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33rd out of 54 books
—
46 voters
The Emotional Life of Your Brain: How Its Unique Patterns Affect the Way You Think, Feel, and Live--and How You Can Change Them
This longawaited book by a pioneer in brain research offers a new model of our emotions- their origins, their power, and their malleability.
For more than thirty years, Richard Davidson has been at the forefront of brain research. Now he gives us an entirely new model for understanding our emotions, as well as practical strategies we can use to change them.
Davidson has dis...more
For more than thirty years, Richard Davidson has been at the forefront of brain research. Now he gives us an entirely new model for understanding our emotions, as well as practical strategies we can use to change them.
Davidson has dis...more
Hardcover, 304 pages
Published
March 1st 2012
by Hudson Street Press
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I bought this book because I find anything about neuroscience pretty interesting, and the emotional aspect doesn't seem to have been investigated in any rigorous way until recently. This book promises to satisfy that, and, to a large extent, I think it does.
I found myself constantly struggling with a sort of duality in this book. At some points I found the observations to be extremely obvious, such as the idea that our emotional styles aren't simply genetic, but a product of our environment and...more
I found myself constantly struggling with a sort of duality in this book. At some points I found the observations to be extremely obvious, such as the idea that our emotional styles aren't simply genetic, but a product of our environment and...more
Jul 23, 2012
Jason
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
improvement,
brain-food
Made me want to re-read The Spiritual Brain: A Neuroscientist's Case for the Existence of the Soul by Mario Beauregard.
It is amazing to me that emotions were so disregarded in academic circles as described in the beginning of the book.
As many of the "secular" meditation methods are based on Buddist practice, I kept trying to apply it to LDS beliefs. D&C 8:2 says "I will tell you in your mind and in your heart, by the Holy Ghost". I believe "mindfullness" meditation - where one non-judgementa...more
It is amazing to me that emotions were so disregarded in academic circles as described in the beginning of the book.
As many of the "secular" meditation methods are based on Buddist practice, I kept trying to apply it to LDS beliefs. D&C 8:2 says "I will tell you in your mind and in your heart, by the Holy Ghost". I believe "mindfullness" meditation - where one non-judgementa...more
**Tap into the power of your mind to change your brain**
Curious about how the unique emotional landscape of your brain determines who you are and how you live? Open to using the power of your mind to change your brain? Then, Richard Davidson’s book _The Emotional Life of Your Brain_ will likely be some seriously satisfying brain food for you.
Just as we each have a unique set of fingerprints, we also have a distinct Emotional Style composed of six dimensions. As the author explains:
“Each of us...more
Curious about how the unique emotional landscape of your brain determines who you are and how you live? Open to using the power of your mind to change your brain? Then, Richard Davidson’s book _The Emotional Life of Your Brain_ will likely be some seriously satisfying brain food for you.
Just as we each have a unique set of fingerprints, we also have a distinct Emotional Style composed of six dimensions. As the author explains:
“Each of us...more
I will say from the outset that this book was better than I thought it was going to be. That said, I didn’t have very high hopes to start. OK, that’s a bit unfair. "The Emotional Life of Your Brain" (TELoYB) is a decent read and does introduce some useful ideas I had not heard before. But, at the end of the day I didn’t feel all that smarter for reading it. TELoYB is one part professional autobiography, two parts popular psychology and one part self-help.
The professional autobiography parts foll...more
The professional autobiography parts foll...more
This book is part self-help and part scientific investigation. First, you evaluate what sort of Emotional Styles you currently have. These Styles go some way to explaining why some people are hardy and others helpless. Next, neuroplasticity suggests that the systematic practice of meditation ultimately allows these emotional styles to change for the better.
Emotional Styles
The book sets out six distinctive brain patterns, or circuits, that explain how people react to the world, specifically how p...more
Emotional Styles
The book sets out six distinctive brain patterns, or circuits, that explain how people react to the world, specifically how p...more
I first heard of Dr. Richard Davidson’s work in the field of neuroscience a couple of months ago in an unlikely setting: the annual conference of the National Art Education Association in New York. Regular readers might remember my mention of the Compassion Project in Appleton, Wisconsin, which challenged teachers and students at all levels to give some thought to the nature of compassion, to some discussion, and then to join in a collaborative art project. The results, an amazing 10,000 tiny pa...more
This book is absolutely fascinating. Author Davidson is the founder of the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds at UW-Madison. He's gotten a lot of attention with his work doing brain scans on Tibetan monks while they meditate.
This book is an introduction to the work he's been doing. He has come up with six different categorizations of types of mental/emotional styles that operate something like the Myers-Briggs type indicator. Each category places you on a spectrum between two extremes, whic...more
This book is an introduction to the work he's been doing. He has come up with six different categorizations of types of mental/emotional styles that operate something like the Myers-Briggs type indicator. Each category places you on a spectrum between two extremes, whic...more
Feb 13, 2013
Rachael
added it
When I saw this book in chapters I almost gave it a miss - thought it was another book on emotional intelligence, until I saw the author. Richie Davidson is best known (in a popular sense) for wiring Tibetan monks up to brain scanning equipment. I know his work from the Center for Mindfulness Annual Scientific Conference and numerous academic journal articles about the effectiveness of mindfulness meditation on the brain. So you would never know from the title of this book that it is very much a...more
I read this on my GP's recommendation, as we were talking about autism and the brain.
