The Brain That Changes Itself

The human brain can rewire itself, and psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Norman Doidge tells the stories of the scientists and patients behind a new science that is overturning the old view that it is fixed. He meets a woman born with only half a brain, which rewired to function fully, a woman who felt she was perpetually falling, stroke patients who relearn movement and speech, and people relieved of pain through exercises that retrain neural pathways. Doidge also profiles the researchers who first identified neuroplasticity and applies the idea to obsessions and bad habits, sexual attraction and love, culture, psychoanalysis, the developing child's brain and the ageing one. The material is arranged in 11 chapters.

Moon Express founder Naveen Jain singled it out as a book he really enjoyed, describing it as all about neuroplasticity. Poke strategy head Bogdana Butnar also names it in an interview about her favourite books and reading habits.