Brain Book Reviews Samples For Students

Written by Carr Nudge, ‘the shallows’ is a book that questions the capacity of our minds to grasp and store information for future use. The power to concentrate on a specific idea or something has been lost due to the frequent use of the Internet. Carr’s book tries to answer the effects of the use of the Internet on the human mind.

In his book, Carr states that he comes to realize that his brain had lost its concentration power, as info on anything he required was a click away on the Internet. He acknowledges that most of his life ...

“Thinking, fast and slow” by Daniel Kahneman was among the best-selling books of the year 2011. Kahneman is Nobel Memorial Prize winner in Economics for his work in prospect theory in 2002. He and his collaborator, Amos Tversky, one of the cognitive as well as mathematical psychologist from Israel, have revolutionized the way we think about economy in the book. This book has achieved numerous honors and awards such as New York Times’ one of the best books of 2011 and Best Book Award from National Academy of Sciences in 2012.

Kahneman has humbly yet brilliantly and non-technically ...

Hernstein & Murray’s The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life, offers a controversial statistical argument about social stratification and race being concretely linked to intelligence. However, the book more effectively investigates the consequences of American social stratification. The rich and educated members of society are increasingly isolating themselves in zip code enclaves instead of contributing to the American ideal of diversity. As a result, society has become increasingly divided by education, class and race. Overall, the book attempts to deconstruct complex socioeconomic issues of race, class and intelligence using statistical analysis. Intelligence is an important part of social ...

Carr, Nicholas G. The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains. New York: W.W. Norton, 2010. Print.

Introduction

Just imagine you went to the web only for three minutes to check your mail. Then someone sent you a hyperlink to that article. You started to read it carefully. At the same time, your friend sent you some funny photo, and of course you are going to the social network to share it with someone else. Just read the first paragraph of article you are looking for your friends online and what is new here, in the news you notice a ...

“Blink” by Malcolm Gladwell

In the book “Blink,” Malcolm Gladwell, one of the famous journalists, intends to share the results of psychological research to prove the importance of cognitive thinking in human beings. The book explains the way humans think within a blink of an eye, which is quite difficult. Gladwell explains about rapid cognition, which refers to snap decision-making. He convinces the readers that the snap decisions may be good or bad when compared to the conclusions. Gladwell identifies the circumstances where rapid cognition results poor outcomes. He also analyzes the ways and means to improve the results produced by rapid cognition. In ...

Robert Sapolsky, one of the famous professors of neurology and biology and at Stanford University wrote the book “Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers,” to compare and contrast the stress responses in humans and animals. The book draws attention to experimental science to understand the concept of stress. Sapolsky’s research on animal behavior for several years in the forests of Africa forms the foundation of the book. The book gives an account of the impact of stress in humans and the strategies that enable to cope with the stress. The different chapters in the book explain the effect ...

“The Depression Cure: The 6-Step Program to Beat Depression without Drugs” by Ilardi (2009) is a self-help book for people who suffer from depression that helps them make lifestyle changes associated with improvements in depression scores. The book is divided into three sections, which include understanding depression, therapeutic lifestyle change, and making the change. In understanding depression, the author begins with describing a case study of a patient he had personally treated for depression. Of course, it is noted that names throughout the books were changed to protect the patient-therapist privacy while allowing the author to build trust and expertise by writing ...

The main idea of the book was to provide an alluring narrative of the outrageous historical events encompassing the assassination of John F. Kennedy in an entertaining and informative way. “Killing Kennedy” is a follow-up of Bill O’reilly’s bestselling book Killing Lincoln. In chronological order, O’reilly and Dugard recall how Kennedy from youthful elite made the journey to become the President of the United States. Kennedy’s biography in the book is infused with the movements of Lee Harvey Oswald, the accused assassin. The story is captivating, and according to the authors the Camelot myth frequently falsified ...

