cover image Making the Most of Your Brain

Making the Most of Your Brain

. Reader's Digest Association, $30 (480pp) ISBN 978-0-7621-0466-6

This volume, which tackles an enormously complex subject, has the look and heft of a college textbook, yet remains accessible and intriguing. Beginning with the notion that""most of us never stretch our brain beyond a fraction of its vast potential,"" the book delves into memory, the mind-body connection and the difference between the conscious and the unconscious brain. Each section is subdivided into more specific topics, such as Personality and Health and Techniques to Improve Memory. Sidebars, mental exercises, quizzes, quotes, tip lists and stories from real lives enliven and enlarge the text. One particularly good""Fact File"" debunks four stress myths in a helpful, productive way. Simply skimming this book certainly engages the brain, and completing some of the interactive features makes for thought-provoking entertainment.