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6th out of 75 books
—
53 voters
Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School
by
John Medina (Goodreads Author)
In Brain Rules, Dr. John Medina, a molecular biologist, shares his lifelong interest in how the brain sciences might influence the way we teach our children and the way we work. In each chapter, he describes a brain rule—what scientists know for sure about how our brains work—and then offers transformative ideas for our daily lives.Medina’s fascinating stories and infectio...more
Hardcover, 301 pages
Published
February 26th 2008
by Pear Press
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كتاب رائع، يبحث في العديد من أبحاث الدماغ ليخرج بـ 12 قانون، معرفتها تساعدك لكي تزيد كفائة الدماغ في العمل، المنزل، والمدرسة. يأتي بعدة فوائد وأمثلة وأبحاث تحت كل قانون.
القوانين هي (باختصار، الكتاب يفصل فيها طبعاً):
1-الرياضة:
التمارين الرياضية تقوي القدرات العقلية.
-أدمغتنا تحب أن تتحرك أجسامنا
- الرياضة تزيد نسبة تدفق الأوكسيجين للدماغ، ذلك يزيد نشاط المخ
- الرياضة تؤثر على عمل خلايا المخ. فهي تزيد وتسارع تكوينها، تساعدها على البقاء أكثر، وتجعلها أكثر قدرة على مكافحة الضرر والقلق.
2- البقاء:
الدماغ...more
القوانين هي (باختصار، الكتاب يفصل فيها طبعاً):
1-الرياضة:
التمارين الرياضية تقوي القدرات العقلية.
-أدمغتنا تحب أن تتحرك أجسامنا
- الرياضة تزيد نسبة تدفق الأوكسيجين للدماغ، ذلك يزيد نشاط المخ
- الرياضة تؤثر على عمل خلايا المخ. فهي تزيد وتسارع تكوينها، تساعدها على البقاء أكثر، وتجعلها أكثر قدرة على مكافحة الضرر والقلق.
2- البقاء:
الدماغ...more
I think I would give this book 3.5 stars if I could.
The book discusses "12 principles for surviving and thriving at work, home, and school." The real focus seems feels like how we can use this to improve schools.
The 12 rules are:
EXERCISE | Rule #1: Exercise boosts brain power.
SURVIVAL | Rule #2: The human brain evolved, too.
WIRING | Rule #3: Every brain is wired differently.
ATTENTION | Rule #4: We don't pay attention to boring things.
SHORT-TERM MEMORY | Rule #5: Repeat to remember.
LONG-TERM MEM...more
The book discusses "12 principles for surviving and thriving at work, home, and school." The real focus seems feels like how we can use this to improve schools.
The 12 rules are:
EXERCISE | Rule #1: Exercise boosts brain power.
SURVIVAL | Rule #2: The human brain evolved, too.
WIRING | Rule #3: Every brain is wired differently.
ATTENTION | Rule #4: We don't pay attention to boring things.
SHORT-TERM MEMORY | Rule #5: Repeat to remember.
LONG-TERM MEM...more
Brain rules is really well organized. It's a very un-boring synthesis of current neuroscience research into very comprehensible terms. I only give it four stars because the author (openly) says that the educational implications of the findings are not clear.
Some major take-aways, along with my questions and ruminations:
Attention:
Emotional arousal helps the brain learn. Number of minutes a person can pay attention to presentation style information (a lecture) is the same as their age, up to 10....more
Some major take-aways, along with my questions and ruminations:
Attention:
Emotional arousal helps the brain learn. Number of minutes a person can pay attention to presentation style information (a lecture) is the same as their age, up to 10....more
We participated in a research study led by this author last year, so I was curious to read this book. John Medina was an engaging and thought-provoking speaker, and this is an engaging and thought-provoking. It took a while to read because I had to stop and think after each section. It was relevant to teaching in many ways, but also to life in general.
A very straightforward read on the latest advance in the understanding of how the brain works. A lot of the chapters draw from some of the accessible trade books on cognitive development. Stories from Deborah Tannen, Oliver Sachs, Howard Gardner, Steven Jay Gould, etc. add stories and examples to Medina's main structure of the book. The book is organized around 12 principles that Medina feels are necessary to a healthy brain (due to what Medina sees as evolutionary factors).