ABSTRACT

Anne Fausto-Sterling is a biologist who has written Sex/Gender for a non-scientist audience of students and faculty in the humanities and social sciences. This book addresses a wide variety of topics including infant and childhood development, genetics, gender identity, brain development and structure, sexual orientation, and the future of gender in an engaging style that neither talks down to the readers nor goes over their heads. She completely rejects and idea of eugenics, Social Darwinism or genetic or biological determinism, as well as the worn out Nature/Nurture debate in relation to human development. Instead she maintains that all living organisms are part ...

How we Decide Book Review

The Author, John Lehrer dwells on the subject of how the human mind, regarded as the most complex object known to man, makes decisions. Reading the book, I have learnt that the human mind consists of several messy networks of different parts of the brain that are majorly involved in synthesis of emotion. Most importantly, the author uses stories and anecdotes to illustrate the core point of the book: the rational side of the brain justifies human decisions. This is after the emotional side of the brain makes the decisions in the first place (Lehrer 7). The author is ...

2. The difference between the “common need” and the “common good” is readily apparent in a capitalist, free market society, based on the hierarchy which we use to make decisions. When we work towards a need, matters become utilitarian in a hurry. When we force ourselves to consider a good, the entire calculus changes. The role of philosophy is to give us a mandate to stop serving our short-term interests and to consider the deeper, less visible ramifications of the decisions that we make. Consider, for example, the recent hullabaloo over the statements made by the founder of Chick-Fil-A regarding his own support for ...

ABSTRACT

Vision, the window through which we assess and adjust our reality, is a filter affected by passion, memory, circumstances and other factors. James Elkins argues that the act of seeing is more than a simple matter of mechanical motor functioning. It is, in fact, a metamorphic phenomenon that continually re-creates identity. Elkins’ The Object Stares Back: On the Nature of Seeing is an impressively ambitious attempt to analyze a massive yet thought-provoking subject.

Jonathan Swift’s pithy comment on vision is an apt but obtuse observation about the interplay between the eyes and the brain, the transmission of data and consequent interpretation resulting ...

Chapter reviews

Chapter reviews

Chapter 7 Summary: Cognition

Readers can also learn the weaknesses of Piaget’s theory through its critics who look at it as a theory that under-estimates the development of children which can be beyond the factors examined by him. The chapter reading also shows that other modern constructivist theories look at the causes to different cognitive skills. The sociocultural perspective by Vygotsky's looks at the social and cultural influences as the main causes of cognitive development in children. On the other hand, Fischer's dynamic skills framework looks at skill levels as the main course for development (Sigelman, & Rider, 2014).

Important topic: Aging and cognitive skills

I tend ...

Introduction

As the world develops, more people expect a higher and better quality of life. In the 21st Century, architecture has evolved significantly and it seeks to maximise the quality of life that people have across the world. Thus, several works have been done, seeking to blend traditional architecture with other disciplines in order to enhance the nature of the built environment. The purpose of this paper is to conduct a book review on Cognitive Architecture: Designing for How We Respond to the Built Environment by Professors Ann Sussman and Justin Hollander. This book review will include an overview of ...

Book Report

Thomas R.M believes that studying and understanding the growth and development of a child is helpful to train the young on how to live well. Children differ in emotional growth, physical, social and cognitive patterns. Children differ even if they are identical twins. Think of a child; you will find out that their response to the play, affection, people, and objects be it living or non-living in their environment is very different. In this book, Thomas R.M helps us to understand children better by discussing the principles of child development, the brain growth, and development of a child. He ...

Tools of the Mind

Tools of the mind are techniques adopted by teachers to help them reinforce understanding power to the learners. The main goals of mind tools are to develop the cognitive process of children in understanding literature among other subjects that require technicalities. These tools have involved the development of very creative approaches and concepts that teachers need to use to equip the required knowledge to learners. It has taken a lot of concern among the researchers. The aim of this paper is to show various tools of the mind and their use in modern mode of learning. It also discusses ...

