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Unthinkable
- An Extraordinary Journey Through the World's Strangest Brains
- Narrated by: Helen Thomson
- Length: 7 hrs and 19 mins
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Publisher's summary
A prize-winning journalist with a background in neuroscience, Helen Thomson spent years tracking down people who live with the world's most extraordinary neurological disorders - like a man who tried to break his back because his legs no longer felt like his own, and another who believed that he was dead for nine years. Not content to simply read about these cases on paper, Thomson reached out to 10 people with these afflictions, and they agreed to tell her their stories.
Leaving behind the scans and the clinical histories, Unthinkable ties the first-ever interviews with the people who have these rare conditions together with cutting-edge science. Through these incredible tales, Thomson casts a light on the chaos that the human mind can create. She shows us how these strange conditions hold the keys to unlocking the biggest mysteries of the human brain, and provide a deeper understanding of the human condition itself.
Combining careful observation with bold science and vibrant storytelling, Unthinkable takes us on a deep dive into the weirdest corners of our brain, and helps us to see our own creativity, our emotions, and our consciousness more clearly.
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A totally new perspective on life
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By: Steven Johnson
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The Gift of Adversity
- The Unexpected Benefits of Life's Difficulties, Setbacks, and Imperfections
- By: Norman E. Rosenthal M.D.
- Narrated by: Erik Synnestvedt
- Length: 10 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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The noted research psychiatrist explores how life's disappointments and difficulties provide us with the lessons we need to become better, bigger, and more resilient human beings. Adversity is an irreducible fact of life. Although we can and should learn from all experiences, both positive and negative best-selling author Dr. Norman E. Rosenthal believes that adversity is by far the best teacher most of us will ever encounter.
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Book ruined by the narrator
- By David C. on 12-07-22
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Brain Rules (Updated and Expanded)
- 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School
- By: John Medina
- Narrated by: John Medina
- Length: 8 hrs
- Unabridged
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In the New York Times bestseller Brain Rules, Dr. John Medina, a molecular biologist, shares his lifelong interest in how the brain sciences might influence the way we teach our children and the way we work. In each chapter, he describes a brain rule - what scientists know for sure about how our brains work - and then offers transformative ideas for our daily lives. Medina’s fascinating stories and infectious sense of humor breathe life into brain science.
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Dear Publishers . . .
- By Bekah on 04-06-17
By: John Medina
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How the Body Knows Its Mind
- The Surprising Power of the Physical Environment to Influence How You Think and Feel
- By: Sian Beilock
- Narrated by: Coleen Marlo
- Length: 6 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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An award-winning scientist offers a groundbreaking new understanding of the mind-body connection and its profound impact on everything from advertising to romance. The human body is not just a passive device carrying out messages sent by the brain but rather an integral part of how we think and make decisions.
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The New Science Of The Mind Body Connection!
- By Dianne on 04-06-15
By: Sian Beilock
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Before You Know It
- The Unconscious Reasons We Do What We Do
- By: John Bargh PhD
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 11 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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For more than three decades, Dr. John Bargh has been responsible for the revolutionary research into the unconscious mind, research that informed best sellers like Blink and Thinking Fast and Slow. Now, in what Dr. John Gottman said "will be the most important and exciting book in psychology that has been written in the past 20 years", Dr. Bargh takes us on an entertaining and enlightening tour of the forces that affect everyday behavior while transforming our understanding of ourselves in profound ways.
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Political jab
- By Brad on 10-20-17
By: John Bargh PhD
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The Last Best Cure
- My Quest to Awaken the Healing Parts of My Brain and Get Back My Body, My Joy, and My Life
- By: Donna Jackson Nakazawa
- Narrated by: Karen Saltus
- Length: 9 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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One day Donna Jackson Nakazawa found herself lying on the floor to recover from climbing the stairs. That’s when it hit her. She was managing the symptoms of the autoimmune disorders that had plagued her for a decade, but she had lost her joy. As a science journalist, she was curious to know what mind-body strategies might help her. As a wife and mother she was determined to get her life back. Over the course of one year, Nakazawa researches and tests a variety of therapies including meditation, yoga, and acupuncture to find out what works.
