Product Description
In his work treating patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder, Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz made an extraordinary discovery: by focusing their attention away from negative behaviors and toward positive ones, his patients were able to make permanent changes to their own neural pathways. In The Mind and the Brain Schwartz explores this power -- the power of the mind to shape the brain.Through research and case studies, he demonstrates the brain's ability to be drastically rewired, not just in childhood but throughout life -- a paradigm-shifting discovery that could transform the treatment of every neurological dysfunction, from dyslexia to stroke. Schwartz's landmark book challenges the idea that we are merely biologically programmed automatons and proves that we have the power to shape our brains and, consequently, our destiny -- a revolutionary insight that continues to provoke debate among those who care about the future of man's role in the universe.

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 56 reviews)

A Liberating Book! by Elizabeth R. Skoglund (Burbank, CA)

5 Stars
November 10, 2009
In my opinion, the greatest contribution of The Mind and the Brain lies in it's discussion of the potential of brain cells to change and adapt to new functions and even to reproduce. Brain plasticity is a new, revolutionary concept in neuroscience. It is revolutionary concept in psychotherapy as well. Dr. Schwartz's particular interest seems to lie in the area of OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder). Using the concept of brain plasticity he presents a four step plan in the treatment of OCD. He offers evidence of the effectiveness of this approach as opposed to more traditional methods. Dr. Schwartz offers some proof that this treatment based on the plasticity of the brain can be effective with or without medication. This book is one of the most worthwhile books I have ever read. Elizabeth Skoglund, Author of Divine Recycling: Living Above Your Circumstances

Bit repetitive, forgiveable. Ending almost spoils this great work. by Nova137

4 Stars
November 06, 2009
In March of this year (2009), I experienced a series of meditations that led me to the same types of conclusions about my "mind" and my "brain" that Schwartz and Stapp come to in their study of quantum mechanics. And the similarities are nearly verbatim. To be fair, I took QM in One Dimension in 1990 at the University of Washington. So having devoured one college level text, I have also read several other noteworthy books on the subject. These conclusions, however, never led me to any conclusive evidence that "the mind creates the brain", but, only, that the quantum mechanical description of reality allows the "mind creates brain" thought to produce new insights into the workings of the material brain. The only facts we have are material, not mental (to wit, not "spiritual"). This book also confirms many of my own experiences and findings over the past 24 months. From 24 hour, 7 day a week meditation I rewired my brain. I would not have been able to say that before reading this book. Before reading this book, I also discovered that what I was really doing was a self-styled form of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) mixed with what I termed, Buddhic "emptiness". Although Schwartz uses the term "mindfulness", CBT is used in his Four Step program and the parallels with my methods are uncanny. In short, I experienced and/or developed the entire quantum mechanical descriptions and neuroscientific scope of this book, as a layperson/human being, before reading it. To say that doing real science is defined by the practitioner's ability to create a result that is reproducible, I'd say I am an example of the main point of this book--that the neuroplasticity of the adult brain is a fact, not a fiction. Having said all that, the book does get repetitive and this leads him to contradict himself because he uses too many words to convey a basic idea: The brain created mind can, "through knowledge and effort, reshape neurobiological processes..." or, "The reality of the mind-shaped brain..." or "The brain may determine the content of our experience, but mind chooses which aspect of that experience receives attention." but, this is contradicted by "The brain, to be sure, is indeed the physical embodiment of the mind, the organ through which the mind finds expression and through which it acts in the world." And, then, finally, we have the most blatant and biased contradiction: "For scientifically minded people seeking a rational basis for the belief that truly ethical action is possible, James's epigram--'Volitional effort is effort of attention'--must replace Cogito ergo sum as the essential description of the way we experience ourselves and our inner lives. The mind creates the brain. We have the ability to bring will and thus attention to bear on a single nascent possibility struggling to be born in the brain, and thus to turn that possibility into actuality and action." He should have continued in the mind influencing the brain vein, and not switched to "creates". I might have let this unscientific injection (strong desire) go without notice (because he avoided it throughout the book) except for the following conclusion at the end of the book (pg. 375) that disappoints me greatly: "The teachings of faith have long railed against the perils of the materialists mind-set. Now neuroscience and physics have joined them at the barricades." I shouldn't be surprised, though. Throughout the book, Schwartz maintains that determinism of the classical physics variety has had the detrimental effect of calling into question our moral responsibility as a species. He and Stapp posit the findings of modern physics to reinterpret this conclusion. That is, Schwartz, et. al. have an agenda to introduce "free-will" where none is missing, just a proper interpretation of it. This agenda led both of them into a misunderstanding of human consciousness as a whole. This leads, unfortunately, to the conclusion that scientific statements about my volition actually have a bearing on it. The fact is, it doesn't. That it has an effect on how a psychologist might attempt to cure his patient is clear. But, this book was made available to the public for public consumption, where no such constraint of interpretation is, by necessity, found or efficacious. When I am considered as a whole and my consciousness as a part of it, all of the debate between materialism and spiritualism dissolves. We are human beings acting as causal agents in a cause and effect world. I would have it no other way.