Chapter 1: Learning Objectives

- Define development, focusing on three elements of its scientific study.
Development is the scientific study of people’s lifespan changes, that is, from conception (womb) to death (tomb). It focuses on the systematic changes that occur over time among all individuals, and which explain continuities and discontinuities in life.
- List and describe the basic steps of the scientific method.
- Posing of the problem is done based on prior research, theory or observation.
- Formulating of a hypothesis refers to an educated prediction, which can be verified or tested.
- Testing of the ...

1 and 2. Preface

Against depression is the title of the book written by Peter Kramer a renowned psychiatrist, the title of the book suggests more of a political inclination of some sort but the book narrates a different story all together. The book is majorly focused on the idea that most people are in support of depression as an aid to artistic expression. Its incorporation of latest research in the psychiatric field is also very crucial as it facilitates the comprehensive and explicit explanation as well as illustration of physical damages of the brain and its major causes.

It further explains in an easy to ...

Review and Analysis of the book ‘Their Eyes were watching God’ – Presentation of the book’s main thematic plot and its meaning – Review of the book’s writing style and influence on its readers – Exploration of the connections between the book’s main thematic idea and the educational policies – Exploration and research of the book’s connection with the educational field – Exploration and research of the book’s contribution to the teaching methods and the learning outcomes of an educational environment
[The author’s name]

Part 1 Information about the author and the book

The book ‘Their Eyes were watching God’ was published in 1937. The time ...

NeuroMarketing

Buy.ology, the book by Martin Lindstrom is a new take on marketing. In this book he tries to delve deep into the consumer's subconscious to learn, ‘why we buy what we buy’. After testing a lot of techniques, he has devised a new way to revolutionize the marketing industry. He also has a lot of findings from the experiments that he has conducted.
I would like to discuss the key points and findings of his experiments. According to Lidstrom, our subconscious is in the favor of our emotions every time there is a conflict between feelings and rational thought. ...

Book Review

A Book Review
Background of Reading
Teaching is noted as a series of procedures taken into account by educators as they go along particular responsibilities of engaging in the process of passing on knowledge to their students. In relation to the concept of teaching, teachers are expected to take on necessary procedures that are considered essential especially when addressing the different needs of the students given that they are all unique learners. One of the most common patterns of approach taken into account by teachers is the idea of implicating holistic instruction; an approach that affects not only ...

Summary

Petersen, J. (2007). Why don't we listen better?: Communicating & connecting in relationships. Tigard, OR: Petersen Publications.
The text by Petersen was published in 2007, describing relationships and how one can relate in those relationships. Petersen strives to demonstrated effective communication by saying that one should not allow their emotions to rule what is being communicated. He also mentions incidents that made him come up with the theory ‘the flat –brain theory of emotions’. The literature provides a line graphic drawing of an individual, illustrating and differentiating emotional reaction in people. Petersen clarifies that the origin of reactions originates from ...

PSYCHOLOGY

Psychology
This paper gives a critical review of the scientific non- fictious Thinking, Fast and Slow. It was written by Daniel Kahneman to provide a detailed coverage of the research done by him in the psychological field in which he was well known for. The 499 page text was published by the Farrar, Straus and Giroux in the year 2011. As already highlighted, Thinking, Fast and Slow is an educative novel which gives an in depth encounters of this research and explains the various findings he made during his studies. Some of the major topics covered in the book include, ...

Chapter 1 What Is Evolution?

In Coyne’s Why Evolution Is True (2009), the debate between the theories of creationism and evolution is introduced. The two theories take vastly different approaches to explain how and why the world is full of the many variations of plants, animals, insects, reptiles, and human beings. The theory of creationism explains these things by intelligent design. This is where divine intervention takes place and an almighty, omnipotent god creates all beings, all of a sudden, with all of the variations needed to survive in the environment that they currently live. There is no macroevolution, only slight adaptations of ...

