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Summary of We Are Our Brains 

What’s inside

Find out all the keys to understanding the most mysterious organ in our bodies and learn how you can utilize it to its fullest potential.

You’ll learn

  • Whether our brains predetermine our choices in life
  • How mental diseases develop
  • About brain growth from birth to death
  • Why parenthood changes the brain

Table of content

  • Summary of We Are Our Brains
  • About the author
  • What is We Are Our Brains about?
  • Who should read We Are Our Brains
  • Topics in We Are Our Brains
first key point

Three pounds of 100 billion neurons determine our life

Listen the first key point
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The brain is the source of pain and pleasure, love and hate. It’s responsible not only for thinking, learning and mental abilities we need for work, this organ reacts to every tiny stimuli inside the body and in the outer world. The power it has over our lives is impressive. Yes, the brain controls us and defines our behavior. But what if something goes wrong? In the worst case scenarios it causes madness, attacks us with intrusive thoughts, ‘voices’ and memory loss.

Historically, the brain used to compare with ‘a book with all the answers’, a theater, a church organ and a machine. Reading We Are Our Brains, you will see that all of the statements make sense to some extent.
This gelatinous mass contains everything that this person thought and experienced, coded and recorded in structural and molecular changes to the synapses. ~ D. F. Swaab
D. F. Swaab does not just give us some boring theory, he explains who we are and why we are like that. We are our brains. By studying disorders, we learn how the brain normally functions. Unfortunately, we still can’t cure some of them, but now we are closer than ever before and have insights that in the nearest future will be tested for treatment of patients. And who knows, maybe soon we will cure aging.

Also - why do we believe in God? Is it beneficial for us or not? The author shares his own perspective and provides examples of two sides of the argument. In this summary you will find out whether gender and sexual orientation is predetermined or a question of choice, and you will look closer at the relationship with parents. Another crucial accent is made on autism, schizophrenia and dementia. Is there something positive about having a disorder? People with autism prove that you can have talents even though you are limited in social behavior.
Remember: love at the first sigh exists, however, this choice of partner isn’t random. The brain programs all our choices.
second key point

The baby actively participates in the labor and speeds up the process

We all come to this world in the same way. Most likely, your life has started in the hospital where your mother gave birth after hours of suffering. The moment her body felt that she couldn't provide her child with enough nutrition, the sugar level in the baby’s blood decreased. After that, the child and its mother's brains secret oxytocin to lighten the labor process.
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third key point

Are you a boy or girl? That’s what you decide in the womb

fourth key point

The brain usually makes up the information when it doesn't receive it and causes hallucinations

fifth key point

Twenty-one grams are lost in a person right after death: is it a soul?

sixth key point

Around 95% of Americans believe in God, but only 50% believe in hell

seventh key point

ApoE-ɛ4 gene can cause Alzheimer’s in later life

eighth key point

Conclusion

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What is We Are Our Brains about?

Who should read We Are Our Brains

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Do you find yourself staring at your computer for long minutes, unaware of time slipping by? Do you enter a room and suddenly cannot remember why you stepped in the first place? Is it a herculean task for you to sit through ten pages of a book without reaching for your phone? If yes, your focus needs some work and fast.

Actually, yours is not a unique situation. Many adults like you have issues concentrating on a given task. However, in this fast-paced world of ours, you can’t afford to be not focused at all times. Thankfully, this article comes to your rescue! With the tips and tricks from Hyperfocus by Chris Bailey, you will get in the top percent of folks who have mastered the art of concentration.