The following are several books that I’ve found to be particularly interesting, informative, and/or entertaining. I’ll be updating this section regularly.
The Female Brain by Louann Brizendine
This is a fascinating look at how the structure of the female brain and hormonal influences – month over month, year over year – determine how women think, act, feel, and what they value. The author, a neuropsychiatrist and neurobiologist, lays out the material in highly conversational, easy-to-read way. The reader moves through different stages of a woman’s life in each chapter: “The Birth of the Female Brain”, “Teen Girl Brain”, “The Mommy Brain”, and “The Mature Female Brain”. There are also chapters on sex, love, trust, hormone therapy, post-partum depression, and sexual orientation.
Louann Brizendine has just released a follow-up book – “The Male Brain” – which I hope will be just as informative and enjoyable to read as The Female Brain.
Driven to Distraction: Recognizing And Coping With Attention Deficit Disorder From Childhood Through Adulthood by Edward M. Hallowell and John J. Ratey
A sense of underachievement, the frequent search for high stimulation, an intolerance for boredom, chronic procrastination, impatience, impulsiveness, restlessness, a tendency toward addictive behaviour – these are some of the suggested diagnostic criteria for Attention Deficit Disorder in Adults. ‘Driven To Distraction’ is a highly readable, informative book for anyone who suspects they might have ADD – or who has been diagnosed with ADD. It would also be invaluable to anyone parenting, living with, or working along side of someone with ADD. Both authors have ADD, having been diagnosed as adults – one of the many myths about ADD which they address: ADD is not for children only. This book is written in a very positive light, providing practical behavioural approaches to manage ADD.
Shadow Syndromes: The Mild Forms of Major Mental Disorders That Sabotage Us by John J. Ratey
To be diagnosed with a mental disorder or illness, an individual needs to meet a certain threshold of symptoms or criteria. This book addresses the milder cases of disorders – sub-clinical cases where an individual only meets a few of the criteria. This is an anecdotal look at what ‘mild’ depression, ADD, anxiety, obsessive compulsive behaviour (just to name a few) can appear as, and what people can do about it. Caution: a review on amazon.com comments that Freud once said that nobody is “normal,” and after reading Shadow Syndromes, you may well be convinced of that. I agree!
The Sexual Paradox by Susan Pinker
Susan Pinker, a psychologist and a regular columnist in the Careers section of the Globe and Mail, writes about how learning and behavioural patterns between boys and girls evolves into success and happiness differences between men and women in the workforce. She compares and discusses (in a balanced, non-judgemental way) what she calls the opposites: “fragile boys who later succeed” versus “high-achieving women who opt out or plateau in their career”. This is a must-read for any woman who has wondered about how she, her values, her skills, and her mind-set, fits into what is still more or less a male dominated working world. It is a must-read for anyone (female or male) who wonders how to attract and retain women in the workforce.
Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert
This is an entertaining, informative book on how we can make ourselves happy – or make ourselves miserable. We envision the future with our imaginations, and fill in holes in our memory (the holes are more prevalent than you think) with our imaginations. Our mistake, as Dr. Gilbert tells us, is that we unthinkingly treat what we imagine as though it is an accurate representation of the facts. In other words, we don’t recall the past as accurately as it happened and certainly don’t predict the future any better. Both mistakes impact our happiness, and being aware of this, we can do a lot to improve our outlook on life.
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