Malcolm Gladwell in his book Blink coins the term rapid cognition, which is the term that he applies to being able to making a lighting fast decision. He spends time interviewing and learning from people in jobs and lives that require them to make not just lightning fast decisions, but the right decisions in a short amount of time. This takes him to emergency rooms, art installations, the police and psychology laboratories to not just learn about people acquire rapid cognition, but also how the layperson can develop techniques of rapid cognition.
Rapid cognition is the brain at its best, ...

Introduction 5

Literary Background 6
Core Points of Review 7
Factual Presentation from the Book 9
Example of Religious Paradox in the Book 9
Special Message of the Book 11
Conclusion 11
Personal Suggestion 11

References 13

What the Buddha Never Taught by Tim Ward
Introduction
Religion forms the core of human existence and our lives, principles, values, ethics are highly influenced by the religions we follow; however, man has been questioning the essence of religion ever since he came into being. No matter whether you follow Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, or Jainism, one never ...

The story written by Hwang is very interesting and moving. It is told in a non-structural and non-linear way, which is something that most people are not used to reading. Besides this structural characteristic of the novel, it tells a story of the history of Korea, before Communism spread in North Korea. I do not agree with the thesis statement which claims that the characters Pak Hun and Ojaknyo reject the old and feel that the new is unjust. However, I do believe that they think that there is much improvement to be done in modern times. The characters in the ...

Reflections on the reading of the book ‘‘A Child called ‘IT’ – Themes, Main points, analysis of characters, impact on my professional and personal evolution as an individual
[The author’s name]

Abstract

This paper will present you with the personal reflections caused by the reading of the book ‘A Child called ΄΄It΄΄’. Written by David Pelzer and published on September 1, 1995, this book depicts, in an extremely detailed description, the writer’s childhood of a severe abuse by his mother. David Pelzer suffered abuse by his mother and total apathy by his father, from the age of four till ...

Human Resource Development (HRD) is a function that helps employees develop their abilities and skill sets to suit the job requisite and to enhance the growth within the organization. It includes training, mentoring, coaching, succession planning among others. HRD focuses on the development of the superior workforce for the organizations to achieve their goals in service to their customers. While planning to attain these requirements at its best, in the past, the leaders of the organizations have looked at the employees as a channel to attain the established targets. Their focus was on giving strength to these channels in all the ...

A detailed analysis of The Shallow: What the Internet is doing to our brains by Carl explores the topic of the effects of the internet to human life to uncover facts, both positive and negative about the internet. From the book, one can tell that Carr has a protagonist stand against the internet despite noting a few positives on what it has done to technology, health, communication and even normal human living. Carr identifies that human brains and thinking have become dependent on the internet, an aspect that has reduced creativity and coming up with new knowledge (Carr, 2010, ...

All those who work in the field of linguistics or related subjects must be aware of the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis. According to this hypothesis, language shapes our thoughts, it influences our culture and the way we see the world. This idea became very popular and led to the belief that there are as many worldviews as there are languages. However, John H. McWhorter, in his book “The Language Hoax: Why the World Looks the same in any Language” has disproved the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis; he posits that language reflects culture and the speaker’s worldview; it offers a cultural viewpoint of the ...

Introduction

The book Blink by Malcolm Gladwell is about how we think without thinking. This can be further explained by illustrating that the choices made instantly in the blink of an eye without actually thinking why they are made. The world around us requires that decisions should be footnoted. This means that if we say how we feel about something we must be ready to elaborate about why we feel a certain way. Blink discloses that a quality of good decision maker is not who can spend time providing deliberate answers or process the information effectively but the one who has perfected ...

4 MAT Book Review: Understanding Dying, Death, and Bereavement

Summary

Leming and Dickinson's book, Understanding Dying, Death, and Bereavement (2011) is one of the books that have best addressed the topic of death. Unlike many books that have endeavored to address the topic, this book gives the topic an interdisciplinary approach. Notably, the book employs the biological, the psychological, and the social, religious, artistic and philosophical approaches to explain this phenomenon that has remained mysterious for quite a long time – perhaps centuries. According to the book, death is not only medical but also social. Death has grown to be a common topic ...

