Tag Archives: reading

Brainy Books that Will Blow Your Mind

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You know you’ve reached the epitome of nerdom when you’re at a party and someone asks you about your favourite non-fiction books and you start babbling about the fascinating world of neuroscience. (Just for the record this did not happen to me; it happened to a friend of mine. Cough cough.) It’s essentially the last frontier of the human body: we know less about our brains than any other body part. (Except for maybe the appendix. Has anyone figured that one out yet?)

Don’t take my word for it though- take Michio Kaku’s. His popular neuroscience books take complex scientific concepts and frames them in a way that the rest of us mortals can understand. My favourite, The Future of the Mind: The Scientific Quest to Understand, Enhance and Empower the Mind answers the more fun questions of the field; for example, do humans really have the capacity to move things with their mind? (You’ll have to read his books for yourself to find the answer.)

For the more ambitious reader, Reading in the Brain: The New Science of How We Read by Stanislas Dahaene chronicles every little nanosecond the brain takes to process the written word. After you read about the effort that it takes for your brain to recognize, understand and memorize letters, you’ll never look at reading the same way again. (Read slowly; this one left me a little cross-eyed.)

After learning about the memory championships (yes, there is such a thing), journalist Joshua Foer dug deeper into the why and how of what we remember and how we can better train our memories using long-forgotten techniques once used to learn entire religious manuscripts. The resulting book is called Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything– part memoir, part history lesson, part how-to book. Even if you’re not a neuroscience nerd like me, you’ll appreciate this one. Some of the techniques from the book that I’ve tried have actually worked really well!

While I certainly haven’t learned how to move things with my mind, master speed reading, or memorize the order of an entire deck of 52 cards, reading these books still gave me a better understanding and a new appreciation of how our efficiently and intricately brains work. But like I said, don’t just take this nerd’s word for it.

Psst- wanna see which books have previously graced my bookshelves? Click here. Want even more fun reading recommendations? I’ve got some for you here. Don’t forget to find me on Goodreads so we can snoop each other’s bookshelves and dish about our favourites.

Winter 2019 Reading List

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Every girl needs her squad and every squad needs to read the books recommended to her by the others in her squad so that she may come to understand them and appreciate their taste better. It’s getting towards the end of the year, a time when I’m itching to return things I’ve borrowed anyway, so this winter I figured I’d finally get down to reading all of the books my girlfriends have gifted or loaned me (and try not to read too much into their choices).

  1. The Lotus Effect by Pavel G. Somov
  2. Skinny Girls by Lesley-Anne Bourne
  3. A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose by Eckhart Tolle
  4. We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver
  5. Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison

Psst- wanna see which books have previously graced my bookshelves? Click here. Want even more fun reading recommendations? I’ve got some for you here. Don’t forget to find me on Goodreads so we can snoop each other’s bookshelves and dish about our favourites.

Tales of Woe and World War II

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I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not really into war movies. I don’t often like things that are violent anyway and I can’t help but cry hysterically every time I see one of those films. The honest-to-goodness truth is that they make me uncomfortable.

So when I was asked if I was going to do a post to commemorate Remembrance Day (which in Canada falls on November 11) I was a little bit hesitant. I couldn’t feel like I could talk about “war books” because I don’t read them that often. Like I said, I can barely watch a “war movie”.

I was discussing this with a friend of mine when he asked me what a “war book” was exactly, and I realized that I didn’t have an answer. When I really started thinking about it, I could come up with a long list of titles of books that take place during a war (specifically World War II) that have inspired me, moved me, and on occasion even made me laugh.

War, or even political conflict, isn’t just about fighting, or the soldiers, or the weapons. War is about culture, religion and social tradition. It’s about history, and political borders, and the men, women and children who find themselves within or without those confines. It’s about the things that we have in common as human beings, and the things that divide us; the things we stand for and the things we won’t tolerate. It’s about the rules we break, the choices we make, and most of all it comes down to whether or not we believe in something.

So in fact, I do like “war books”. I like them a lot. You won’t see me picking up any military study anytime soon, but I’m sure the following books won’t be the last ones about war to grace these bookshelves.

