** AUTHOR TOUR CONFIRMED **

LONDON: 17 & 18 MARCH 2009     DUBLIN: 19 & 20 MARCH 2009
 

 “A remarkable and hopeful portrait of the endless adaptability of the

human brain”    Oliver Sacks
 

“The Brain That ChangesItself  by Norman Doidge shows us that at last neuroscience has caught up with what mystics and meditation have taught for centuries — the brain is infinitely changeable.  Forget mechanics: the brain is not a machine, nor is it a computer made of meat.  This book is a wonderful and engaging way of re-imagining what kind of creatures we are”
                                                            Jeanette Winterson, The Guardian
 

NORMAN DOIDGE will be presenting two public lectures in London:

§      The London School of Economics, 17 March 2009, 6.30pm

§      Royal Society of Arts, 18 March 2009, 6.00pm
 
The discovery that our thoughts and experience can change the structure and the function of our brains – even in to old age – is the most important breakthrough in four centuries of our understanding of the way the human brain functions.  Rather than being ‘hardwired’ or ‘mechanical’, as was previously thought, the brain is actually far more malleable – scientists have discovered if certain “parts” of the brain fail, then other parts could sometimes take over.  In his revolutionary book, THE BRAIN THAT CHANGES ITSELF, bestselling author Norman Doidge introduces both the brilliant scientists championing this new science of neuroplasticity (¹) - and the astonishing progress of the people whose lives they have transformed.  
 
Introducing principles we can all use, as well as a riveting collection of case histories – stroke patients cured, a woman with half a brain that rewired itself to work as a whole, learning and emotional disorders overcome, IQs raised, and aging brains rejuvenated – The Brain That Changes Itself has “implications for all human beings, not to mention human culture, human learning and human history.” (²)                            
 
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
 
Norman Doidge, MD., is a psychiatrist, psychoanalyst and researcher on the faculty at the Columbia University Centre for Psychoanalytic Training and Research in New York
and the University of Toronto’s department of psychiatry. He is also an author, essayist
and poet. He is a four-time recipient of Canada’s National Magazine Gold Award. He
divides his time between Toronto and New York.
 
EVENT DETAILS:  LONDON
 
§      London School of Economics, Tuesday 17 March, 6.30pm-8pm
     “The Brain That Changes Itself: The Neuroplasticity Revolution and its implications”
 
Address:  LSE, Sheikh Zayed Theatre, New Academic Building, LSE, Houghton St,   London, WC2A 2AE
 
This event is free and open to all with no ticket required. Entry is on a first come, first served basis. For more information, email events@lse.ac.uk or phone 020 7955 6043
 
§      Royal Society of Arts, Wednesday 18 March, 6.00pm-7.30pm
Film, presentation by Norman Doidge and audience Q & A
 
Address: 8 John Adam Street, London WC2N 6EZ
 
Tickets are free.  For further information, visit www.theRSA.org/events where you can go to ‘Book Now’ to register your details and reserve a space. 
 
EVENT DETAILS:  DUBLIN
 
§      DUBLIN, Trinity College Institute of NeuroScience
Lloyd Building Room 11, Thursday 19 March, 6.00pm-7-30pm
 
This event is free and open to all with no ticket required. Entry is on a first come, first served basis.
For more information, contact John Kerins, Neuron Learning Ltd., www.neuronlearning.eu, email:john@neuron.ie, tel + 353 (0) 21 455 4449
 
§      DUBLIN, Trinity College Institute of NeuroScience
Lloyd Building Room 11, Friday 20 March, 11:30am-1pm
 
This event is free and is by invitation. If you would like an invitation please contact.
For more information, contact John Kerins, Neuron Learning Ltd., www.neuronlearning.eu, email:john@neuron.ie, tel + 353 (0) 21 455 4449
 
 
 
WHAT THE PRESS HAS SAID…
 
 “Brilliant”   The Times
 
“This is the type of thing a reviewer hesitates to say, but . . . you really should read this book. Why? Not just because of the way Norman Doidge blends science with  the human stories behind it but because this remarkable work will lead most of us to see ourselves in a new light”                 Mail on Sunday (5 star review)
 
 “Norman Doidge has written a fascinating, highly readable account of the new brain science, or neuroscience, and its initial impact on learning, memory and mental illness”
Literary Review
 
 “The Power of positive thinking finally gains scientific credibility. Mind-bending, miracle-making, reality busting stuff …straddles the gap between science and self-help.”
 The New York Times
 
 “Doidge provides a history of the research in this growing field, highlighting scientists at the edge of groundbreaking discoveries and telling fascinating stories of people who have benefited.”                            Psychology Today
 
 “A panoramic examination of plasticity's profound implications. Injured or dysfunctional cells and circuits can indeed be regenerated and rewired; the location of a given function can, astonishingly, move from one place to another. The body's lifespan may not have to outpace its mental lifespan...Everything that you can see happen in a young brain can happen in an older brain.  Deterioration can be reversed by 20 to 30 years.”
Toronto Daily Star
 
 “Doidge turns everything we thought we knew about the brain upside down.”                                                                     Publishers Weekly
 
 “Readers will want to read entire sections aloud and pass the book on…Links scientific experimentation with personal triumph in a way that inspires awe.”
Washington Post
 
 “Lucid and absolutely fascinating...engaging, educational and riveting. It satisfies, in equal measure, the mind and the heart. Doidge is able to explain current research in neuroscience with clarity and thoroughness. He presents the ordeals of the patients about whom he writes - people born with parts of their brains missing, people with learning disabilities, people recovering from strokes - with grace and vividness. In the best medical narratives—and the works of Doidge... join that fraternity—the narrow bridge between body and soul is traversed with courage and eloquence.”   
Chicago Tribune