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Amazing book, but struggled with the voice.
- By erin norton on 01-05-18
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The Boy Who Loved Too Much
- A True Story of Pathological Friendliness
- By: Jennifer Latson
- Narrated by: Heather Auden
- Length: 10 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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What would it be like to see everyone as a friend? Twelve-year-old Eli D'Angelo has a genetic disorder that obliterates social inhibitions, making him irrepressibly friendly, indiscriminately trusting, and unconditionally loving toward everyone he meets. It also makes him enormously vulnerable. Eli lacks the innate skepticism that will help his peers navigate adolescence more safely - and vastly more successfully.
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Williams Syndrome
- By Sharlotte on 09-20-19
By: Jennifer Latson
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Everything in Its Place
- First Loves and Last Tales
- By: Oliver Sacks
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 8 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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From the best-selling author of Gratitude and On the Move, a final volume of essays that showcase Sacks's broad range of interests - from his passion for ferns, swimming, and horsetails, to his final case histories exploring schizophrenia, dementia, and Alzheimer's.
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Missing Sacks
- By Brandy on 12-02-19
By: Oliver Sacks
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Paranormality
- The Science of the Supernatural
- By: Richard Wiseman
- Narrated by: Peter Noble
- Length: 7 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Professor Richard Wiseman is clear about one thing: paranormal phenomena don't exist. But in the same way that the science of space travel transforms our everyday lives, so research into telepathy, fortune-telling and out of body experiences produces remarkable insights into our brains, behaviour and beliefs.
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great insight into what one believes is paranormal
- By Ony on 07-10-16
By: Richard Wiseman
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Permanent Present Tense
- The Unforgettable Life of the Amnesic Patient, H.M.
- By: Suzanne Corkin
- Narrated by: Pam Ward
- Length: 13 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Permanent Present Tense tells the incredible story of Henry Gustav Molaison, known only as H. M. until his death in 2008. In 1953, at the age of 27, Molaison underwent a dangerous "psychosurgical" procedure intended to alleviate his debilitating epilepsy. The surgery went horribly wrong, and when Molaison awoke he was unable to store new experiences. For the rest of his life, he would be trapped in the moment. But Molaison’s tragedy would prove a gift to humanity.
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Read Luke Dittrich's "Patient H.M." first...
- By Douglas on 11-07-16
By: Suzanne Corkin
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Schuyler's Monster
- A Father's Journey with His Wordless Daughter
- By: Robert Rummel-Hudson
- Narrated by: Johnathan McClain
- Length: 9 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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When Schuyler Rummel-Hudson was 18 months old, a question about her lack of speech by her pediatrician set in motion a journey that continues today. When she was diagnosed with bilateral perisylvian polymicrogyria (an extremely rare neurological disorder), her parents were given a name for the monster that had been stalking them from doctor to doctor, and from despair to hope, and back again.
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Must-read for medical parents & those who ❤them
- By Kelly A. Wolske on 05-23-18
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The Emotional Life of Your Brain
- How Its Unique Patterns Affect the Way You Think, Feel, and Live - and How You Can Change Them
- By: Richard J. Davidson Ph.D., Sharon Begley
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 10 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Why are some people so quick to recover from a setback while others wallow in despair? Why are some people so highly attuned to others that they seem psychic, while other people put both feet in it over and over again? Why are some people always up and others always down? In this hotly anticipated book, award-winning, pioneering neuroscientist Richard J. Davidson answers these questions by offering an entirely new model of our emotions - their origins, their power, and their malleability.
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Looks Like I Will Be The First Reviewer...
