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Norman Doidge, MDInfo Fromhttp://www.amazon.com/Brain-That-Changes-Itself-Frontiers/dp…The Brain That Changes Itself: The Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science by M.D., Norman Doidge (Author), Jim Bond (Reader)Editorial ReviewsFrom Publishers WeeklyFor years the doctrine of neuroscientists has been that the brain is a machine: break a part and you lose that function permanently. But more and more evidence is turning up to show that the brain can rewire itself, even in the face of catastrophic trauma: essentially, the functions of the brain can be strengthened just like a weak muscle. Scientists have taught a woman with damaged inner ears, who for five years had had “a sense of perpetual falling,” to regain her sense of balance with a sensor on her tongue, and a stroke victim to recover the ability to walk although 97% of the nerves from the cerebral cortex to the spine were destroyed. With detailed case studies reminiscent of Oliver Sachs, combined with extensive interviews with lead researchers, Doidge, a research psychiatrist and psychoanalyst at Columbia and the University of Toronto, slowly turns everything we thought we knew about the brain upside down. He is, perhaps, overenthusiastic about the possibilities, believing that this new science can fix every neurological problem, from learning disabilities to blindness. But Doidge writes interestingly and engagingly about some of the least understood marvels of the brain. (Mar. 19)Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. –This text refers to the Hardcover edition.Oliver SacksOnly a few decades ago, scientists considered the brain to be fixed or “hardwired,” and considered most forms of brain damage, therefore, to be incurable. Dr. Doidge, an eminent psychiatrist and researcher, was struck by how his patients’ own transformations belied this, and set out to explore the new science of neuroplasticity by interviewing both scientific pioneers in neuroscience, and patients who have benefited from neuro-rehabilitation. Here he describes in fascinating personal narratives how the brain, far from being fixed, has remarkable powers of changing its own structure and compensating for even the most challenging neurological conditions. Doidge’s book is a remarkable and hopeful portrait of the endless adaptability of the human brain. –This text refers to the Hardcover edition.The chapter titles will give you more information about the subject matter:1. A Woman Perpetually Falling…: Rescued by the Man Who Discovered the Plasticity of Our Senses2. Building Herself a Better Brain: A Woman Labeled “Retarded” Discovers How to Heal Herself3. Redesigning the Brain: A Scientist Changes Brains to Sharpen Perception and Memory, Increase Speed of Thought, and Heal Learning Problems4. Acquiring Tastes and Loves: What Neuroplasticity Teaches Us About Sexual Attraction and Love5. Midnight Resurrections: Stroke Victims Learn to Move and Speak Again6. Brain Lock Unlocked: Using Plasticity to Stop Worries, Obsessions, Compulsions, and Bad Habits7. Pain: The Dark Side of Plasticity8. Imagination: How Thinking Makes It So9. Turning Our Ghosts into Ancestors: Psychotherapy as a Neuroplastic Therapy10. Rejuvenation: The Discovery of the Neuronal Stem Cell and Lessons for Preserving Our Brains11. More than the Sum of Her Parts: A Woman Shows Us How Radically Plastic the Brain Can BeAppendix 1: The Culturally Modified BrainAppendix 2: Plasticity and the Idea of Progress