Mind Sculpture: Unlocking Your Brain's Untapped Potential

In an engaging hybrid of scientific inquiry and personal discovery, Robertson, who teaches psychology at Trinity College in Dublin and has worked as science correspondent for the London Times, examines the functioning of the human brain. Presenting his ideas with energy, humor and clarity, Robertson's argument that ""life sculpts your brain"" runs counter to a fairly recent trend in brain research that assumes most, if not all, human behavior is already ""hard-wired"" through evolution and genetics. Instead, Robertson claims there are many ways we can all ""sculpt"" our own realities by knowing how to exercise our brains in certain ways, thus affecting the ""patterns of connections between neurons."" For example, education actually builds stronger connections between brain cells, according to Robertson, as neurons fire within the ""trembling web"" (the 100 billion brain cells that ""make up `you'""). Retirement and lassitude, on the other hand, can diminish the number and strength of these connections. To support his central point that ""cells that fire together, wire together,"" Robertson draws mostly upon clinical case studies. In several chapters, he portrays an intriguing cross-section of the population who have experienced abnormal relations between brain and body (e.g., phantom limbs) or who have severe memory blockages. In other chapters, Robertson discusses the effects of trauma, fear and hatred on the brain's neural connections. His theory about the power we all possess to shape our own life experiences has far-reaching implications for all aspects of society, including the treatment of illness, education, the workplace and human relationships. (June)