Product Description

The Little Book of Big Stuff About the Brain is the users, manual that your brain didn t come with. What it is, how it works, what it looks like, where it came from it s all here in this light-hearted and easy-to-read little book that will guarantee that you will never think about your own thinking in quite the same way ever again. Whatever role you have in life, every action you undertake, every thought you entertain, every memory you hold, every hang up you possess, every quirk, foible, idiosyncrasy and knack, it s all the result of chemistry and electricity working across a network of squidgy organic matter that you have helped shape throughout your life. So, enjoy this little book about your amazing brain, but remember, as someone once said, If our brains were simple enough to understand them, we would be too simple to understand them .

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #98389 in Books
• Published on: 2008-04-03
• Formats: Abridged, Audiobook, Box set, Illustrated, Large Print
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 188 pages

Review
This is a brilliant book which is essential reading for all teachers and parents. It would be an excellent book to leave for parents to browse through in the school reception area. The sections on learning are excellent, but I would particularly recommend the section on behaviour to all teachers, mentors and support workers. This is another inspiring addition to a great series which brings learning down to a level of enjoyment and practical understanding. --John T Morris BA,MEd, MPhil,DipPsych,CertEd, Director, Teifi Training Education Consultants

Dr Andrew Curran is a practising paediatric neurologist in Liverpool who is also committed to using his extraordinary knowledge of the workings of the human brain to make a difference in the educational experience of all young people. Ian Gilbert, founder of Independent Thinking has been working to bring the best out of young people and those who work with them, focusing on areas including thinking, learning, motivation and creativity. This little book is a very readable guide to how the brain has developed, how it works and the implications this has for everyday situations as well as for more formal learning. It is amusingly illustrated and uses many instantly recognizable examples to bring these complex concepts to life. I would strongly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in knowing more about how their brain actually does what it does, or wants to explain some of these concepts to students in an entertaining and imaginative format. --Mary Mountstephen MA (SEN), Associate Editor, SEN Magazine

The true story of our amazing brain! What a delightful book, with big enough writing and pictures that offers an simple approach to a complicated subject. Our knowledge of the brain is a work in progress, an endless adventure of discovery.It will excite your interest and inspire you to learn more. Sharing your learning and your approaches to teaching with a broader knowledge will help you understand how a calm brain that is having fun will learn best. Fear, stress and worry only shut down the higher thinking and control centres of the brain with consequent results to teaching and learning. We will certainly be adding this to our A Quiet Place reading list!Without a doubt all educators should not only enjoy reading this book but also find in it essential information for the teaching and learning process. It is only when we begin to understand how that extraordinary organ the brain functions that we will we be able begin to make proper use of its abilities thus assisting pupils and students to begin their lifetimes journey of self knowledge. I can only recommend all who are involved in education for any age or ability to appreciate this little book for helping us begin to set out on our journey with a wealth of vital information, a must for a positive and successful adventure on this planet. --Penelope Moon CEO A Quiet Place Ltd

The true story of our amazing brain! What a delightful book, with big enough writing and pictures that offers an simple approach to a complicated subject. Our knowledge of the brain is a work in progress, an endless adventure of discovery.It will excite your interest and inspire you to learn more. Sharing your learning and your approaches to teaching with a broader knowledge will help you understand how a calm brain that is having fun will learn best. Fear, stress and worry only shut down the higher thinking and control centres of the brain with consequent results to teaching and learning. We will certainly be adding this to our A Quiet Place reading list!Without a doubt all educators should not only enjoy reading this book but also find in it essential information for the teaching and learning process. It is only when we begin to understand how that extraordinary organ the brain functions that we will we be able begin to make proper use of its abilities thus assisting pupils and students to begin their lifetimes journey of self knowledge. I can only recommend all who are involved in education for any age or ability to appreciate this little book for helping us begin to set out on our journey with a wealth of vital information, a must for a positive and successful adventure on this planet. --Penelope Moon CEO A Quiet Place Ltd

About the Author
Dr Andrew Curran is a practising paediatric neurologist in Liverpool who is also committed to using his extraordinary knowledge of the workings of the human brain to make a difference in the educational experience of all young people. He s involved with Manchester University s Department of Education in developing research ideas looking at the use of emotional literacy in our classrooms.

Customer Reviews

Simplicity from complexity
This is an excellent book that takes an extremely complex subject making it accessible and entertaining without over-simplification - a delicate balance but one the author has achieved.
Most importantly of all, Andrew Curran is able to offer more than science: in addition to sharing his wonder at what nature has evolved he offers an understanding of the effects of nuture (good and otherwise) and how this programming can be overwritten where it does not serve us.
As we learn we are laying down templates in the brain. This learning, its quality and consequences for our personal experience, is driven by our emotional or 'limbic' brain. Curran has a vitally important message for teachers, managers and leaders in all walks of life about how we learn and how to create the best possible conditions for learning. This book builds a fascinating bridge between neuroscience and human experience.

essential reading for teachers
Anyone interested in learning will appreciate this excellent book but it is for teachers of the young that it is especially relevant. Curran explains the mechanisms whereby the brain develops and learns. In doing so he lends support to the tradition of humanistic educators such as Carl Rogers and Maslow. He describes how learning depends on changes in brain chemistry which originate in regions of the brain concerned with emotional rather than logical functions. Any method of teaching which fails to reach the students' emotions is therefore likely to be ineffective. Too often the emotion that teachers try to create is fear (of failure or punishment) - the dangers of this are clearly elaborated.

My past attempts to understand the architecture and functioning of the brain have floundered. This book has made me feel much happier with the subject - thanks mainly to the clarity of the writing but also to the dreadfulness of his many sketches! I'm sure that 'proper' scientific illustrations would have put me off by reminding me of my own ignorance- The author's (delightfully dreadful) artwork helped put this reader at his ease.