Newberg and I independently came to similar conclusions, based on our brain-scan research of a wide variety of contemplative meditation practices, which we report in our forthcoming book HOW GOD CHANGES YOUR BRAIN). Although the neuroscience of compassion and empathy is in its infancy, we concur with Siegel that meditation may be the best psychological tool we have for enhancing social awareness and responsiveness. It can be combined with psychotherapy and medication, and may even have a longer lasting effect than either, especially when treating chronic forms of anxiety and depression. I also want to point out that Siegel and our research emphasizes the plasticity of the human brain, and in specific our ability to consciously rewire our own neural circuits in ways that appear to increase cognition and perhaps longevity as well.

I listened to the CD version first, then bought the book. The CD is excellent (it's narrated by Siegel) and is an abridgment of the book, which means that a lot of the detailed neuroscience is left out, but this has benefits for those who prefer to shy away from the intricacies of medial prefrontal circuits and the like.

An intriguing exploration of mindfulness and neuroscience
This book presents an intriguing examination of mindfulness/meditation and the study of it in neuroscience. The author does a fairly decent job of explaining what mindfulness is, as well as presenting his different models for it. He also presents some interesting information about neuroscience studies of mindfulness.

However while the author does a decent job of presenting the information, the writing itself is fairly dry and the author mostly stays in the domain of theory. It would have been nice if the author had included practical mindfulness exercises to demonstrate some of his concepts, especially as related to the acronyms he threw around. It's not the best book on neuroscience, but it's still work taking a read through.