Book club discussion guide: 10 questions to work on our collective brain fitness

amBook: The Sharp­Brains Guide to Brain Fit­ness by Alvaro Fer­nan­dez and Dr. Elkhonon Goldberg.

The goal of The Sharp­Brains Guide to Brain Fit­ness is to inform read­ers and to stim­u­late valu­able con­ver­sa­tions. You can use these book club dis­cus­sion ques­tions to help your book club, friends or col­leagues delve deep­er into the top­ics dis­cussed in The Sharp­Brains Guide and, along the way, con­tribute to our col­lec­tive brain fit­ness and cog­ni­tive health.

Sug­gest­ed Ques­tions to Kick­start the Discussion

  1. What have you been doing over the last cou­ple of years to help main­tain your brain in top shape?
  2. Please describe what you have learned about your brain that has sur­prised you the most.
  3. Before read­ing this book, what did you think about what “Use It or Lose It” mean? And what do you think now?
  4. Why do we, as a soci­ety, often pay more atten­tion to car main­te­nance (clean­ing, check-ups, gas, oil changes) than to how to main­tain our brains in good shape? Will this change, and why or why not?
  5. What are some of the main men­tal abil­i­ties to nur­ture beyond mem­o­ry? And why may doing so result in a bet­ter memory?
  6. What inter­views did you enjoy the most? Why do some sci­en­tists say things that seem to con­tra­dict what oth­er sci­en­tists say?
  7. Is the brain val­ue of doing 25 cross­word puz­zles dif­fer­ent depend­ing on whether those are our first ever 25 puz­zles or whether we already have done 10,000 puz­zles before? Why?
  8. What are some types of men­tal exer­cise or brain train­ing, and what may they be best for?
  9. Do you feel bet­ter equipped now to under­stand, com­pare and eval­u­ate the claims of dif­fer­ent prod­ucts? How could this guide be improved?
  10. How can this emerg­ing field of brain fit­ness affect the way you per­form your job in the future?

You can also engage in the con­ver­sa­tion via our blog, Face­book, Twit­ter, and LinkedIn.

–> Learn More and Order The Sharp­Brains Guide to Brain Fit­ness (May 2009, $14.95), by Alvaro Fer­nan­dez and Dr. Elkhonon Goldberg.

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