The first principle...more
The first principle...more
A solid attempt at making a practical (useful) book on how the brain works, aimed at everyday people. He focuses on memory and efficiency, and writes in an engaging style. As a long-time researcher in the field he has the science cred, and he explains it well. There's a website (brainrules.net I think) that goes with the book, and when the book is released for real (I got a galley) it'll come with a DVD.
My only complaint is that he's insufficiently scientific in the book. I wanted more hard numb...more
My only complaint is that he's insufficiently scientific in the book. I wanted more hard numb...more
Finally finished “Brain Rules” by John Medina. Fascinating how simple habits can boost our brain power. Seemingly passive and low impact activities like exercise and sleeping enhance our thinking ability (we’ve all heard this before, but the author provides compelling explanations as to why this is the case).
There’s also an interesting discussion on multitasking (apparently it’s true you can do two things at once, just not as well as if you weren’t trying to multitask).
A well written and engagin...more
There’s also an interesting discussion on multitasking (apparently it’s true you can do two things at once, just not as well as if you weren’t trying to multitask).
A well written and engagin...more
This is a fabulous book I wish had been written before I started baby-making 30 years ago! It does confirm for me that I did a lot of things right as a parent, but I would have benefited as a mom from knowing things now clearly related by John Medina on when an infant is learning what much more precisely than I knew from observation and experience alone.
the information in this book is priceless for any parent and any person who intends to live life healthily, influence people positively and mak...more
the information in this book is priceless for any parent and any person who intends to live life healthily, influence people positively and mak...more
This is short, enjoyable read about how we can apply brain science to our lives and society. The author writer in a breezy style. I wish there was more technical information here, but was satisfied that the author laid out tough standards for which research he chose to include in the book. He also wasn't afraid to point out where the science fell short.
He points out, rightly, that our workplaces and schools are designed in such a way that they actually starve the brain of learning opportunities....more
He points out, rightly, that our workplaces and schools are designed in such a way that they actually starve the brain of learning opportunities....more
The content, when you can get to it, is interesting. But I find his writing style incredibly annoying -- full of anecdotes that don't really have a very tight connection to the content of the chapter. Then, midway thru the book, you learn that he finds that 10-minute chunks interspersed with anecdotes helps students pay attention in lecture. I totally accept that for an oral presentation. But in a written text, it's really annoying. I'm used to reading nonfiction that doesn't seem to be talking...more
Interesting book about the latest research about brain science and how it might apply to school, work, or life in general.
Dr. Medina does something very charming in the introduction -- he promises to only use research from peer-reviewed journals with results that have been duplicated in other laboratories. No "Mozart Effect" or "Left/Right Brain" crap here.
The book comes with a DVD that I didn't watch, because I prefer to learn by reading. For some reason two hours of reading seems much quicker...more
Dr. Medina does something very charming in the introduction -- he promises to only use research from peer-reviewed journals with results that have been duplicated in other laboratories. No "Mozart Effect" or "Left/Right Brain" crap here.
The book comes with a DVD that I didn't watch, because I prefer to learn by reading. For some reason two hours of reading seems much quicker...more
When American classrooms were designed over a hundred years ago, we knew little about how our brains work or the optimal conditions for our brains to learn. The goal then was efficiency: straight rows with the teacher at the front seemed the best manner to deliver information. Today, however, experimental psychologists, cognitive neuroscientists, and evolutionary biologists can teach us quite a bit more about how brain science affects student achievement and improves learning. What we now know i...more
Finished Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School by John Medina. Medina is a developmental molecular biologist and the directory of the Brain Center for Applied Learning research at Seattle Pacific. He wrote this book to communicate to the rest of us some of the results of recent research on the brain. In my opinion, Medina succeeded.
I like the structure of the book. Each chapter is built around a particular "brain rule", a rule of thumb for effectively us...more
I like the structure of the book. Each chapter is built around a particular "brain rule", a rule of thumb for effectively us...more
Excellent book. Seeks to educate us about the facts that mind research has given us, and to leave the interpretation of how to apply those concepts to us. Not a book of answers to the problems of education, but rather a book of questions designed to get us thinking about what the answers might be.(view spoiler)...more
3.5
John Medina explains 12 principles that involve the brain or thoughts that can help you in life. The copy I checked out from the library contained a dvd that gave an overview of the book that explained all of Medina's main points.