A physicist's review by L. Yang (CA, USA)

4 Stars
October 03, 2009
(1) A book with good information and thoughts The Mind and The Brain covered many interesting and important subjects for those who consider themselves thinkers of humanity. I had Ph.D in solid State Physics and had been thinking along a similar line of thoughts about the philosophical implication of Quantum physics for 30 years. I think the book has the breath and the depth to be considered a great book, although the conclusion of attention being the mental force, in my opinion, is a bit premature. From other reviews on, I found the responses were largely based on the background of the reviewers. As a physicist with Asian culture background, working in US for 30 years, I can appreciate many aspects of the reviews. I made a table below showing what I would think how the readers would consider the subjects when reading this book. (This is simply my guess of others' views and could be very inaccurate.) ......................Neuroscientist.......Physicist......Westerner........Asian 4R for OCD........revolutionary.........new............acceptable......acceptable Brain lock .......common sense.........new............new...............new Brain plasticity..revolutionary..........new............new..............common belief Quantum brain.....new..................debatable......new...............new Free will...........debatable.............debatable......debatable.......common belief If you are a physicist with western culture background, you might find this book very informative in the brain structure but skeptical about the quantum theorem portion. But, if you have an Asian culture background, you might find the proof of mental force is pointless because it was taken for granted for thousands of years. From this table, this book is a very informative book to nearly everybody and I highly recommend it. I also agree with many reviewers that some repetitions and the over-mentioning of OCD therapy often turn off the readers. (2) A respectable attempt: Although very often I thought Dr. Schwartz was repeating the obvious, such as 4R. I think many people perform this exercise whenever you feel itchy of your throat on stage or an urge of your bladder in a long bus ride. But, I realize he was trying to provide scientific evidence to a common practice. Even we have accustomed to something, the details of scientific evidence is the foundation of enhancement of understanding. Therefore, to say the practice was commonly used elsewhere did not diminishing the importance of scientific explanation of how it works. Further, the OCD PET scan data was used as an evidence of Brain plasticity. Similarly, many therapies used for stroke recovery were practiced widely. Those people did not care about theory. They just want to recover their paralyses. But, providing scientific understanding of why it was possible is still an important work. It is respectful that Dr. Shwartz conducted these works in the science community which had long established the belief that human brain loses its plasticity after childhood. (3) A not-successful-yet attempt: The motive of Dr. Schwartz's work, initially on OCD patients, was extended to seek for finding the link between the mind and the brain, via scientific method and a hope for the existence of free will. But, the problem is Dr. Schwartz does not understand Buddhism enough or quantum physics enough. He relied on Dr. Henry Stapp of UCB to form the foundation of quantum interpretation of mind. I read the same arguments in "Quantum Brain" written by Jeffrey Satinover: --- Classical physics lead to determinism --- Determinism leads to materialism --- Materialism leads to non-existence of free will The triumph of quantum physics broke this chain. But, to say it provides the ultimate answers is an overstatement. What Dr. Stapp provided was just a hypothesis or a possibility. While personally, I, who had a Ph. D in Solid State Physics, think it is going a wrong direction, I have to applaud Dr. Stapp for trying. Maybe it will lead to new hypotheses to be verified or discarded. And, this is of the spirit of scientific method. Finally, the claim the existence of a mental force is not new or supported by Dr. Schwartz's work. The link between mind and brain remains un-discovered.

