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Medical school professors who have a sense of history will sometimes tell their students that half of what they are learning is wrong—but that we don't yet know which half that will turn out to be. Medical knowledge has been evolving and changing for a long time, whether or not its teachers knew it (or would admit it). In the fourth century BCE, Aristotle thought that the seat of intelligence was in the heart. The blood carried the hot emotions, and the role of the brain was to cool it. Human brains cooled more than smaller animal brains did, making humans more rational. That's not the way we think the brain works today.

Now, fast-forward almost up to the present. As a medical student, I recall reading an old article on the neuroanatomical basis of emotion and memory. This article has stood the test of time: it laid the foundation upon which our current understanding of this area is based. I was shocked, however, to find a sentence in it which would not have made it past the scientific reviewers even in my school days- saying, in effect, that “We don't know what this part of the brain does, but since it's bigger in men than in women we assume it must have something to do with sex.”

If all this isn't enough of a challenge, there's also the problem of how fast new information accumulates. When I was in college many years ago, one of my chemistry professors described a study which had been done to look at the production of new information in the field. It concluded that if someone spent forty hours a week doing nothing but reading the new scientific literature as it was published, by the end of the year she would be months behind! Today's diligent scientist would undoubtedly fare even worse.

We’re bombarded all the time with news of breakthroughs and new theories about how to improve our health. Unfortunately, many of these result in conflicting advice. Is hormone replacement therapy good or bad? What about caffeine? Should I take supplements, or not? Eat butter or margarine? How much red wine should I drink with my fish? Is it safe to eat the apples yet? Will my cell phone give me brain cancer?

You don't have to go to medical school and read ponderous scientific journals all day to find a path through this heap of information. In this book, Sondra Kornblatt will guide you through it. She explains how the brain is put together, how it works, and how it influences many aspects of your life. You’ll learn how it produces moods and emotions and how hormones affect it. You’ll gain practical tips about supporting your brain: how to feed it, rest it, amuse it, help it repair itself, and keep it healthy. You’ll learn about sleep, exercise, and diet; vitamins, supplements, and toxins; meditation and clever tricks for remembering things; and even the benefits of “yawn attacks.”You’ll have some laughs—and that is also good for your brain.

This book is well-researched and presents current brain science in a comprehensible way. The information here is practical and comes from both Western medical and alternative viewpoints. You don't have to be a doctor or neuroscientist to benefit from it. In thirty years as a neurologist, I’ve seen women of all ages who are concerned about their brain health. This book is a wonderful tool for anyone who wants to understand how to keep her brain happy and functioning at its peak for a very long time.

Jean Millican, MD

Seattle, Washington