Rating: 
Summary: There are books with better ideas for a cheaper price
Review: How we rate a book depends primarily on what we are induced to expect from it. The title suggested that this book would offer ways to increase one's range of thinking styles.Instead, what I found to my disappointment, were trivial exercises that aim to change routine habits. Most of it is about deliberately changing the way we perfrom our routines and mundane daily activities - like closing your eyes and opening your bathroom tap, taking a new route to a familiar destination, getting exposed to strong and unusual smells etc. This might be of help to those who have considerably aged and require any sort of mental stimulation to activate their brain cells. For someone like me, working as a bank clerk at the age of 30, brimming with ideas on creativity and imagination techniques, these exercises really do not make much of a difference. I think what the younger population needs for brain development (not in the physiological sense) is a solid exposure to the different ways of thinking - analytical, logical, creative, lateral, absrtact, visual, holistic, intuitive, pattern-based thinking etc and ways to improve memory. The more tools you have to choose from the more ways you have to tackle and solve a problem. This book doesn't do a thing towards this objective. If you feel what I mentioned in the last paragraph is what you're really looking for, I would whole-heartedly suggest Karl Albrecht's "Brain Power". That book really deserves to move up in the sales ranking. ("Brain Power" focuses on thinking methods. For memory improvement the only book you need to read, in my opinion, is "Your Memory" by Kenneth Higbee). What follows might be an unkind comment, but I should mention it because the title does not suggest it, "Save this title for the time when you are old and senile".
Rating: 
Summary: Totally Original, Informative and Fun. Excellent!
Review: I really enjoyed this book. It illustrates a simple theory, that being the "use it or lose it" theory as it relates to the brain. What's refreshing and unique is its approach, its platform - that just simple mental gymnastics (that we see peddled in books, CD Roms and more all over) aren't enough. The book effectively explains, (and backs up with solid research at The Salk Institute, UCal, and other places) that strengthening the brain with cross-training through multi-sensory workouts and exercises (associating scents with activities or places, for example) can build and strengthen our synapses and dendrites . I found this fascinating as I took brain cell growth to be more of an early childhood-specific activity. The exercises to me proved to be fun, and real effective ways to "switch on the connections" and look at things differently. I hope it all pays off. Judging from the insights and solid research behind it, I think it will.
Rating:
Summary: Totally Original, Informative and Fun. Excellent!
Review: I really enjoyed this book. It illustrates a simple theory, that being the "use it or lose it" theory as it relates to the brain. What's refreshing and unique is its approach, its platform - that just simple mental gymnastics (that we see peddled in books, CD Roms and more all over) aren't enough. The book effectively explains, (and backs up with solid research at The Salk Institute, UCal, and other places) that strengthening the brain with cross-training through multi-sensory workouts and exercises (associating scents with activities or places, for example) can build and strengthen our synapses and dendrites . I found this fascinating as I took brain cell growth to be more of an early childhood-specific activity. The exercises to me proved to be fun, and real effective ways to "switch on the connections" and look at things differently. I hope it all pays off. Judging from the insights and solid research behind it, I think it will.
Rating: 
Summary: offers interesting ideas
Review: I'm surprised at the response of some other readers of this book. I read the book, and I found that it offered a very interesting explanation of how the brain processes information. A lot of the points that the authors make are perfectly valid. We live in an increasingly complex society, and, as a result, rely on a lot of routines (like taking the same route to work each day, buying the same items at the same stores each day, etc.) to make our way through day-to-day life. The down side of this sort of lifestyle is that these routines are brain deadening. This book offers ideas on ways to break free of mind-numbing daily routines like using the five senses in new ways or taking unexpected approaches to everyday events. Sure, some of the exercises are pretty silly, and I can't say that I've embraced a lot of their ideas, but the basic premise behind neurobics makes sense. I suggest you read the first few chapters on how the brain works and skim through the exercises--essentially use the exercises as a springboard to living a more active, engaging life. The average person will learn a lot about the workings of the brain and may even take a new approach to living their life.
