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 | | The Mind and the Brain: Neuroplasticity and the Power of Mental Force by Jeffrey M. Schwartz, Sharon Begley ISBN-10: 9780060988470 ISBN-10: 0-06-098847-9 ISBN-13: 9780060988470 ISBN-13: 978-0-06-098847-0 Paperback 2003-10-01 Harper Perennial Find Lowest Price |
Editorials | ||
Product Description In his work treating patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder, Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz made an extraordinary discovery: by focusing their attention away from negative behaviors and toward positive ones, his patients were able to make permanent changes to their own neural pathways. In The Mind and the Brain Schwartz explores this power -- the power of the mind to shape the brain. Through research and case studies, he demonstrates the brain's ability to be drastically rewired, not just in childhood but throughout life -- a paradigm-shifting discovery that could transform the treatment of every neurological dysfunction, from dyslexia to stroke. Schwartz's landmark book challenges the idea that we are merely biologically programmed automatons and proves that we have the power to shape our brains and, consequently, our destiny -- a revolutionary insight that continues to provoke debate among those who care about the future of man's role in the universe. | ||
Reviews | ||
Good Read, Slightly Didactic Short Review: I wanted a book on how to increase brain performance, that is not the focus of this book. The book is about the advances in neuro-sciences and how it challenges the ideas of materialism and suggests that the brain can grow and develop throughout life. The author gives good information which can easily be cross referenced. Difficult concepts are explained for the average reader. The author tends to repeat information and conclusions in the middle of the text slowing things down a little. Long Review: When I bought this book I was looking for a something like a guide to practical neuro-plasticity. This book does not fit that description. Despite that fact I found the book enjoyable and refreshing. The author's focus is primarily on the ability of the brain to change significantly throughout life through focused study or practice while providing some idea about how this might be accomplished. In suggesting that this change is possible the ideas of hard materialism are challenged. Essentially the work is an attempt show that scientific endeavor supports the existence of the will or some volitional force that is simple not accounted for by traditional materialism. The book itself contains excellent general and specific information and data about topics such as neurology, philosophy and quantum physics. Additionally, this book contains enough in the way of references to easily allow the reader to find similar works of interest. If the reader desired the author's claims can easily be cross referenced giving the work a level of integrity all too often missing in popular literature. The author has also written in a clear manner, logically laying out ideas and discussing concepts that are likely to be foreign to the average reader. The most significant criticism is a propensity to read the same material over and over. It is common to see a number of studies and anecdotes that support the author's conclusion reiterated and highly detailed. This appears to be an attempt to make as solid a case as possible against the materialist mind set in the neuro-sciences in general. The irony is that the author laments the scientific community's reluctance to embrace change, even in the face of evidence, but then proceeds to present his case over and over. For the average reader this means that the middle of the book can be somewhat slow. | ||
One of the best books I've read in a while Jeff Schwartz writes a great book that ties in his personal Buddhist experiences with mindfulness, experience as a well established UCLA psychiatrist who has had groundbreaking progress with OCD patients, and many important historical people and points. The book is well written and contains a lot of valuable information. The reason I give it 4 stars, is because in some parts of the book- he gets a bit redundant. It almost seems as if he is trying to stretch his book to be thicker than it needs to be. Also, organization- although some chapters were well woven together- there were a lot of additional facts and concepts that didn't need to be there. He dedicated a whole chapter to quantum mechanics, in my view, to impress his colleagues more than having relevance to the rest of the book. Perhaps I am mistaken, I'll have to read it again in a few years. | ||
A Liberating Book! In my opinion, the greatest contribution of The Mind and the Brain lies in it's discussion of the potential of brain cells to change and adapt to new functions and even to reproduce. Brain plasticity is a new, revolutionary concept in neuroscience. It is revolutionary concept in psychotherapy as well. Dr. Schwartz's particular interest seems to lie in the area of OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder). Using the concept of brain plasticity he presents a four step plan in the treatment of OCD. He offers evidence of the effectiveness of this approach as opposed to more traditional methods. Dr. Schwartz offers some proof that this treatment based on the plasticity of the brain can be effective with or without medication. This book is one of the most worthwhile books I have ever read. Elizabeth Skoglund, Author of Divine Recycling: Living Above Your Circumstances | ||
Bit repetitive, forgiveable. Ending almost spoils this great work. In March of this year (2009), I experienced a series of meditations that led me to the same types of conclusions about my "mind" and my "brain" that Schwartz and Stapp come to in their study of quantum mechanics. And the similarities are nearly verbatim. To be fair, I took QM in One Dimension in 1990 at the University of Washington. So having devoured one college level text, I have also read several other noteworthy books on the subject. These conclusions, however, never led me to any conclusive evidence that "the mind creates the brain", but, only, that the quantum mechanical description of reality allows the "mind creates brain" thought to produce new insights into the workings of the material brain. The only facts we have are material, not mental (to wit, not "spiritual"). This book also confirms many of my own experiences and findings over the past 24 months. From 24 hour, 7 day a week meditation I rewired my brain. I would not have been able to say that before reading this book. Before reading this book, I also discovered that what I was really doing was a self-styled form of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) mixed with what I termed, Buddhic "emptiness". Although Schwartz uses the term "mindfulness", CBT is used in his Four Step program and the parallels with my methods are uncanny. In short, I experienced and/or developed the entire quantum mechanical descriptions and neuroscientific scope of this book, as a layperson/human being, before reading it. To say that doing real science is defined by the practitioner's ability