I'm probably undervaluing this book as per relevance to the general populace, but for me it was more like '' Your Brain For Dummies''. I found nothing much new here, although admittedly the knowledge I already have is probably already related to a lot of Dr Davidson's work. It was nice to have the general categories laid out, but I fought hard not to snooze through some parts. I am of Asian/Indian extraction, an...more
I'm probably undervaluing this book as per relevance to the general populace, but for me it was more like '' Your Brain For Dummies''. I found nothing much new here, although admittedly the knowledge I already have is probably already related to a lot of Dr Davidson's work. It was nice to have the general categories laid out, but I fought hard not to snooze through some parts. I am of Asian/Indian extraction, an...more
A unique look at the brain through the work of neuro-psycholgical researcher Richard Davidson, linking our emotions to significant circuits and activities in our brain. For those interested in the intricacies of the brain chemistry and circuitry this is the book for you. Davidson is a very good writer and explains complex scientific phenomena in laypersons' terms. Sometimes the detail has gotten a bit overwhelming to me and I skipped over that to the "so what does this mean" section. It has been...more
This book can be roughly divided into three main parts: the first one defines dimensions of an emotional style, the second one describes the author's scientific journey and the third one includes recommendations as to how you can change your emotional style (e.g. improve resilience, change to a more positive/negative outlook - I particularly enjoyed that the author also outlined possible problems related to being too positive and gave recommendations for people who wish to become a bit more nega...more
Like Freud, Jung, and many other psychologists before him, Davidson has some great ideas and some wtf ideas. Most of his research is well done (although action video games do NOT improve ADHD) and he is a pleasure to read. Don't take everything he says as gospel (Autism is NOT caused by kids with social phobia avoiding eye contact)but be sure to have an open mind and read this book anyways. Did you know that getting more sleep can lower levels of cortisol and thusly turn on a gene that increases...more
The Emotional Life of Your Brain was very interesting and accessible for understanding the complex workings of the brain. The book is set up in a very clear manner by describing the different types of emotional style that people have and where the brain processes the input. You can take a test to find out where you stand on the scale of emotional style. Then later in the book he talks about ways to change your brain to make your health and life better. I found it to be fascinating and encouragin...more
The author is a prominent researcher in neuroscience, specifically what has become "affective neuroscience." That is, the study of the neurological basis of emotions. Here, you will read about 6 distinctive brain patterns, or circuits, that underlie how people react to the world, in particular how people regulate their emotions. You won't read about the difference between brain patterns representing Joy vs. Pride vs. Amusement, or Sadness vs. Shame vs. Envy. Presumably these are higher level cat...more
The Emotional Brain: Character, Personality, and Temperament
Those of us committed to personal growth will find much that is rewarding in The Emotional Life of Your Brain. Davidson draws on an array of scientific experiments and studies to develop a set of ideas that can add to our understanding of how the “emotional brain” works, how its unique patterns affect the way we think, feel, and live, and how we can change them.
Three of these ideas are worth highlighting here. The first is that contrary...more
Those of us committed to personal growth will find much that is rewarding in The Emotional Life of Your Brain. Davidson draws on an array of scientific experiments and studies to develop a set of ideas that can add to our understanding of how the “emotional brain” works, how its unique patterns affect the way we think, feel, and live, and how we can change them.
Three of these ideas are worth highlighting here. The first is that contrary...more
Apr 08, 2012
Bill
added it
Excellent book. After finishing Quiet: the Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking, by Susan Cain, I read The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business, by Charles Duhigg. The Emotional Life of Your Brain was a great follow up. They all help with understanding how the brain works -- and more important, how you can actually change it with practice by meditation and other techniques.
Now on to a few others: two by Daniel Goleman (author of Emotional Intelligence): Wo...more
Now on to a few others: two by Daniel Goleman (author of Emotional Intelligence): Wo...more
The name should clue you in to aspects of this self-help / self-awareness title. While extremely readable, there *is* a lot of brain anatomy and a bit of physiology extended to support Davidson's interpretations. Classically laid out, RJD develops the concept of Emotional Styles, takes you through a personal inventory, explains what "is going on" in the brain, presents how meditation impacts the emotional brain function, and tidily wraps things up in a cogent summary chapter. This should appeal...more
Not only does this book contain a wealth of information about the structure of the brain and how it works, it also contains research that demonstrates the ability of the brain to physically change (neuroplasticity) if we are willing to take the time to train it, and to do exercises (mostly meditation). Davidson even goes on to give step by step instructions to meditate, after he helps you determine your strengths and weaknesses in your emotional style. I think this book is a great resource for s...more
In "The emotional life of your brain" Richard Davidson offers us an overview of his work in affective neurosciences. The book is beautifully written with the help of Sharon Begley. When I was a medical student (1978-1984) my professor in neuroanatomy (Jan Drukker) told me about the many unanswered questions concerning the frontal lobes, the amygdala, hippocampus and many other parts of our cerebrum.