Consciousness has more power than once thought by Danielle Mankin

4 Stars
September 23, 2009
I read this book for my neuroscience class and found this book to be an easy read as well as very informative. The Mind and the Brain: Neuroplasticity and the Power of Mental Force has taught me more about will power and the power of the mind than I thought ever existed. This book was written for people with little biological and neurological understanding and was actually an easy and interesting read. Although the book was longer than I expected, I found each chapter enjoyable. Each chapter added more in depth understanding of the idea of consciousness and will-power. The author describes how most neuroscientists did not believe in plasticity of the brain and the idea that the brain could change once created. This book trails the changing ideas of neuroplasticity (changes in the brain) and of the mind versus the brain. The author explains how scientists believed the brain could not change, that it could change in adolescent years, that it could change in adult years, and that it is what we call the mind that can change it. This book, although at times detailed and repetitive, was very interesting and informative. It was written for someone with little neuroscience or even biology background. The author keeps the storylines interesting and writes in a plain conversational language. The book is broken up into ten chapters and goes in chronological order of neurological findings throughout the years. Each chapter has more interesting information and as each chapter goes on, you find more of the answer to the question of mind versus brain. The book begins by discussing the evolution of the ideas of neuroscience. Scientists originally thought of the brain as solely a mechanistic part that cannot change. The change to the idea that the brain has plasticity and can be changed and that the mind can control the brain was a revolutionary idea that is still battled to this day. It seems that scientists are as stubborn as everyone else. Even with the evidence right in front of them, they did not think it was possible. The author goes on to explain that the past patients with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder were forced to touch dirty toilets, even animal feces and forced to go hours without washing their hands. When he learned about his type of therapy, he thought there had to be another way to help treat patients without putting them through these disgusting tasks. Over the years, different scientists began to study OCD patients' brains and found out that certain parts of their brains were damaged. They had an over-activated pathway that deals with emotions in decision-making. The author realized that once he told this to the patients and they realized it was not their fault, they could finally deal with their disorder and begin to move on. He described his experience, "We were changing the lives of people who before had been almost totally paralyzed by their OCD." It took a long time for the scientists to realize exactly why these patients were acting the way they did. This answer helped them tackle the disease from the most elementary part by asking why, instead of just trying to make them stop having the disease. The brain is a very complicated and detailed organ. From birth, the brain begins the same; however, over time it changes due to ones life experiences. Because the brain has plasticity, whatever neural pathways are used more, the more likely they are to persist. If the pathway is not used, it will essentially die. For this to make sense, I think about memory. I can remember very few things from when I was five years old, but why can I remember some and not others? Those moments in my life were more important to me, and I thought about those memories more often. This reinforces the pathway and allows that specific pathway to exist. It was found using monkeys and other test animals that if you remove a sensory organ such as removing a toe, or cutting the nerve to the arm that the region in the brain that use to control this sense organ has now been replaced by a different place on the body. This, again, is proof of the idea of plasticity. If a pathway is not used, then it will not continue to survive. Another pathway that is used more will take its place, rather than that pathway never being used again. At this point in the book, I began to get very interested and felt like I finally understood neuroplasticity as a basic science and wanted to keep reading more. As more and more studies came out, the idea of plasticity changed from a phenomenon that could only happen in childhood to one that could happen throughout life. You can change your brain and the way it functions throughout adulthood. The author reflects on the impact of these ideas, "Contrary to Cajal and virtually every neuroscientist since, the adult brain can change. It can grow new cells. It can change the function of old ones. It can rezone an area that originally executed one function and assign it another." This was such a revolutionary idea; however it seems simple to think about. Adults can learn languages and learn to play instruments. It may be more difficult, but the point is that the changes and pathways in the brain that are necessary for these skills can still be created in adulthood. Now that the idea of neuroplasticity is concrete, the question is what makes this happen? This part of the book becomes more complicated to me, however the author does a good job at putting everything into basic terms. He gives the answer of quantum physics. "There is no `is' until an observer makes an observation" helps describe the overall theory of quantum physics. Objects only exist because we tell our brain that they do. The question then becomes, how does quantum physics affect the plasticity of our brain? The idea is mental force and this is shown through the OCD patients being able to "cure" themselves of this disease with thinking; however the exact pathways of this quantum physics are still very rudimentary. Mental force is the idea that intention then causes attention and attention can physically change the brain. Again, this is seen in the OCD patients who have to think about the urges they are getting to overcome the obsession. The idea that attention is the ultimate phenomenon in this book is incredible. What you decide to give attention to have the possibility of changing how your brain works. This book has forever changed me and my opinions about free will. The author does a great job of explaining everything so any reader can read and understand these scientific breakthroughs. I definitely recommend this book to anybody interested in learning about mind over matter, free will, or the evolution of neuroscience.

My Mind by B. T. Slader (Dayton, OH USA)

5 Stars
September 09, 2009
Neuroplasticity is the ability of the brain to rewire itself by the use of one's will -- which is quite controversial in some circles as I found out from the book. I really enjoyed the book by Dr. Schwartz on the topic, the first couple of chapters were tough to get through as my brain rewired itself to understand words like "volition". As an engineer, I loved the sections on Quantum Theory and how the brain works, it made absolute sense to me. I used the knowledge gained by reading the book to quit smoking --whenever I thought about smoking -- I told myself to think "I choose life". My new circuit is now dominant. The book helped me change my life.

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