The Brain That Changes Itself
The brain can change itself. It is a plastic, living organ that can actually change its own structure and function, even into old age. Arguably the most important breakthrough in neuroscience since scientists first sketched out the brain’s basic anatomy, this revolutionary discovery, called neuroplasticity, promises to overthrow the centuries-old notion that the brain is fixed and unchanging. The brain is not, as was thought, like a machine, or “hardwired” like a computer. Neuroplasticity not only gives hope to those with mental limitations, or what was thought to be incurable brain damage, but expands our understanding of the healthy brain and the resilience of human nature.

Norman Doidge, M.D., a psychiatrist and researcher, set out to investigate neuroplasticity and met both the brilliant scientists championing it and the people whose lives they’ve transformed.

http://www.normandoidge.com/about_the_book/

This book is definitely worth the read. I was lucky enough to have a friend lend it to me. I promise you won't be bored.

I bought it and highly recommend you order it from your library. It changed the way I thought and gave me hope.

http://www.normandoidge.com/excerpt.pdf

a bit of the excerpt
Neuro is for “neuron,” the nerve cells in our brains and nervous systems. Plastic
is for “changeable, malleable, modifiable.” At first many of the scientists didn’t
dare use the word “neuroplasticity” in their publications, and their peers belittled
them for promoting a fanciful notion. Yet they persisted, slowly overturning the
doctrine of the unchanging brain. They showed that children are not always stuck
with the mental abilities they are born with; that the damaged brain can often
reorganize itself so that when one part fails, another can often substitute; that if
brain cells die, they can at times be replaced; that many “circuits” and even basic
reflexes that we think are hardwired are not. One of these scientists even
showed that thinking, learning, and acting can turn our genes on or off, thus
shaping our brain anatomy and our behavior—surely one of the most
extraordinary discoveries of the twentieth century.