Watch full New York Public Library talk on The SharpBrains Guide to Brain Fitness (75 minutes)

Talk by Alvaro Fer­nan­dez at New York Pub­lic Library, pre­sent­ing The Sharp­Brains Guide to Brain Fit­ness: How to Opti­mize Brain Health and Per­for­mance at Any Age (284 pages; 2013).

Descrip­tion: Just like the rest of our body, the brain requires care, atten­tion and prop­er exer­cise. Yet, we often ignore this most vital organ because few know where to begin. Based on the new and expand­ed sec­ond edi­tion of The Sharp­Brains Guide to Brain Fit­ness –named a Best Book by AARP in 2011– co-author Alvaro Fer­nan­dez will dis­cuss exact­ly how to “use it or lose it,” offer­ing a ground­break­ing new approach to improv­ing brain health and per­for­mance at any age, from chil­dren to younger and old­er adults.

With prac­ti­cal and per­son­al­ized tips for pre­serv­ing and enhanc­ing brain func­tion through­out life, the new book com­bines a user-friend­ly tuto­r­i­al on how the brain works with advice on how to choose and inte­grate lifestyle changes and brain train­ing exer­cis­es to improve men­tal focus, build emo­tion­al resilience, enhance mem­o­ry and ward off Alzheimer’s dis­ease. Fea­tur­ing a cap­ti­vat­ing and engag­ing inde­pen­dent analy­sis of hun­dreds of sci­en­tif­ic stud­ies pub­lished in the last 10 years, the book also includes in-depth inter­views with 20 lead­ing sci­en­tists who often chal­lenge con­ven­tion­al wis­dom and pre­vail­ing brain health think­ing and care.

Speak­er bio: Alvaro Fer­nan­dez, named a Young Glob­al Leader in 2012 by the World Eco­nomic Forum, is the CEO of Sharp­Brains.com, an inde­pen­dent mar­ket research firm track­ing health appli­ca­tions of brain ­sci­ence. He has been quot­ed by The New York Times, The Wall Street Jour­nal, CNN, Reuters, and Asso­ci­ated Press, among oth­ers. Mr. Fer­nan­dez is the co-author of “The Sharp­Brains Guide to Brain Fit­ness: How to Opti­mize Brain Health and Per­for­mance at Any Age,” togeth­er with neu­ro­sci­en­tist Dr. Elkhonon Gold­berg. Alvaro has an MBA and MA in Edu­ca­tion from Stan­ford Uni­ver­sity, and a BS in Eco­nom­ics from Uni­ver­si­dad de Deusto in his native Spain. He now lives with his wife and daugh­ter in Wash­ing­ton, DC.