Wrapping Our Brains Around…The Brain

This Week’s Book = Your Brain: A User’s Guide (by National Geographic)

Ok, I’m back to reading! I’ll confess that I always find it challenging to pick up work-related and/or psychology-focused books after the holiday season. For some reason my brain just wants to linger in its relaxed, think-about-nothing-serious kind of state and I tend towards fun, easy to read novel. But alas, today it is exactly one month post-Christmas, so it’s time to get back into the swing of reading. I chose to be nicer to myself though and ease myself in with a magazine as opposed to a book.

I’ll admit it…I’m not a fan of the fact that National Geographic recently shifted from its non-profit roots to being majority owned by 21st Century Fox. It annoys me to the point of contemplating a boycott…but then I see a National Geographic magazine on the newsstands and they just look so damn appealing. So here we are, talking about National Geographic’s Your Brain: A User’s Guide. This magazine, as the title advertises, teaches the readers about the brain. Readers will learn about the learning, perceptive, unconscious, emotional, and aging brain. Sprinkled throughout the magazine are bright and relevant pictures, sidebars with interesting stories, and 100 facts that you may not have known about the brain.

This may seem like a relatively lame choice for my first review of 2016 and, in a way, I would agree. For me (and any other professionals, I would assume), this magazine reminded me of information that I learned waaaaay back in my undergraduate program when we would study the brain in 100/200 level courses. That’s cool – I don’t shy away from reminders and it’s been a while since I’ve read about that sort of stuff. It’s probably not a huge surprise to hear that my favourite chapters (yes, this magazine is split into chapters) were on the Unconscious Brain and the Emotional Brain. In those chapters, you can learn about mapping emotions, positive and negative emotions, mental health, dreams, altered states, and the importance of sleep for our brain (among other things). My penchant for describing complex concepts in a simplistic, easy to read manner was definitely satisfied with this magazine. I would recommend it for anybody looking to learn more about the brain, particularly the emotional and unconscious sides. After all, an understanding of the brain can give you a good foundation of knowledge for when you are considering the ups and downs of life.

Interested in this magazine? Click here! It’s only available on shelves until 02/12/16.