Your Best Brain

by John J. Medina

Audiobook (2014): Superb series bringing the listener up to speed on the latest in neuroscience research and the evolutionary hypotheses explaining why the human brain has formed the way it has. Dr. Medina is extremely knowledgeable and relates the research easily to socio-cultural manifestations in our lives.

The series ends with practical advice on how to improve the executive function of our brain, which are facts that we commonly see reference about exercise, food, and sleep. However, the path from understanding how the brain evolved to execute behaviors conducive to continuation of our species, through understanding the clinical benefits of mindfulness meditation, up to the description of why simple changes can have tremendous effects, was well worth the journey.

The most useful aspect of this series is the understanding the principles of brain function, so that you can decide how to apply it to your own personal behaviors and better understand the impacts you have on others in your social interactions.