Everything you want to know about the brain and never dared to ask
As soon as people find out that I am a neuropsychologist, an expression of strangeness is drawn on their faces, as if they had just heard that I am Martian or something similar. But once the initial surprise is over, the same thing invariably happens: they start asking me all sorts of questions related to the human mind. It does not matter if I'm at a party, in a taxi or in the queue of a bank, people want to know what they can do to solve their different problems.
All these questions have a common denominator: they refer to how we think and behave in our daily activities; in a few words, they allude to life itself. Our behavior is the software that runs on a hardware, a physical support that is none other than the brain .
- You may be interested: "Parts of the human brain (and functions)"
The organ of the human mind is full of secrets
This organ of approximately 1400 grams and 86,000 million neurons is what makes it possible for us to do everything we do, whether it is chewing gum, playing tennis, contemplating a landscape, solving a mathematical puzzle, writing poetry, and even the very development of art and science as we know them.
In the last 20 years, more progress has been made in understanding how the brain works than in the entire history of mankind. In this book, I intend to bring the reader some of this knowledge and help you make decisions based on a better understanding of how your brain works.
Like any other part of the body, the brain performs its work according to its own idiosyncrasy. Reading this book, the reader will know these operating guidelines, and can better understand the behind the scenes of their particular way of thinking and behaving on a day-to-day basis.
I am convinced that the knowledge of how the brain performs its feats is extremely useful, since it allows us to introduce those small changes often unsuspected but always necessary for us to lead a happier and more productive life.
Like a walk through a great and beautiful city, this book was conceived as a guided tour through the streets and recesses of the human mind. Along the way, the reader will know all the sites of interest and most important points. You can stop and stay longer in the place you want, because each chapter is relatively independent of the others , which also allows you to open the book anywhere and start reading from there.
All the curiosities about the brain
Why do we usually believe ourselves the absolute owners of the truth? What is prejudice and how does it affect us? Is it true that we can not pay attention to two things at the same time? Why is it so difficult to overcome a love break? Why do we often act against our own interests? How does marketing manipulate our emotions? Can we do something to be happier?
These are just some of the questions that are addressed during the journey proposed by this work. It also explores how mental illness can damage the brain, and along the way some deeply rooted myths and lies are dismantled between people and society in general.
I trust that the reader friend will want to have this book always at hand, which will be entertaining but also that will help clarify many issues. I hope that when you have read just a few pages, you feel hopelessly tempted to read everything, and do not forget to pay attention to the little tricks and strategies that are proposed at the end of each chapter; It is my desire that you lead it to a fuller and more efficient life.
