Mindwandering: How It Can Improve Your Mood and Boost Your Creativity

(Paperback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

'An original, provocative and fascinating new theory by one of the world's leading neuroscientists about why the mind wanders - and when and why it's good for you' Daniel Gilbert Your brain is noisy. Certain regions are always grinding away at involuntary activities like daydreaming and intrusive thoughts taking up to forty-seven percent of your waking time. This is mindwandering. Mindwandering is the first popular book to explore the phenomenon of our wandering minds and the cutting-edge new research behind it. Cognitive neuroscientist Moshe Bar combines his decades of research to explain the benefits and the possible cost of mindwandering within the broader context of psychology, neuroscience, psychiatry and philosophy. He provides you with practical knowledge that can help strengthen your relationships with others, increase your concentration at work and reduce your anxiety. 'Bar's revelatory, pioneering studies are finally available for everyone to enjoy, so we can optimally direct our states of mind to better align with the moment' David Eagleman, New York Times-bestselling author of Incognito and Livewired 'Highlights the role of mindwandering in solving problems, inducing happiness and in teaching us to bring the right mind to the right time' Dr Nancy Etcoff, psychologist at Harvard Medical School 'A gentle and humane book that should be read by everyone interested in the human mind and the human brain' Andy Clark, Professor of Cognitive Philosophy, University of Sussex

Reviews

An original, provocative, and fascinating new theory by one of the worlds leading neuroscientists about why the mind wanders and how we can change its trajectory to make ourselves happier and more creative -- Daniel Gilbert, Professor of Psychology, Harvard University, and bestselling author of STUMBLING ON HAPPINESS
Brains constantly balance the two states of tracing known paths and setting off on new adventures. Bar's revelatory, pioneering studies on this are finally available for everyone to enjoy, so we can optimally direct our states of mind to better align with the moment. A fascinating read that will bring your mind back home -- David Eagleman, New York Times bestselling author of INCOGNITO and LIVEWIRED
Mindwandering is the best thing that can happen to anyone. What is it Why is it good Let Moshe Bar take you by the hand and show you the exciting ways it liberates us from the tedium of the known world into the world of possibilities -- Michael S. Gazzaniga, Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and author of THE CONSCIOUSNESS INSTINCT
Highly accessible and entertaining, alternately personal and analytic, this lovely and stimulating book will make you appreciate your mind, and Bars -- Susanna Siegel, Edgar Pierce Professor of Philosophy, Harvard University
In this highly original, accessible, erudite, engaging and informative book, a distinguished neuroscientist highlights the role of mindwandering in solving problems, inducing happiness, and in teaching us to "bring the right mind to the right time" -- Nancy Etcoff, psychologist at Harvard University and author of SURVIVAL OF THE PRETTIEST
Mindwandering evinces the intimate relationship between curiosity and creativity, mindwandering and mindfulness, agency and association, sentience and selfhood. It does so using a compelling mixture of personal narratives and high-end cognitive (and clinical) neuroscience . . . An addictive and eclectic read, crafted with a gentle and telling humour -- Karl J. Friston, Scientific Director at the Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging and Professor at University College London
In this important, entertaining and instructive treatment, Moshe Bar takes us on a journey through contemporary neuroscience to show when, why, and exactly how a wandering mind can be good for us. Along the way, we learn why we should meditate, how to profit from imagined experiences and how we can make the most of our limited mental resources. A gentle and humane book that should be read by everyone interested in the human mind and the human brain -- Andy Clark, Professor of Cognitive Philosophy, University of Sussex, and author of SURFING UNCERTAINTY

Author Bio

Moshe Bar is the former Director of the Cognitive Neuroscience Lab at Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts General Hospital and an internationally renowned cognitive neuroscientist, whose novel research has made revolutionary contributions to our understanding of perception, cognition and issues in psychiatry. He has a PhD in cognitive neuroscience from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. For his outstanding research and academic achievements, he has received many awards and honors, including the prestigious 21st Century Science Initiative Award from the McDonnell Foundation, and the Hebb Award from The International Neural Networks Society. After seventeen years in the US, where he served as an associate professor at Harvard University, he returned to Israel to head the Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center at Bar-Ilan University.