The children’s book that I will discuss in this assignment is The Original Adventures of Hank the Cowdog by John Erikson. In this book, Hank the Cowdog is the main character and goes through several adventures. The book presents glory, guts, danger, and sacrifice in the life of Hank, who is the head of Ranch Security. The setting of the book is probably in the 1980s in Texas where it was written. In the beginning of this book, Drover, who is Hank’s assistant, comes to awakening him to the news of a murder of a chicken in the ranch. ...

Introduction

Social psychology is the act of about understanding individual behavior in a social context. Also, it can be defined as the scientific field that seeks to understand the nature and causes of individual behavior in social situations. They all concluded that human behavior was influenced by other people and the social context which this occurs. Social psychology therefore deal with the factors that lead us to behave in a given way in the presence of others and look at the conditions under which certain behavior actions and feelings, thoughts, moralities, beliefs, intentions goals and individual perception are contrasted and even how ...

Many veterans have written war memoirs in recent times in which they narrate their own personal combat adventures in a very straightforward manner. Although many of these soldiers-turned-authors shy away from emphasizing on the mental toll of war, we all know that the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq in the past ten years have taken a tremendous toll on the soldiers and their families. Thus, what sets Brian Castner’s amazing memoir, “The Long Walk: A Story Of War And The Life That Follows,” apart is the fact that he does not flinch when taking a look at postwar life. Brian Castner, ...

Summaries of Articles

Tutorial Two
Introduction
One of the landmarks of the 20th century was the unprecedented growth in the field of Psychology. However, some pertinent issues (which remain unresolved) threaten the credibility of this noble profession. For example, there is little data to support the classification of “mental illnesses” and use of drugs to treat nonmedical conditions.

Article Summary

Psychology and the Status Quo by Isaac Prilleltensky
Prilleltensky (1989) argues that the rise of Psychology has been immune to skeptical ideology. In some way, Psychologists learn not deviate from contemporary ideology. As a result, no questions have been raised about some ...

One of the prominent features, which separate well-managed organizations from poorly-managed firms, is the caliber of leadership within the organization. From time to time, a business leader has to make vital decisions to steer the growth of an organization forward. As a result, the leader has to be equipped with effective decision making skills. Bazerman’s book, Judgment in managerial decision making, offers an insight into some of the behavioral skills which make brilliant decision maker. Broadly speaking, Bazerman’s book is full of fascinating ideas on the common decision making biases but falls short of ideas that elaborate rational negotiating ...

Marijuana is a native Indian drug which is extracted from Cannabis sativa shrub. This shrub hardly grows beyond ten feet in height. The shrub is used in extraction of two other drugs alongside marijuana. The drugs all contain a stimulant which is a complex organic compound simply abbreviated as SHM. This compound usually affects the nervous system and the brain.

The concentration of SHM in marijuana varies according to the place the plant is found. The confirmed range of concentration is 1 – 16 % depending on the location on the globe (Inciardi 2009). The original use of marijuana and the other cannabis based ...

Book Review: American Political System

Dr. Kathleen Hall Jamieson is a well respected and award winning professor of political communication. She is the Elizabeth Ware Packard Professor of Communication at the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania. She has written and co-authored fifteen books about political discourse. The titles of her two most recent books give a good idea of the theme she writes about The Obama Victory: How Media, Money, and Messages shaped the 2008 Elections (2010) and unSpun: Finding Facts in a World of Disinformation (2007). Dr. Jamieson has spent her career evaluating election campaigns for the accuracy of their campaign statements. Her work ...

Importance of Communication

Managing an efficient and effective healthcare system for a community could be a complicated task especially if an organization and its members do not even know how to conduct a wise planning and at the same time do not know how to execute such plans. What the current healthcare system needs is an organized and systematized planning method and the only way to attain such state is to integrate the aspects of communication in the planning process and throughout the whole processes of implementing those plans (Young, 2005).
Unfortunately, the point of integrating communication into the planning process alone is where ...