Wonderful and important progress has been made in this field of neurosciences. Many questions are...more
Wonderful and important progress has been made in this field of neurosciences. Many questions are...more
This is not "light" reading, but still truly fascinating. If you don't mind reading about the clinical and scientific aspects of how the brain functions and why we do what we do, this is a worthwhile read.
Davidson has narrowed down peoples' emotional styles to 6 dimensions:
-Resilience (how slowly or quickly you recover from adversity)
-Outlook (how long you're able to sustain positive emotion)
-Social Intuition (how adept you are at picking up social signals from people around you)
-Self-Awareness...more
Davidson has narrowed down peoples' emotional styles to 6 dimensions:
-Resilience (how slowly or quickly you recover from adversity)
-Outlook (how long you're able to sustain positive emotion)
-Social Intuition (how adept you are at picking up social signals from people around you)
-Self-Awareness...more
I found this book quite extraordinarily interesting. I have read a lot of recent neuroscience and am particularly interested in the role of emotion in rationality. I think this book takes this field to a whole new level. I also found it personally useful: a sort of deeply scientific data driven self help book. In particular I found its insights in the tendency of our right brain, our more holistic brain to be depressive while our left more focused on detail brain to be more upbeat profoundly int...more
Ok, so when you feel the urge to shoot yourself, just read this book instead... in a good way.
To some this book would seem dry & boring and that it would sure put readers sleep. In my case, it was pretty easy to read. Although it's not light reading, it's easier that many college text books.
Have a pen and paper handy to write down the questions that are periodically asked and then go through the exercises. Richard J. Davidson details his experiments and I found them quite fascinating... but...more
To some this book would seem dry & boring and that it would sure put readers sleep. In my case, it was pretty easy to read. Although it's not light reading, it's easier that many college text books.
Have a pen and paper handy to write down the questions that are periodically asked and then go through the exercises. Richard J. Davidson details his experiments and I found them quite fascinating... but...more
I read this book a long time ago and forgot to submit the review. It's a really interesting take on what goes on in the brain. It is not dry to read like a textbook; I can see this being circulated in public libraries, but I have to admit that it has a bit more scientific information that might distract the reader. The six dimensions of "emotional style" mentioned in the book was really an eye-opener. I think readers would really look forward to finding which emotional style dimension they fall...more
Exceptional book on the emotional basis of the brain and the effects of meditation and mindfulness. The brain research is all done using fMRI imagining and through authors 35 years of study he has found 6 dimensions of emotions: resilience, outlook, Social Intuition, Self-Awareness, Sensitivity to Context, and Attention. The author covers a lot and uses a lot of medical terms but I never felt lost in the science. The author was great at explaining as he introduced new terms and areas of the brai...more
Sep 16, 2012
Carol
added it
We are so fortunate to have Richard Davidson here at the University of Wisconsin, so those of us that know him can testify that his findings that regular meditation can change your brain patterns and make you calm and cheerful despite a busy life hold particularly true in his example. The other benefits of mindfulness training, as well as other approaches to altering our brain's responses to stimulus, are fascinating -- and are clearly described in this book, which also describes recent discover...more
An interesting book on how the brain processes emotion and what kind of help we can give ourselves if some part of how we act (i.e. are you shy, are you too impulsive, are you too scatters) causes us problems. The writers emphasizes that the brain is not as separate from the body as has been assumed in the past. I would recommend it for those who simply want to understand that "I feel therefore I am" is closely related to "I think therefore I am." And it's all in your head means that it really a...more
so I'm basically finished with this except for the last chapter with some exercises. There's some really interesting stuff about the studies that Davidson and others have done connecting emotions and the brain - especially regarding neuroplasticity and how the body influences emotion (the Botox study in particular). I agree with other reviewers who find issue with his perspective on people who are on the autistic spectrum - the way he thinks about their processing of faces and emotions is more t...more
My husband related a story recently about how he proposed studying the intersection of psychology and computers when he was an undergraduate student in the 1970's. Specifically, he was interested in how computers would impact people and their relationships. His professors uniformly said that this was not a serious idea - no one would be interested in this topic. It's easy to dismiss my husband's professors as myopic, but during the 70's and 80's cross-disciplinary studies were not common and not...more
May 20, 2013
Maud
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
autobiographical-and-non-fiction
Usually, these kind of books are kind of unstructured in the sense that their authors don't really manage to stick to one topic because there's so much more they want to write about. However, Davidson did manage to do that, resulting in an absorbing and coherent read. (The psychology of personality and emotion is so interesting; it's odd that the field never used to assign much importance to them. That seems to be changing, though.) I was glad to find many detailed descriptions and critical eval...more
The theory the author presents is wonderful - the facets of your emotional style adhere to all of the qualities that make for psychological theories with staying power, a la personality types - the emotional styles are applicable, definable, and with a little reflection, recognizable in ourselves. If nothing else, finding a little clarity in and being able to define our own thinking is a huge step towards metacognition and taking steps to adapt and change. I can see this theory taking hold in hi...more
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May 08, 2013 06:13pm