Off the Bookshelf; Brain Rules!

I just finished reading Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School. For any of you Kindle owners out there, Amazon has come out with a daily deal for their e-books. It's similar to a Groupon, and every day you can purchase a book at a deeply discounted rate. At 99c this book was a steal!

 Have you ever been curious about brains? It's not just a favorite snack for zombies, your brain is an insanely complicated piece of biological machinery. The book is divided into 12 different chapters, and each chapter deals with a different concept of your brain and how it works.

1. Exercise
2. Survival
3.Wiring

4. Attention

5. Short-Term Memory

6. Long Term Memory

7. Sleep

8. Stress

9. Sensory Integration

10. Vision

11. Gender

12. Exploration

                                      

 At the end of each chapter he ties it into how we could improve ours lives. Some of his ideas are a little farfetched, and not likely to ever happen. For example, in the sleep chapter he states that biologically, humans are programmed for mid day naps, and says that employers should provide areas for their employees to rest, as in sleep. Oh, and we should be able to work based on when we are most active due to our natural body rhythms. Early Birds should be able to work early, Night Owl should be able to work graveyard.

The facts, research and details are offset by a hefty dose of humor and common sense. Although I wouldn't recomend it to the sensitive reader. (He writes about experiments conducted throughout the years and people who are seriously mentally disabled) I loved it though, and learned a lot.