iBrain: Surviving the Technological Alteration of the Modern Mind

Shaped by the era of Google and limitless access to news and information, the brains of your coworkers, your children, and your competition are remapping, retooling, and evolving. Are you keeping up?

Dr. Gary Small, one of America's leading neuroscientists and experts on brain function and behavior, explores how technology's unstoppable march forward has altered the way young minds develop, function, and interpret information. iBrain reveals a new evolution catalyzed by technological advancement and its future implications: What are the professional, social, and political impacts of this new brain evolution? How must you adapt and at what price? iBrain can help us avoid the potential drawbacks—add, increased social isolation, Internet addiction, and so on—while offering the tools and strategies needed to bridge the brain gap, enabling us to compete and thrive in the age of high-tech immersion.

Their insights are extraordinary, their behaviors unusual. Their brains—shaped by the era of microprocessors, access to limitless information, and 24-hour news and communication—are remapping, retooling, and evolving. They're not superhuman. They're your twenty-something coworkers, your children, and your competition. Are you keeping up?

In iBrain, Dr. Gary Small, one of America's leading neuroscientists and experts on brain function and behavior, explores how technology's unstoppable march forward has altered the way young minds develop, function, and interpret information. iBrain reveals a new evolution catalyzed by technological advancement and its future implications: Where do you fit in on the evolutionary chain? What are the professional, social, and political impacts of this new brain evolution? How must you adapt and at what price?

While high-tech immersion can accelerate learning and boost creativity, it also has its glitches, among them the meteoric rise in ADD diagnoses, increased social isolation, and Internet addiction. To compete and thrive in the age of brain evolution, and to avoid these potential drawbacks, we must adapt, and iBrain—with its Technology Toolkit—equips all of us with the tools and strategies needed to close the brain gap.

Library Journal

According to Vorgan (The Memory Bible ) and Small, one of America's leading neuroscientists, digital technology has altered the neural circuitry in human brains and triggered an evolutionary process in just one generation. The authors identify the inherent problems and challenges this poses, providing a technology toolkit filled with strategies to preserve one's humanity and keep up with the latest technology. They make their case based on abundant research in the areas of health, psychology, pediatrics, education, business, and technology. Their exercises include developing face-to-face communication skills as well as mastering electronic games. A compelling as well as timely read, this is highly recommended for all libraries.

Dr. Gary Small is director of the UCLA Memory and Aging Center at the university's Semel Institute for Neuroscience & Human Behavior. He is also professor of psychiatry at UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine. His research, supported by the National Institutes of Health, has made headlines in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and USA Today. Scientific American magazine named him one of the world's leading innovators in science and technology. Dr. Small lectures throughout the world and frequently appears on Today, Good Morning America, PBS, and CNN. He has written five books, including the New York Times bestseller The Memory Bible.