Rating:
Summary: brings people together in a positive way and brains take off
Review: In my modest opinion, social interaction has been the best brain enhancer.. Whether it is just sharing what this little book is about or actually doing the exercises--with another(friend, spouse, boyfriend, child..) is fun, loving, different.. And does not fun, funny, loving make you feel happy? and happines is a result of endorphins and endorphins are generated by the brain and generate well being? so easy to read it is motivating
The Owner's Manual For The Brain, 2nd Edition, Pierce J. Howard, PhD and The Art of Loving by Eric Fromm, are the other books I recommend
Rating:
Summary: This is something unique-an easy way to keep the mind strong
Review: Keep Your Brain Alive By Lawrence C. Katz,Ph.D and Manning Rubin Reviewed by Nancy Newman whose novel "Disturbing The Peace" is to be published by Avon Books this fall If you've been suffering periodic memory lapses lately and are worried a your middle-aged brain is turning to mush, take heart. Help is here in the form of a terrific little book called Keep Your Brain Alive by Lawrence C. Katz,Ph.D. and Manning Rubin. Based on the latest scientific research from around the world, the book offers a short explanation of how the brain functions, then goes on to describe a unique program called neurobics (aerobics for the brain) which can keep your mind healthy and agile even as you and your brain age The balance of science and exercises is organized and written in a way that let's you understand enough about what's happening in the brain without bogging you down with technical explanations. Basically the system uses the brain's ability to produce it's own nutrients that strengthen and preserve brain cells and applies that to the discovery that nerve cells in adult brains can be stimulated to grow dendrites with these nutrients. As we age our lives tend to become so routinized that we rely too heavily on only one or two senses and many pathways in the brain's circuits become inactive. As a result there is a thinning out of dendrites. Since these threadlike tendrils receive and process information from nerve cell to nerve cell, our minds can begin to feel sluggish. But according to the authors, this situation can be vastly improved by presenting the brain with unexpected combinations of the senses in novel ways, thereby stimulating it to increase the health and complexity of its dendrites and thus giving memory and mental agility a boost. The eighty-three exercises offered in the book are simple, fun and easy to integrate into daily life. Try brushing your teeth or buttoning your shirt in the morning with your less dominant hand. Scramble the location of familiar objects in your office. Take a whiff of pungent spices at an ethnic market. Make your way through your bedroom without turning on a light. You're giving your neural pathways a workout. Soon you'll be thinking up your own neurobic exercises. Growing older doesn't have to mean growing dimmer, say Katz and Rubin, not if you start living neurobically.
Rating:
Summary: This is something unique-an easy way to keep the mind strong
Review: Keep Your Brain Alive By Lawrence C. Katz,Ph.D and Manning Rubin Reviewed by Nancy Newman whose novel "Disturbing The Peace" is to be published by Avon Books this fall If you've been suffering periodic memory lapses lately and are worried a your middle-aged brain is turning to mush, take heart. Help is here in the form of a terrific little book called Keep Your Brain Alive by Lawrence C. Katz,Ph.D. and Manning Rubin. Based on the latest scientific research from around the world, the book offers a short explanation of how the brain functions, then goes on to describe a unique program called neurobics (aerobics for the brain) which can keep your mind healthy and agile even as you and your brain age The balance of science and exercises is organized and written in a way that let's you understand enough about what's happening in the brain without bogging you down with technical explanations. Basically the system uses the brain's ability to produce it's own nutrients that strengthen and preserve brain cells and applies that to the discovery that nerve cells in adult brains can be stimulated to grow dendrites with these nutrients. As we age our lives tend to become so routinized that we rely too heavily on only one or two senses and many pathways in the brain's circuits become inactive. As a result there is a thinning out of dendrites. Since these threadlike tendrils receive and process information from nerve cell to nerve cell, our minds can begin to feel sluggish. But according to the authors, this situation can be vastly improved by presenting the brain with unexpected combinations of the senses in novel ways, thereby stimulating it to increase the health and complexity of its dendrites and thus giving memory and mental agility a boost. The eighty-three exercises offered in the book are simple, fun and easy to integrate into daily life. Try brushing your teeth or buttoning your shirt in the morning with your less dominant hand. Scramble the location of familiar objects in your office. Take a whiff of pungent spices at an ethnic market. Make your way through your bedroom without turning on a light. You're giving your neural pathways a workout. Soon you'll be thinking up your own neurobic exercises. Growing older doesn't have to mean growing dimmer, say Katz and Rubin, not if you start living neurobically.
Rating:
Summary: Most significant information for our generation!
Review: Keep Your Brain Alive contains the most statistically significant information that I have ever seen for our generation. By explaining the role of the hippocampus and cerebral cortex in brain function as it relates to memory, this book is a tiny handbook of how to keep your memory intact. The information presented allowed me to combine techniques and information from the recent studies of Alzheimer's disease to put together a curriculum for caregivers and residents of Assisted Living Homes that has increased the function of older residents. This is an excellent starting place for most people on the way to increased brain function, and I recommend it highly.
Rating:
Summary: Most significant information for our generation!
Review: Keep Your Brain Alive contains the most statistically significant information that I have ever seen for our generation. By explaining the role of the hippocampus and cerebral cortex in brain function as it relates to memory, this book is a tiny handbook of how to keep your memory intact. The information presented allowed me to combine techniques and information from the recent studies of Alzheimer's disease to put together a curriculum for caregivers and residents of Assisted Living Homes that has increased the function of older residents. This is an excellent starting place for most people on the way to increased brain function, and I recommend it highly.
Rating:
Summary: No Pain - Big Brain
Review: Keep Your Brain Alive with neurobic exercises reminded me of that which I learned through physical exercising years ago; if its fun, its easy to stick with and it works. Without the day to day stimuli I encountered as a younger person, I enjoy and notice the acuity difference I derive from these simple and productive tasks. And, it comforts me to know that I have some control over my aging mind. I've told my friends, its a book for boomers for sure.
| 
