‘The Brain’s Way of Healing is a stunner — the sort of book you want to read several times, not because it is difficult to understand, but because it opens up so many novel and startling avenues into our potential to heal. Norman Doidge enthrals us with a rich combination of lucidly explained brain research and pioneering … approaches to recovery. With an eloquence reminiscent of Oliver Sacks, Doidge bolsters the latest advances in brain science with a series of extraordinary case histories of people for whom all hope seemed to be lost, but who healed as a result of great personal courage, and by changing the ways their bodies and brains processed sensations and movement. This hopeful book demonstrates that a variety of sensory inputs — light, sound, electricity, vibration, movement, and thought — can awaken the brain’s attention processors, and thereby allow even the most afflicted to (re)gain ownership of their lives.’
Dr Bessel van der Kolk, author of The Body Keeps the Score
‘Stunning … The Brain’s Way of Healing is another ground breaking book by Norman Doidge … His style keeps you going into the deep dark secrets? of how the brain works … his reframing of remarkable treatments? that I had categorised as gimmicky left me fascinated and humbled. He?brings a whole new level of insight into the body, brain, mind connection ?that will impact any reader.’
Dr John J. Ratey, Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry at? Harvard Medical School, and author of Driven to Distraction
‘Doidge’s book is filled with compelling stories about radical improvements in conditions often deemed hopeless. It points to a future of remarkable and unprecedented brain healing.’
Dr Martha Herbert, PhD, author of The Autism Revolution
‘[A] tour de force. In one of the most riveting books on the human brain and its mystery powers ever written, Doidge addresses the role of alternative medical therapies to reset and re-sync the dynamic patterns of ‘energy’ in our brain, with the ability to restore relatively normal health to those whose fate seems hopeless … These are people that traditional medicine all but abandoned as hopeless, untreatable. But they were rescued … It’s possible to start anywhere in the book and be mesmerised.’
Judith E. Glaser, chairman of the Creating WE Institute, and author of Conversational Intelligence: How Great Leaders Build Trust and Get Extraordinary Results
‘This is a book of miracles. Fascinating … An absorbing compendium of unlikely recoveries from physical and mental ailments offers evidence that the brain can heal.’
Lisa Appignanesi, The Guardian
‘Doidge explains the processes of the brain and body in a clear and understandable way, even to those of us who previously couldn’t distinguish a hippocampus from a hippopotamus. He tells of patients who hobble into labs and medical offices on canes and leave without them after their first visit. His enthusiasm for these recoveries is no less than that of a faith healer who has just brought sight to the blind … For someone who suffers — or knows someone who suffers — from an injury or illness related to the brain, both this book as well as Doidge’s previous will provide information — and perhaps hope — that the brain can heal itself.’
Seattle Times
‘An exciting overview of powerful new neuroscience theories that connect mind, body, and soul … Brain science offers all kinds of useful techniques to care for our infinitely complex selves. A Michelin Guide to this hopeful new trove of knowledge and insight.’
Boston Globe
‘Doidge is persuasive and curious as a writer, and rigorous as a thinker, though what he writes about is at the edge of our current understanding of mind and body.’
Tim Adams, The Observer
‘[Doidge] writes in an urgent, enthusiastic voice … He couples anecdote with science: describing patients and scientists with respect and warmth, explaining complex neuroscientific theories clearly and in great detail.’
The Australian
‘A vivid, robust and optimistic read … an essential addition to our growing understanding of the mind-brain-body connection. Doidge argues quite convincingly that when the brain is damaged or incompletely formed, whether from stroke, multiple sclerosis, traumatic brain injury, autism, ADHD or a host of other conditions, it's entirely possible to 'rewire' the circuits by training a different part of the brain to take over the task … Doidge has an uncanny knack for addressing questions just as they arise in the reader's mind … An award-winning literary writer and journalist as well as a psychiatrist, Doidge has achieved a fine blend here between scientific substance and literary style. While never dumbing down the science, he's positively elegant in his crystalline explanations of brain science for a lay audience.’
Toronto Star
‘Beautifully written … inspiring … By merging scientific information into timeless and fascinating personal stories, Doidge makes his discoveries extremely readable … In some cases, the results are completely astounding and unexpected …The Brain's Way of Healing grabs onto the reader at once and compels them to keep reading. This is an important and encouraging book.’
Vancouver Sun
‘Exhilarating science … In an era of ever-increasing medicalisation of the human mind, and the medication of it, the appeal of neuroplasticity outlined by Doidge is addictive. It is inspiring, page-turning stuff.’
Sunday Times
‘[E]xplores the idea of ‘using the body to treat the brain’ by surveying specialists and patients who’ve personally experienced the power of neuroplasticity … Each new therapy gives reason for hope.’
Publishers Weekly
‘Doidge uses … clinical accounts to illustrate what he claims are three fundamental processes that can be tapped to unleash the brain's healing capacity … A lively, anecdotal account of potential new directions that may point the way to major therapeutic breakthroughs.’
Kirkus Reviews
‘This work will appeal strongly to those who are looking for healing or who know someone with a brain injury, but it will also have strong appeal to those who are curious about the mind and how it functions.’
Eric D. Albright, Library Journal
‘Experiences of patients, work of clinicians, and stories about scientists form the core of Doidge's claims about the success of neuroplastic healing for a multitude of brain disorders … Mingling alternative medicine, current concepts of neuroscience, and anecdotes, Doidge provides people with plenty to think about.’
Tony Miksanek, Booklist
‘A dazzling collection of stories about neuroplasticity and the ever-changing brain … cutting-edge treatments that use the body’s senses to access, and improve, neurological functioning. In friendly vignettes reminiscent of Oliver Sacks’ case studies, Doidge chronicles the heroic efforts of patients with a wide variety of apparently intractable ailments, from chronic pain to multiple sclerosis … Doidge truly takes a holistic approach to his subjects, getting to know them and their doctors and sharing every detail with his readers … Each of Doidge’s examples suggests tangible treatment ideas for patients who may have thought they were out of options. Doidge’s penchant for considering unconventional approaches to healing offers hope for all.’
Sheila M. Trask, BookPage
‘Reviewers hailed Norman Doidge’s 2007 The Brain That Changes Itself as a book that showed its author’s rare talent to explain science to the rest of us: “You don't have to be a brain surgeon to read it — just a person with a curious mind.” Now the physician who was then paired with Oliver Sacks and Stephen Jay Gould returns with a captivating new tome about neuroplasticity, the brain’s astonishing capacity to repair itself after injury or illness. Dr Doidge’s clear descriptions of exciting breakthrough brain research will give readers a heartening new sense of the dynamism of the body we live with daily.’
Barnes and Noble
‘Doidge is the master of explaining how the brain’s plasticity can be harnessed to improve the symptoms of brain-related disorders, ranging from stroke to autism.’
The Independent
‘In his new book, Doidge again scouts the frontiers of neuroplasticity to bring tidings of the next-generation therapies that promise to stimulate and harness the brain's regenerative capacity — Doidge is an ardent herald of the new science.’
The Saturday Paper
‘[E]xplores the phenomenon of neuroplasticity — the discovery that the brain can change its own structure and function in response to mental experience. This is regarded as the most important change in our understanding of the brain and mind since the beginning of modern science … Doidge shows how the amazing process of neuroplastic healing really works.’
Phil Brown, Adelaide Advertiser
‘What surprised me is how enthralled I was as I devoured the stories of incredible recoveries in this illuminating book, all attributable to different expressions of energy-based medicine … Doidge describes amazing recoveries from what most of us would think of as catastrophic conditions.’
Valerie Carpenter, The Vestibule Center for Sound Living
