Skyler’s Reviews > Inside the Brain: Revolutionary Discoveries of How the Mind Works > Status Update

"Unless the brain is continuously challenged, it loses some of the connections that grew out of a college experience. The brains of university graduates who led mentally inactive lives had fewer connections than those of graduates who never stopped letting the light in."

"In adulthood, the brain finally settles down but it is not idle. It will keep building and destroying connections and strengthening and weakening established ones for the rest of its life as it adjusts to the continuous changes in its environment."

"Brain cells compete to connect to some part of the body. Those cells that fail to hook up do not get the proper feedback, which includes chemicals that nourish and maintain brain cells. Left without such nourishment or a sense of direction, they perish."

"Having 100 billion cells puts the human brain into a class by itself. That kind of computing power allows us to leapfrog into new realms: self-awareness, language, making associations, and abstract thinking. We can remember the past and anticipate the future so as to better guide ourselves in the present."

"'The most important thing is to realize that the brain is growing and changing all the time. It feeds on stimulation and it is never too late to feed it.'"

"Faced with the new evidence about how the brain develops and functions, many scientists are concluding that society is wasting a tremendous amount of the brain power of its young, and creating a lot of unnecessary problems--including crime, aggression, and depression--later on in their lives."

"What the brain can do depends on whether or not it is used. It is the ultimate use-it-or-lose-it machine, and it is eager to learn new skills. The ability to form abstract thoughts, for instance, is now seen as a consequence of the brain's learning to read."