to create a result that is reproducible, I'd say I am an example of the main point of this book--that the neuroplasticity of the adult brain is a fact, not a fiction. Having said all that, the book does get repetitive and this leads him to contradict himself because he uses too many words to convey a basic idea: The brain created mind can, "through knowledge and effort, reshape neurobiological processes..." or, "The reality of the mind-shaped brain..." or "The brain may determine the content of our experience, but mind chooses which aspect of that experience receives attention." but, this is contradicted by "The brain, to be sure, is indeed the physical embodiment of the mind, the organ through which the mind finds expression and through which it acts in the world." And, then, finally, we have the most blatant and biased contradiction: "For scientifically minded people seeking a rational basis for the belief that truly ethical action is possible, James's epigram--'Volitional effort is effort of attention'--must replace Cogito ergo sum as the essential description of the way we experience ourselves and our inner lives. The mind creates the brain. We have the ability to bring will and thus attention to bear on a single nascent possibility struggling to be born in the brain, and thus to turn that possibility into actuality and action." He should have continued in the mind influencing the brain vein, and not switched to "creates". I might have let this unscientific injection (strong desire) go without notice (because he avoided it throughout the book) except for the following conclusion at the end of the book (pg. 375) that disappoints me greatly: "The teachings of faith have long railed against the perils of the materialists mind-set. Now neuroscience and physics have joined them at the barricades." I shouldn't be surprised, though. Throughout the book, Schwartz maintains that determinism of the classical physics variety has had the detrimental effect of calling into question our moral responsibility as a species. He and Stapp posit the findings of modern physics to reinterpret this conclusion. That is, Schwartz, et. al. have an agenda to introduce "free-will" where none is missing, just a proper interpretation of it. This agenda led both of them into a misunderstanding of human consciousness as a whole. This leads, unfortunately, to the conclusion that scientific statements about my volition actually have a bearing on it. The fact is, it doesn't. That it has an effect on how a psychologist might attempt to cure his patient is clear. But, this book was made available to the public for public consumption, where no such constraint of interpretation is, by necessity, found or efficacious. When I am considered as a whole and my consciousness as a part of it, all of the debate between materialism and spiritualism dissolves. We are human beings acting as causal agents in a cause and effect world. I would have it no other way. | ||
A physicist's review (1) A book with good information and thoughts The Mind and The Brain covered many interesting and important subjects for those who consider themselves thinkers of humanity. I had Ph.D in solid State Physics and had been thinking along a similar line of thoughts about the philosophical implication of Quantum physics for 30 years. I think the book has the breath and the depth to be considered a great book, although the conclusion of attention being the mental force, in my opinion, is a bit premature. From other reviews on, I found the responses were largely based on the background of the reviewers. As a physicist with Asian culture background, working in US for 30 years, I can appreciate many aspects of the reviews. I made a table below showing what I would think how the readers would consider the subjects when reading this book. (This is simply my guess of others' views and could be very inaccurate.) ......................Neuroscientist.......Physicist......Westerner........Asian 4R for OCD........revolutionary.........new............acceptable......acceptable Brain lock .......common sense.........new............new...............new Brain plasticity..revolutionary..........new............new..............common belief Quantum brain.....new..................debatable......new...............new Free will...........debatable.............debatable......debatable.......common belief If you are a physicist with western culture background, you might find this book very informative in the brain structure but skeptical about the quantum theorem portion. But, if you have an Asian culture background, you might find the proof of mental force is pointless because it was taken for granted for thousands of years. From this table, this book is a very informative book to nearly everybody and I highly recommend it. I also agree with many reviewers that some repetitions and the over-mentioning of OCD therapy often turn off the readers. (2) A respectable attempt: Although very often I thought Dr. Schwartz was repeating the obvious, such as 4R. I think many people perform this exercise whenever you feel itchy of your throat on stage or an urge of your bladder in a long bus ride. But, I realize he was trying to provide scientific evidence to a common practice. Even we have accustomed to something, the details of scientific evidence is the foundation of enhancement of understanding. Therefore, to say the practice was commonly used elsewhere did not diminishing the importance of scientific explanation of how it works. Further, the OCD PET scan data was used as an evidence of Brain plasticity. Similarly, many therapies used for stroke recovery were practiced widely. Those people did not care about theory. They just want to recover their paralyses. But, providing scientific understanding of why it was possible is still an important work. It is respectful that Dr. Shwartz conducted these works in the science community which had long established the belief that human brain loses its plasticity after childhood. (3) A not-successful-yet attempt: The motive of Dr. Schwartz's work, initially on OCD patients, was extended to seek for finding the link between the mind and the brain, via scientific method and a hope for the existence of free will. But, the problem is Dr. Schwartz does not understand Buddhism enough or quantum physics enough. He relied on Dr. Henry Stapp of UCB to form the foundation of quantum interpretation of mind. I read the same arguments in "Quantum Brain" written by Jeffrey Satinover: --- Classical physics lead to determinism --- Determinism leads to materialism --- Materialism leads to non-existence of free will The triumph of quantum physics broke this chain. But, to say it provides the ultimate answers is an overstatement. What Dr. Stapp provided was just a hypothesis or a possibility. While personally, I, who had a Ph. D in Solid State Physics, think it is going a wrong direction, I have to applaud Dr. Stapp for trying. Maybe it will lead to new hypotheses to be verified or discarded. And, this is of the spirit of scientific method. Finally, the claim the existence of a mental force is not new or supported by Dr. Schwartz's work. The link between mind and brain remains un-discovered. | ||