This book is worth reading and its ideas are worth incorporating into your life.
Watch this video to see if you might be interested in reading this book:
Brain Rules
From the book:
“If you wanted to create an education environment that was directly opposed to what the b...more
John Medina explains 12 principles that involve the brain or thoughts that can help you in life. The copy I checked out from the library contained a dvd that gave an overview of the book that explained all of Medina's main points.
This book is worth reading and its ideas are worth incorporating into your life.
Watch this video to see if you might be interested in reading this book:
Brain Rules
From the book:
“If you wanted to create an education environment that was directly opposed to what the b...more
We expect that findings from scientific research will be quickly translated into everyday practice when it comes to medicine, technology, engineering and marketing. However, when it comes to schools and education, research finds it difficult to cut through the bonds of tradition.
In his bestselling book Brain Rules, molecular biologist John Medina suggests that the typical five-period day in high school might be radically restructured if we were to consider how the brain actually works.
Medina wri...more
In his bestselling book Brain Rules, molecular biologist John Medina suggests that the typical five-period day in high school might be radically restructured if we were to consider how the brain actually works.
Medina wri...more
Apr 01, 2012
Mark Oppenlander
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
popular-science
John Medina has dual faculty appointments at the University of Washington and at Seattle Pacific University. In fact his faculty office at SPU is just across the street from mine; he is sequestered in a converted house just as I am. Because of my physical proximity to him, I've had the pleasure to hear him speak in person a few times, and he is one of the funniest, most engaging scientific lecturers I've ever heard. I was worried that his writing would not be as clever or as engaging as his spea...more
Although the brain often seems to be the most overlooked tool in trainer-teacher-learners' toolkits, great writers like developmental molecular biologist John Medina are doing a lot to move us past that that oversight through books like "Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School." Medina is never less than completely engaging, and his 12 rules about how the brain functions in learning are drawn from well-documented research, his own very funny observations,...more
I picked up this book for a dollar or two through one of Amazon's daily deals. I'm fascinated with the brain and all that scientists have been learning about it in recent years. This book delivered on interesting anecdotes and individual stories of brain abnormalities but was quite bland otherwise. In particular, the organizational structure of the book seemed awkward. Each chapter focuses on a brain rule, yet the take-aways were weak and felt forced if not overly obvious. For example, the main...more
This one was fascinating. I finally found out why it's possible to faint from shock! Your brain is so glucose-hungry that you can only use a very small percentage of it at a time, for the simple reason that you don't have enough glucose (or enough oxygen to break the glucose down, or the ability to get rid of the by-products of oxygen break-down fast enough) to fuel more than a small percentage. So if you see/learn something shocking, your brain tries to process too much at once, using too large...more
I mostly enjoyed this book and think it has a lot of useful information. His deliberate use of anecdotes is particularly helpful to illustrate points and to keep the reader's attention. I did think the tone of the writing was uneven. He was clearly trying to simplify the information for a popular audience, and sometimes he went too far, shading over into patronizing when his metaphors or language got too self-consciously lowest-common-denominator (such as seriously using the word 'boogers.' We a...more
What a disappointment. This book’s brain rules are merely what are already widely known by well-informed people, like how spaced repetition/reinforcement helps memory; sleep is crucial for cementing newly learned info; exercise is good for the brain; and so on. It has a total of almost 300 pages, which would have been unnecessary if the author had not included so much unnecessary info related to biology. After all, do we need to know the roles of dopamine to make use of the brain principles? As...more
As always, I need to declare my preference for fiction. That said, let me recommend this book. Author and molecular biologist, John Medina, does a great job capturing the reader with brain research, of all things. Clearly a subject that could lull the layperson into a comatose state, Medina follows his own advice in this text. Chapters are not overly long; each reading objective is clearly stated, and he reviews the salient items at the end of each chapter, with three or four bulleted items. To...more
A brainy book about the thinking organ. John Medina’s ”12 principles” are a clever marketer or editor’s way of organizing the neurological literature that Medina reviews. Although the studies are interesting the results are far from stunning. Basically, get enough sleep and exercise and you will be fine. Also don’t worry about your child’s development too much, brains mature at markedly different rates. Thankfully, Medina avoids the Dr. Daniel Amen route of spending half the book trying to cross...more
My sister and I both work with kids and have our own little book club where we read works that are related to learning, the brain, and child development. While she liked 'Brain Rules,' she critiqued for being 'pop.' I get that, but I really liked the book.
