Build a Better Brain: Using everyday neuroscience to train your brain for motivation, discipline, courage, and mental sharpness


by Peter Hollins (2019)

Well this turned out to be unexpectedly useful.  It's difficult not to assume that you might not get much out of a book if it starts off with the omnipresent Phineas Gage,  but actually in this instance, after Phineas, there was plenty of information that was completely new to me, most of which was constructive and what's more, most of which chimed very well with my go-to books on how to improve one's mental health, ie: "The Little Book of Stoicism" and "The Chimp Paradox".  So now we have the complete package, the philosophical take (Stoicism), the psychiatric approach (The Chimp/human paradigm) and now the layman's guide to the neuroscientific angle.

It is, for example, satisfying to marry up the powerful chimp versus feeble human paradigm (from the Chimp Paradox) with the neuroscience as described by Hollins when he describes huge proportions of the brain as being swamped with powerful reward-seeking dopamine, with only one single solitary part of the brain being able to resist its influence (this being the VLPFC - or ventrolateral prefrontal cortex).   Truth seeking theories really do chime across disciplines!

The neuroscience here is strictly for the novice, but it is useful nonetheless, not least because it cuts to the chase which makes it possible to hold the essentials in mind for those stressy moments when you are trying to cope with anxiety, deal with anger issues, or break or make a habit. You can't be too straightforward at these times and need a system that springs to mind easily and which is able to keep the chimp in the box.

The last chapter on habit forming or breaking is completely new to me and could be used very constructively to build on the Stoic idea of mastering ones negative emotions. 

The only major complaint: the book needs a reference section, but in the grand scheme of things with Google at hand,  fact checking is not a massive issue.

Rating 7/10


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