Great book review by The New York Public Library

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BrainFitnessLifecycle_webWhat Does a Brain Want? Alvaro Fer­nan­dez and the Sharp­Brains Team Put Brain Fit­ness to the Test (New York Pub­lic Library):

“Many have referred to the 21st cen­tu­ry as the cen­tu­ry of the brain. In the 20th cen­tu­ry the aver­age lifes­pan in the U.S. increased from 47 to 74, but research on the brain lagged behind. As lifes­pan increas­es this becomes more and more of a soci­etal, and per­son­al, concern…

May I rec­om­mend a book to cut through the chat­ter on the brain? The Sharp­Brains Guide to Brain Fit­ness: How to Opti­mize Brain Health and Per­for­mance at Any Age…I dis­cov­ered Sharp­Brains when the first edi­tion of the book came out in 2009 and Mr. Fer­nan­dez came to speak at The New York Pub­lic Library. He delight­ed the crowd of library staff and some mem­bers of the pub­lic in the audi­ence, and elu­ci­dat­ed com­pli­cat­ed con­cepts in an enter­tain­ing way.

My major take-away from this book: that our brains need vari­ety. If you have done cross­word puz­zles all your life, doing more won’t help your brain; what you need are activ­i­ties and lifestyle changes that incor­po­rate all the ingre­di­ents that make for a healthy brain. To illus­trate, chap­ter 9, “How to Be Your Own Brain Fit­ness Coach,” gives 10 vignettes of aver­age peo­ple, male and female, ages 16–75, and dis­cuss­es what changes each might make based on their unique sit­u­a­tions; the miss­ing puz­zle pieces for them.”

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