This book is just PACKED with serious implications about a number of topics. Let's just say that, if this guy is on the right track with his ideas about how paying conscious attention to specific thoughts, stimuli, etc., can actually affect the physical structure and circuitry of the brain, there are some tremendously important conclusions to be drawn about how the mind, consciousness, and the brain (and even the physical world outside the body) are related. Not to mention the conclusions that can be drawn about materialistic and existentialist philosophy! I'm not a huge fan of his dwelling on Buddhist philosophy-- it's relevant and clearly pushed him to explore the topic, but it doesn't add a lot to his theory. Not particularly well-written (a bit hard to follow the thread of his ideas, possibly because I took a 9-month break from reading it when I got to the middle....), and I would really like to see some current research on the topic, but this book was VERY much worth reading.

Even OCD can be changed by controlling our thoughts. WHen you have "intent" to focus on one thing, that causes the brain to activate some areas, and deactivate other areas, just from the intent.
Practical Application - This can explain why NLP processes work so well with ADHD. When we create an instant habit, we are building a huge intention that goes on working long after we finish the technique. Schwartz says it takes 3 to 4 weeks to create a habit but this is not true with NLP. I think it is because of hte futurepacing in our mind through months and years that causes allows NLP to create an instant habit.

One of the most intriguing books I’ve ever read

Great book. Didnt give it 5 stars for 2 reasons 1. it is unnecessarily cerebral and difficult to get through. Author is too wordy and wont connect to most people and even some with a general understanding of psychology or science. It's that nerdy. 2. It lacked wholeness. For something with such a scientific tone it ended up as being nearly stream of conciousness. The original argument and original study never came full circle. Despite these things, it was right up MY alley. Simply, I am PERSONALLY interested in this stuff. It also supported things I have long suspected as true, it touched on other topics that interest me and as a result steered me into the next direction. The most important thing was that it made me think, and that I can take away something from it, and it was the catalyst to my next pursuit. To be able to say that about any experience, book, movie, song, etc. is rare in a lifetime. 5 stars on that front, i just wish the author would have made it a little more universally readable.

First of all, neuroplasticity is just fun to say. It makes you sound all educated when you drop it in a conversation. But the truth of the matter is that Jeffrey Schwartz is able to explain a complicated subject to the common folk and teach us to utilize the benefits of science. So, where is your mind???? Find that out and you hold the keys to the kingdom. The answer is actually quite simple.

Massively important book.

This took me a little over one week to listen to and read this last time I worked through this book; in reality, I've started reading and listening to this work many times over the past years, spanning numerous months of actually listening and reading. I found this to be fascinating, hard to genuinely understand at times, and ultimately enlightening. I'll return to this numerous times, I'm certain. If you are willing to struggle with the concepts and possibly return numerous times to clarify confusion, this may engage you, too. I'm astounded by what we know about the brain and our minds, and I'm intrigued even more by the questions and the unknown. As I wrote notes over circularly repeated chapters leading to arriving at the last page, I often recalled Ian Stewart's words, "If our brains were simple enough for us to understand them, we'd be so simple that we couldn't." Read this carefully and enjoy the challenge.

Badly written, much like my original review. I'm changing it b/c the comments reflect that I did not explain myself well AT ALL. Firstly, I like these authors usually. Secondly, I do believe strongly in neuroplasticity. I work in TBI (traumatic brain injury) and trauma - if I didn't believe in neuroplasticity, I'd have to change fields. Somehow I didn't make that clear. My issue with this book is not that I don't somehow "believe in" neuroplasticity, but that I do not think the authors were very clear nor did they do anyone a service by adding a bunch of stuff about "mental force" in the early 2000s when they wrote/published this. Everything below is exactly as it was originally (in 2010, when I joined GR, years after reading this book, all of which is out of date now...) except that I've added some underlining, italics, bold & the note at the end. I have tried to pretend it's 2002 as I'm adding these things until the note:

To the author "mental force" (some of you may have heard this same idea called "soul" or "mind" or "free will" or countless other things people create when we haven't figured it out just yet) is bigger than the possibilities created by the plasticity of our wonderful brains.

The authors ignore the very plasticity they mention in their title in favor of their term "mental force."

There is power in exercising our brains. When we think -- positively or negatively, when we act purposefully or automatically, when we USE our brains, they do -- in fact -- change (add: This is called neuroplasticity or just plain old plasticity.) Ask anyone who has ever had any sort of brain injury. Do it repeatedly and you can even learn things! You can feel differently by thinking differently -- ask your favorite cognitive psychologist. This is nothing new. It's wrapped up in a bow w/ some added nonsense filling the package, but [that added nonsense] is just plain wrong. n  I believe that the actual process works, but I don't believe for a minute that the authors explain why.n

NB: I read this book when it was released in the early aughts. It is now 2020, and maybe I should just delete this entire review and the book from my shelves, but I'd rather note that this book is out of date, was written early in the hoopla of neuroplasticity long before now, and that reading it is probably not of value to anyone who wants to be up-to-date or even well-informed on neuroplasticity. Always check the dates on science books - especially popular ones, because the books that are cutting edge right now are not going to be cutting edge (and may be unsupported) in just a few years.

After reading this book, your opinion about talent and brain will definitely change (even if you already have some information). Scientific and non-ambiguous storyline. “we cannot know what really happens, but only what we observe to happen.”

The Mind and The Brain is a book that discusses how those two are separate. It talks how The Mind is more then chemical reactions in The Brain, and how the science grew to the the understanding of this.
Neuroplasticity is defined as an ability of neurons to create new links between nerves, which can happen with the use of mental force. Author places a substantial importance on attention, for without it, our successes would be much smaller.
Dr. Schwartz talks about his technique for treating people with OCD, and how similar techniques, developed by other like-minded people, turned up to have a great track record in treating people that suffered a stroke, or people with dyslexia, or depression.
More than talking about those techniques, Schwartz talks about how people got to those ideas, he takes us on a ride through the history of neuroscientific science, it's scientific research, and introduces us to quantum physics.

I think this book is beautiful.

Zoran's recommended reading SEAUS3 Segment 2