- By Douglas on 11-03-13
By: Richard J. Davidson Ph.D., and others
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Excellent information
- By Frank on 10-14-24
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Should come with a sadness warning
- By KJH on 03-16-22
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The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat: and Other Clinical Tales
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Oliver Sacks' The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat tells the stories of individuals afflicted with fantastic perceptual and intellectual aberrations: patients who have lost their memories and with them the greater part of their pasts; who are no longer able to recognize people and common objects; who are stricken with violent tics and grimaces or who shout involuntary obscenities; whose limbs have become alien; who have been dismissed as retarded yet are gifted with uncanny artistic or mathematical talents.
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I rarely stop reading a book halfway through...
- By Rusty on 09-04-15
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A must read for anyone in the medical field, and anyone who has ever gone undiagnosed.
- By Sarah M Valentino on 05-13-20
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What listeners say about Unthinkable
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- Anonymous User
- 01-21-22
amazing book
very very thankful to author for producing this masterpiece, please keep up the good work and waiting for more
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- Thomas J Savage
- 05-03-23
An odd & interesting book
Helen presents many unique and amazing brains in this fun and fascinating book. Thank you!
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- Zeus the Irritable
- 12-04-23
Excellent, with one flaw.
A very well written book, crafted with a journalists eye for a story and a scientists mind for complexity. The presentation is clear and well done, (and the accent is sexy as hell, in my opinion), but I nevertheless had to deduct a star from the performance. I simply cannot let the pronunciation of the word DISORIENTED as DISORIENTATED slide. It is a strangely low-brow mistake that occurs many times throughout the book, and if you're an assh- I mean pedant like me, it will get in your nerves early and often.
Excellent book and performance otherwise.
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- Leanne Beers
- 03-01-19
Completely Fascinating!
My daughter got this book for me, after reading only the description, thinking it might be something I would like. Turns out, yep...loved it. Every chapter seemed to be more interesting than the previous. I was riveted. If I would have read this book 25 years ago I would have totally studied psychology.
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2 people found this helpful
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- catlover13
- 03-17-24
The awesome abilities of the brain and brain disorders 
The story was wonderful it made you understand about different people and different brain disorders, and the things that can go on in our brain very traumatic experiences, but very interesting 
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- ericka
- 04-11-19
Enjoyed
I enjoyed this one. I mostly listen on my commutes home from work. Some of the cases I had read or learned about in other books or classes previously, but some were new to me and I still enjoy hearing about those ones I already know. Its read by the author and what I like most is her ability to explain conditions that sound inexplicable at first, in way that makes you think ,' oh, now I totally see how that could happen to someone.' If you love psychology and learning about cognition this book is for you.
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4 people found this helpful
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- itsit
- 08-08-24
Narrator voice grating
Couldn’t make it though it. Narrator’s voice is grating and hard to listen to for long.
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- Ruthi
- 07-01-19
Very interesting
I really enjoyed this book a lot! I’ve been having medical issues the past 3 years now and as such, I’ve really appreciated books like these a lot more than I ever did before. Nonfiction can be difficult for me to finish- via text nearly impossible but still hard via audiobook. This one was easy to engage with & the writer does a great job narrating her work without ever getting dry or monotone. Typically medical science nonfiction is best when read by the author but sometimes it’s too dry of a job- definitely not the case here & I really appreciated her cadence. 5/5, tho not in depth on the cases if you’ve a passing interest in brain disorders that are unusual, you’re probably aware these disorders exist & will find simply the interviews themselves fascinating.
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7 people found this helpful
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- LorW
- 06-09-23
Brilliant!
Helen Thomas is delightful. The stories she has collected are astounding and thought-provoking. Highly recommend if you miss Oliver Sacks.
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- Jessica Davis
- 11-18-19
Beginning to reveal the mind
Started out a little slow, but quickly picked up. It was a fascinating study of the human mind. Although she points out the philosophical notion that we can never fully understand the mind because we are using it to understand. However, I know from listening to this book I feel a greater appreciation for what that mushy mass in our heads provides us and the people that have challenges with it.
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2 people found this helpful