We read it after seeing Medina give an enthusiastic and inspiring presentation at the Learning and the Brain Conference several months ago in San Francisco. He's definitely a salesman type with his own shtick, but for me, it works.
I was readi...more
We read it after seeing Medina give an enthusiastic and inspiring presentation at the Learning and the Brain Conference several months ago in San Francisco. He's definitely a salesman type with his own shtick, but for me, it works.
I was readi...more
May 06, 2010
Alisha
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
books-i-own-that-i-ve-read,
non-fiction
This was another assigned book I had to read for class, but this time it was Psychology. Again I state that when I'm required to read something for class, it doesn't end up being favorable because I was actually required to read it. Which is why I don't really review assigned readigns. But since I made a deal with myself to review every book I've read this year, here we are.
So, Brain Rules, is basically what is sounds like. 12 Brain Rules that are supposed to help you succeed. Pretty basic. Howe...more
So, Brain Rules, is basically what is sounds like. 12 Brain Rules that are supposed to help you succeed. Pretty basic. Howe...more
Much of Medina's work here is obvious but he does a good job of explaining the basic science of how the brain works. It's a good read for parents as it'll make them want to create the best possible environment for their children as well as for educators at any level as Medina explains the best possible learning situations you can create for your students.
For instance, chronic stress is just about the most horrible thing you can do to your brain.
A constant diet of adrenaline and cortisol can lea...more
For instance, chronic stress is just about the most horrible thing you can do to your brain.
A constant diet of adrenaline and cortisol can lea...more
Medina, the latest guru in popular neuroscience theory as it applies to human learning, has published one of the most succinct books to date on the subject. His twelve principles effortlessly detail the major scientific findings of how humans learn best by explaining them all in layman’s terms. Some of them are really no-brainers (ha!): getting exercise helps stimulate cognition (yet another reason that schools which eliminate recess at the elementary level are doomed to fail in their drive to i...more
A blend of anecdotes, brain science, and prescriptions for how to live and learn more effectively, this is a book that everyone should read, even though it is far from perfect. For me it was, for the most part, pitched at the right level -- neither too detailed nor too superficial -- providing overviews of the science that underpins many things we sort of know we should (or shouldn't) do, but don't really know why, and thus (in part) fail to do (or not do).
For example, we know that stress is ba...more
For example, we know that stress is ba...more
This book was good, but could have been great. When I first began I was certain I'd rate it 5 stars by the time I finished, but a few things prevented me from doing so.
First, there were quite a few typos in the Kindle edition. I promise I'm not a grammar freak-- but these typos interrupted the flow of reading enough that I think it is worth noting.
Second, I thought the author did a relatively good job explaining complicated science processes in lay(wo)man's terms, although quite a few times it...more
First, there were quite a few typos in the Kindle edition. I promise I'm not a grammar freak-- but these typos interrupted the flow of reading enough that I think it is worth noting.
Second, I thought the author did a relatively good job explaining complicated science processes in lay(wo)man's terms, although quite a few times it...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Medina's Fantasy School | 2 | 23 | Jul 04, 2012 05:02pm |
Dr. John Medina, author of "Brain Rules" (www.brainrules.net) is a developmental molecular biologist and research consultant. He is the director of the Brain Center for Applied Learning Research at Seattle Pacific University. He also teaches at the University of Washington School of Medicine, in its Department of Bioengineering. "
More about John Medina...
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“If you wanted to create an education environment that was directly opposed to what the brain was good at doing, you probably would design something like a classroom. If you wanted to create a business environment that was directly opposed to what the brain was good at doing, you probably would design something like a cubicle. And if you wanted to change things, you might have to tear down both and start over.”
—
8 people liked it
“The problem in today’s economy is that people are typically starting a family at the very time they are also supposed to be doing their best work. They are trying to be productive at some of the most stressful times of their lives. What if companies took this unhappy collision of life events seriously? They could offer Gottman’s intervention as a benefit for every newly married, or newly pregnant, employee.”
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5 people liked it
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Apr 23, 2012 03:36am
Apr 23, 2012 03:36am