add dailydose@email.powells.com to your address book

Today’s Dose by Taylor from Portland, Oregon
Today’s prize is $20 credit.Taylor, follow this link by 11:59 p.m. (Pacific Time) on Wednesday, September 24, to claim your gift certificate.

Your Price $27.50
(New, Hardcover)

Add to Wish List

---

Other editions of this book*

• Used, Trade Paper, $11.50

• New, Trade Paper, $16.95

• Used, Trade Paper, $9.00

*Please note that copies are limited to on-hand quantity; used copies, in particular, may be available in extremely limited supply.

---

Comment on a product and you could win. The reader whose pick we use has until day’s end to claim the gift certificate. Otherwise, we add an extra $20 credit to the next day’s prize!

---

Other copies of this book*

• Used, Hardcover, $7.95

• Used, Hardcover, $18.95

The Mind and the Brain: Neuroplasticity and the Power of Mental Force
by Jeffrey M. Schwartz

Taylor’s Comments:

“For people interested in the intersection of neuroscience and magic, this book is a must read.”

Publisher Comments

A landmark work that offers new answers to one of the oldest mysteries in human thought: the connection between mind and brain.Conventional science has long held the position that “the mind” is merely an illusion, a side effect of electrochemical activity in the physical brain. Now comes a major work, grounded in two decades of research, that argues exactly the opposite: that the mind has a life of its own.

In The Mind and the Brain, Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz, a leading researcher in brain dysfunctions, and Wall Street Journal science columnist Sharon Begley demonstrate that the human mind is an independent entity that can shape and control the functioning of the physical brain. Their work has its basis in our emerging understanding of adult plasticity — the brain’s ability to be rewired not just in childhood, but throughout life, a trait only recently established by scientists. But in this paradigm-shifting work, Schwartz and Begley take neuroplasticity one critical step further. Through decades of work treating patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), Schwartz made an extraordinary finding: while following the therapy he developed, his patients were effecting significant and lasting changes in their own neural pathways. It was a scientific first: by actively focusing their attention away from negative behaviors and toward more positive ones, Schwartz’s patients were using their minds to reshape their brains.

The Mind and the Brain follows Schwartz as he investigates this newly discovered power, which he calls self-directed neuroplosticity or, more simply, mental force. It describes his work with noted physicist Henry Stapp to establish the basic mechanics ofself-directed neuroplasticity in quantum physics, and reveals its connections with the ancient practice of mindfulness in Buddhist tradition. And it points to potential new applications that could transform the treatment of almost every variety of neurological dysfunction, from dyslexia to stroke — and could lead to new strategies to help us harness our mental powers.

Yet as wondrous as these implications are, perhaps even more important is the philosophical dimension of Schwartz’s work. For the existence of mental force offers convincing scientific evidence of human free will, and thus of man’s inherent capacity for moral choice. Challenging the scientific mainstream, Schwartz and Begley suggest boldly that we human beings are more than mere automatons — that with the ability to shape our brains comes the power to shape our destiny. The conclusions they draw, and the questions they raise, should provoke debate among not only scientists but philosophers, legal scholars, and anyone who cares about the role of man in the universe.

PW Review

“[A] great deal in this book is sure to motivate discussion and more research.” Publishers Weekly

Review

“Schwartz and Begley bring to life the thinking and work of many original investigators in a book that thoughtful readers will enjoy.” Booklist

About the Author

Jeffrey M. Schwartz M.D. is an internationally-recognized authority on Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and is the author of the bestseller Brain Lock. He is a Research Professor of Psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine.
Read more about this book