Jams $e A book review of John Medina’s “Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home and School” By Janet V. Danley Ifyou have ever doubted that the brain rules your every waking and steeping action, then John Medina’s perspective on brain function will eoavince you that indeed, the brain does rule each of us in way of which we are not even consciously aware in his interesting and insightal summary of current brain research. Medina walks the reader through this field of research in terms that even those with absolutely no scientific or ‘medical background cen understand. Educators and those who work closely with students will benefit fom Medina’s insights on human (interpret that STUDENT) ‘behavior governed by the brain. In his book, Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving ‘and Thriving at Work, Home and School (Melina, 2008), Medina reviews recent and ‘current research on brain functioning using every-day cases and examples to illustrate the function of principle discussed in each of his twelve rules, As a result of his formal training and academic reparation, Medina’s discussion of the fascinating field of brain science could easily overwhelm the casual reader, but his wit and sense of humor, revealed throughout the book, captures and holds the reader's interest in a most delightful manner. Utilizing his own rules, Medina conveys the complex information in a manner ‘that our ovm brains can process, interpret and apply Medina, a devedopmental molecular biologist by education and training has long ‘been a research consultant to state and feral research efforts. He isan afliate professor atthe Univesity of Washington School of Medicine teaching bioengineering to ddoctor-wannabes. As director ofthe Brain Center for Applied Learning Research at Seattle Pacific University, Medina is responsible fr teaching graduate students and the public on the new insights ofthe secrets ofthe brain’s complex and mysterious ‘operations. In addition to the writen word, Medina invites the reader to view the videoclips at his website, In the timate “hybrid” Medina uses the video clips to demonstrate his brain principles in visual form, These clips are as interesting and mesmerizing as the descriptions found in the chapters of his book. This author heartily encourages the reader to take the time to view the clips lest he or she miss out on this larifying visual supplement tothe writen wordMedina begins ‘he review with basic information about the brain that is already familiar to most readers, but then he draws the reader even deeper into the functioning of the brain, On the most ardent reader, or the most dedicated of brain researchers, would ‘venture into the realms Medina takes the reader in Brain Rules. ‘Medina has organized his insights into twelve rules or principles that explain ‘broad aspeets of our every-day functioning. Throughout each rule, Medina couples ‘theory to practical infirmation thatthe reader can apply in his or er life and work situation In “Rule #1," Medina reminds us ofthe obvious ~ our bain does its best work when iti well-oxygenate. ‘That happens when we exercise our bodies. Medina claims that our brains’ operation will improve with the eas litte bit of exercise! He suggests that those ‘of us who fidget are actually helping our brains function more efficiently, even if our fidgeting annoys everyone around us, Medina notes that our ancient ancestors spent most oftheir waking hours on the move, Throughout our evolutionary history, we had to use our own body's motion to get us from point A to point B; to get food for our stomach and to protect our families and homes. However, with civilization came a decrease in the need forall that ‘movement, much to our detriment. The end result ofthe “couch potato” inclination has ‘been an increase in thenumbers of problems in brain function including rising incidence of early dementia, Alzheimer's disease, and other “old-age” mental problems occurring inrelatively young people. Medina urges his readers to exercise for their brain’s sake, wise adviee for us al. Do you take pride in your ability to multitask? In his “Rule #4," Medina postulates that multitasking is not possible. Madina angus thatthe brain is simply not ‘capable of working on more than one task ata time, although it eam and dees switch between tasks very quickly and efficiently perhaps giving us the illusion of ‘ing fully conscious of multiple issues simultaneously. Medina also tells us that we are not likely to pay much tention to what bores us. In Tac, we pay so little tention to what we find boring, that without an emotive raference point connecting our thinking to specific events ‘or information there is very litle possibilty that we will remember details or even {general themes of an erent or tidbit of information. Educators who employ emotional ‘ues inthe teaching or link fats to something that we can personally relate to are more likely o succeed in msking an impact on their students. Likewise, teachers who focus on single or at most a limited number of themes help their students lear the information too many multitasking chores lead to disappointment forthe student and his teacher!‘As important as exercise isto efficient brain functioning, so a is sleep. Without adequate sleep and rst, the brain can do some strange things and eause us to reat oily to every day stimuli, In “Brain Rule #7," Medina discusses the role ‘of slegp in maintaining sound mental health and clear thinking, According to Medina, the brain isnot asleep ‘hile we slumber; instead it is actively engaged in processing the day's e.ents and solidifying the information we want to store away in ‘memories, and it even oils on challenges or problems that vexed us during our waking. hours. Medina explains, in a clear and concise manner, what every educator preaches to his or her students ~ the “all-night” just before that big exam actually results in less retention of fact and krowledge than going nto an exam “cold” but ater a good night's sloep. Medina states categorically thatthe loss of sleep, even as much as just afew hours’ worth, impacts the ability to maintain attention, the ability to recall facts and working memory, executive functioning and problem-solving, quantitative and logical reasoning and even mor skills) He goes onto say that despite cultural differences ‘among human groups sround the worl, the desire for afternoon naps is universal and he postulates that itis a biological urge that we neglect to our peril. There appears to be @ plethora of great reasons to catch those "Zs"! ‘The Rule this author found most intriguing is Medina’s “Rule #10: Vision trumps all other senses.” possibly because the authori abit visually challenged, having worn glasses and contact lenses most her life! We lean fom Medina that our sight requires and uses more than half of our physical resources in the proces: of ereating the mental images aur optic nerve perceives. Our brains will ignore what it knows as fact ifthe messages sent by the optic nerve conflies with stored memory and fact. Medina reports an unusual ‘experiment to explain this principle: Experienced wine tasters were given white wine disguised as rod wine with an odorless and tasteless dye. There should have been no ‘reason these experts would be fooled into thinking they were assessing a red wine if they had relied on the senseof taste alone. But lo and behold, the wine tasters reported the results as though they were truly consuming red wine! While pethaps tis litle ‘experiment does not provide proof positive that we do not realy “see” with our eyes but ‘with our brains, the examples Medina provides do give the reader new ideas to ponder. In this chapter, Medins clearly demonstrates how important imagery isto our ability to lear and remember ~ an important lesson forall educators! ye lithe final ule, #12, Medina tells us that the area ofthe bain reserved for learning remains as active and vibrant a a baby's thro lifetime barring injury or disease. This isan incredibly important idea in ‘our eoatinuously evoiving and changing world! The old adage that an old dog can’t learn new tricks is put to rest, and the truism of ifelong learning takes on a completely new urgency, which is such an {mporant perspective as we work with returning adult leamers needingto retool forthe new economy and world of work. Ata time when it could be easy to “descend into despair over the pace of change in our environments, we can now celebrate the opportunity to learn new and interesting fats and information to manage the changing world well into our golden years. ‘This author found Medina’s work to be a fascinating look at the awesome power ofthe human brain. Employing common sense, wit and humor ~and using a layman’s vocabulary ~ Medina peels away the complexities of our brain’s mysteries. Even the ‘most sophisticated reader will gain a take-away or two from this ook. Medina has anew release that this author has on order and eagerly awaits — Brain Rules for Baby. About the author: Janet Danley, Director of Instruction and Operations atthe Clarkston ‘Campus of Walla Walla Community College, has been a contributor to the PACRAO. ‘Writers Team for nearly eight years. Danley has been an active PACRAO member since 1986. Danley can be contacted at (509) 758-1703 orat janet. danley@wewec.edu, Suibmitted October 2010.