Know your brain

I'm reading more these days now that I have my Kindle (which I'm totally in love with, by the way). One of the really interesting books that I'm in the midst of now is called Brain Rules, by John Medina. He has a great website, if you want to learn more about the book. I highly recommend the Brain Rules. It's informative and very entertaining (seriously!). It's also highly critical of our education and work environments; so don't read it if you don't like criticism of mass education systems.

One of the 'brain rules' that I enjoyed most is Rule #4: We don't pay attention to boring things. Medina has some surprising information for you presenters out there on how long you are going to be able to hold your audience's attention (assuming you don't bore them). I'll give you a hint: it's way less than an hour.

Oh, and if you are interested in weird brain injuries check this out. Nirvana, it seems, is within stroking distance—so to speak.

Okay gotta go now. It's time for me to do more brain exercises (most of which involve reading stuff on the Kindle).

Comments

[Larry Port]

I love this kind of stuff. I have been turned on to a series of books about cognitive tips and tricks: "Mind Hacks" and "Mind Performance Hacks" by Ron Hale Evans. These books kind of have the software developer in mind as an audience, but if you can get past the Star Trek references and occasional code snippet I think they're worth reading.

[Laura Orr]

Hi Ernie:

Thanks for the post and the links! (I'm also following your Kindle posts - I saw one not long ago and am doing a little hankering but will restrain myself for a bit longer :-)

I have seen the TED video with Taylor (and others) and it's wonderful, funny, unnerving, and provocative so watch it if you haven't yet. I blogged about it here: http://oregonlegalresearch.blogspot.com/2008/03/creativity-and-law-jill-bolte-taylor.html

Laura the Law Librarian

[Steve Looi]

Hi, some of the best brain training you can do is solving brain teasers. There quick, not so easy but they stimulate your brain! Especially solving new and different types of problems that work different parts of your brain, maybe even some parts that don't get that much stimulation.