Virtual Book Club Discussion to Celebrate Brain Awareness Week

Join us on Mon­day March 14th for the largest glob­al and vir­tu­al book club dis­cus­sion ever focused on the brain.

An open dis­cus­sion on what new brain research means to each of us.

In hon­or of Brain Aware­ness Week.

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Why March 14th?

Because we want to cel­e­brate Brain Aware­ness Week (BAW), the cam­paign found­ed by The Dana Alliance for Brain Ini­tia­tives to increase pub­lic aware­ness about the progress and ben­e­fits of brain research. BAW 2011 takes place March 14–20th, 2011.

Every March, BAW unites the efforts of uni­ver­si­ties, hos­pi­tals, patient groups, gov­ern­ment agen­cies, schools, ser­vice orga­ni­za­tions, and pro­fes­sion­al asso­ci­a­tions world­wide in a week-long cel­e­bra­tion of the brain. You can learn more about BAW resources and activ­i­ties here. Join us in cel­e­brat­ing BAW 2011 with a stim­u­lat­ing vir­tu­al book club discussion!

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Why a Dis­cus­sion on Brain Fitness?

There’s a rev­o­lu­tion going on giv­en grow­ing evi­dence of life­long neu­ro­ge­n­e­sis and brain plas­tic­i­ty: that the brain can change and be shaped by our expe­ri­ences opens many pos­si­bil­i­ties to improve our qual­i­ty of life and cog­ni­tive per­for­mance, no mat­ter how young or old we are, as long as we make informed decisions.

In case you won­der, why do I care about this? Well, that’s what we want to dis­cuss. Why care about this? What does it mean for the way we learn, work, play, live? What does “use it or lose it” mean, and doesn’t mean? Are there safe ways to enhance our cog­ni­tive resources and emo­tion­al resilience? How can we make informed deci­sions, as proud brain own­ers, care­givers, professionals?

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Which Book Will Be Discussed?

The dis­cus­sion will be cen­tered around The Sharp­Brains Guide to Brain Fit­ness: 18 Inter­views with Sci­en­tists, Prac­ti­cal Advice, and Prod­uct Reviews, to Keep Your Brain Sharp (May 2009; 182 pages).

This book is part of Sharp­Brains’ ongo­ing effort to track and share brain fit­ness news, research and inno­va­tion, and to con­tribute to pub­lic edu­ca­tion in this crit­i­cal field. It  has received excel­lent reviews as an engag­ing and sol­id book to stim­u­late a much need­ed con­ver­sa­tion which cov­ers all ques­tions raised above.

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How Does a Vir­tu­al Dis­cus­sion Work?

A vir­tu­al dis­cus­sion has the advan­tage of engag­ing as many peo­ple as pos­si­ble, from any­where in the world and using the medi­um they want (com­put­er, cell phone, etc.). Twit­ter and Face­book are the main social media plat­forms we will use, but we are open to all par­tic­i­pants’ sug­ges­tions. We will spend all day March 14th read­ing your ques­tions and com­ments and answer­ing them, but above all we want to facil­i­tate a broad con­ver­sa­tion where old and new friends and col­leagues con­nect and discuss.

On Twit­ter, every­one’s com­ments, thoughts, ques­tions can be tracked using hash-tag: #sbm14. Book co-author Alvaro Fer­nan­dez will live-tweet all day long, and we’ll announce oth­er blog­gers and Twit­ter­ers who’ll also participate.

On Face­book’s SharpBrains.com Page, we will cre­ate a dis­cus­sion thread at the begin­ning of the day and use it as the forum to dis­cuss all day long.

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How Do I Get the Book?

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Who Can Par­tic­i­pate in the Discussion?

Every­one with a brain!

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How Do I Get Updates From Now until March 14th?

To get updates on details, dis­cus­sion guide­lines and resources, how to use Twit­ter and Face­book, etc. you can:

• Sub­scribe to our free e‑Newletter, to receive peri­od­ic updates via email
• And, of course, Fol­low us via Twit­ter and Face­book!

We hope you can join us on March 14th!