Review - Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain by David Eagleman

David Eagleman's previous book, Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives, was a delightful collection of short fables, each offering a wish-fulfillment image of life after death in which the wish turns out to contain its own perverse consequences. The fable principle was grounded in a nicely ironic psychology, subtly underpinned by Eagleman's own profession, neuroscience. Using fiction, Eagleman found a neat way of revealing how the mind cannot escape the contradictions of its underlying construction.

With this new book, Eagleman dispenses with fiction. This is a straight account of his own neuroscientific beliefs. Belief is the appropriate term, because Incognito isn't precisely an examination of neuroanatomy or neurological case histories; nor is it an exploration of the philosophical struggle involved in explaining the relationship between brain and mind. It is, rather, a breathless account of possible implications opened up by the rise of neuroscience as a way of looking at the world.

Review: Change Anything: The New Sciece of Personal Success

Reviewed by: Dr. Charles Erlandson

"Change Anything" comes with a risky and audacious promise: if you apply the principles of this book to your life you will produce sustainable change in your behavior that will noticeably improve your life! To make such a huge claim about a topic of such immense practical importance is, indeed, audacious.

So does "Change Anything" live up to its claim? Yes, and No.

YES
The fact that I think this book lives up to anything even approaching its bold claim is a high recommendation for this book. Here's what the book delivers that makes me believe that if you actually understand and faithfully use the principles of this book that you can, indeed, change many of your behaviors for the better.

First, the authors free us from a powerful mind trap: the simplistic belief that if only we had more willpower we'd succeed in changing our lives. The reality the authors argue for (persuasively) is that while willpower is still important, changing behavior turns out to be as much about "skill" as it is about "will." And the truth is that certain skills for changing our behaviors can be taught. The authors also point out that that often (for example when you go to Las Vegas into a casino) you can't see what's controlling. However, "If you can see it, you can change it." "Change Anything," then, is a book about seeing the hidden influences in our lives and using them to change our behaviors from ones with negative to ones with positive consequences.