Penguin Books Australia

A powerful, personal guide to the history and future of neuroscience, from one of the field's leading researchers

A New York Times and BusinessWeek bestseller.

Most of us have no idea what's really going on inside our heads. Yet brain scientists have uncovered details every business leader, parent, and teacher should know—like that physical activity boosts your brain power.

How do we learn? What exactly do sleep and stress do to our brains? Why is multi-tasking a myth? Why is it so easy to forget—and...

Is science the only path to knowledge?

In this sparkling and provocative book Jonah Lehrer, author of The Decisive Moment , explains that when it comes to understanding the brain, art got there first.  Taking a group of celebrated writers, painters and composers, Lehrer shows us how artists have discovered truths about the human mind - real, tangible truths - that science is only now rediscovering...

We've all seen the happiness in the face of a child while playing in the schoolyard. Or the blissful abandon of a golden retriever racing with glee across a lawn. This is the joy of play. By definition, play is purposeless and all-consuming. And, most important, it's fun.

An astonishing new scientific discovery called neuroplasticity is overthrowing the centuries-old notion that the adult human brain is fixed and unchanging. It is, instead, able to change its own structure and function, even into old age.

Psychiatrist and rersearcher Norman Doidge, M.D., travelled around the United States to meet the brilliant scientists championing neuroplasticity, and the people whose...

In this bold and groundbreaking book, renowned neuroscientist Sebastian Seung reveals the secrets of the human brain. 

From a renowned neuroscientist and bestselling author comes a book that shows readers how to improve and tone the brain.

  A compelling investigation into one of our most coveted ideals, examining philosophical and religious wisdom through the lens of modern brain science.

' Quiet is a startling, important and readable page-turner that will make quiet people see themselves in a whole new light.'
Naomi Wolf , author of The Beauty Myth

'Once in a blue moon, a book comes along that gives us startling new insights. Quiet is that book: part page-turner, part cutting-edge science, it will change the way you see yourself, other people, and the world.'
Adam Grant, the Wharton...

Why is there more chance we'll believe something if it's in a bold type face?
Why are judges more likely to deny parole before lunch?
Why do we assume a good-looking person will be more competent?

'A brilliant, lucid insight into the profound implications of modern biological thinking . . . With this book Matt Ridley establishes himself as one of the finest of contemporary science writers' – Bryan Appleyard