Atonement is probably my favorite of Ian Macewan’s books. It’s not just about the war- it’s a coming-of-age story really, and a look at how the choices we make can sometimes have far-reaching consequences that can last for a lifetime. (It’s a great movie, too!)

Before French author Irene Nemirosky was arrested by Nazis in 1942, she was working on the book now known as Suite Française– the first two novellas in an intended series of three that encapsulate the sweeping effects of war across the French countryside, touching rich and poor alike. The story behind the author’s mysterious disappearance and the investigation that ensued makes this book even more beautifully haunting. (It was also one of my favourite books of 2017.)

I had the honor of hearing Elie Wiesel speak while I was in university and it was one of the most haunting speeches I’ve heard in my life. The most remarkable thing about Elie Wiesel was his unwavering faith in the goodness of humanity despite all of the atrocities he faces. If you pick up any of the books on this list, I hope you pick up Night by Elie Wiesel.

Honorable Mentions

These woeful tales have been featured on my blog before but are still worth a second look.

  • The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is one of my favorite epistolary novels, and one of my favorite books about World War II, and as such is constantly missing from my shelves (described in this post here about books of mine that are frequently borrowed and never returned).
  • An ordinary man takes a peaceful, yet musical stand against the troops that continue to occupy and terrorize his city in Canadian author Steven Galloway’s book The Cellist of Sarajevo.
  • Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief has a unique narrator that gives this epic tale about a young girl growing up in Nazi Germany a surreal feeling, like you’re watching a movie as it’s happening in real time. (So much so that someone decided to adapt it into a movie, which I think is just as beautiful and haunting.)
  • Two boys form an unlikely friendship in John Boyne’s The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, which earned a place among the most devastating books I’ve read in this post here.
  • The Clothes They Stood Up In by Alan Bennett may be short but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t pack an emotional punch. (Also featured on my list of books that will shock your system.)
  • A tragedy that occurs during the Holocaust becomes a modem day mystery in Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay.
  • The Second World War almost becomes its own character in the strange world that is Life After Life by Kate Atkinson, in which a perpetually reincarnating girl discovers she may have the power to alter the course of history. (Another favourite from 2017.)

I love to read and I love sharing my favorite books with you. (For more reading inspiration click here or here.) These lists are totally my own creation and I was not paid or perked to share my opinions with you by any author or publishing company. For more of what’s on my bookshelves, click here.

Fall 2018 Reading List

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I made the most amazing discovery over the summer; one of my neighbors works for a big bookstore chain that apparently has crazy book sales every year for their employees. According to him, you walk away with a bag of books for pennies. Like, literally a bag. This works out in two ways: one, he gets a copious amount of reading material for a cheap price and two, I get to raid his bookshelves for free. Win-win. Here are some of the titles I picked out that are gracing my bookshelves this month:

  1. Friendswood by René Steinke
  2. America Pacfica by Anna North
  3. A Reunion of Ghosts by Judith Claire Mitchell
  4. Arcadia by Iain Pears
  5. Sleeping Giants

Psst- wanna see which books have previously graced my bookshelves? Click here. Want even more fun reading recommendations? I’ve got some for you here. Don’t forget to find me on Goodreads so we can snoop each other’s bookshelves and dish about our favourites.

The Busy Girl’s Guide to the Ultimate Staycation

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Ladies and gentlemen, you are talking to the queen of staycations; I never go anywhere and I never do anything interesting (except writing this blog, of course). Before you start pitying me though, I’ll let you in on a little secret: staycations save you time, money and aggravation and if done correctly can actually end up being incredibly healing.

So what is a staycation anyway? When I talk about taking one, I’m referring to any stretch of time during which you are free from any work-related responsibilities. This is not your average afternoon off, and it’s definitely not working from home. Instead, your staycation is your chance to restore and recharge in whatever way that means to you. It might be an opportunity to catch-up on household chores, personal projects, and tying up other loose ends. Or, it might involve ditching all obligations and doing whatever the $%?! you want.

Whatever your staycation style, I’ve brainstormed some options to help start things off right:

  • clean/organize a neglected drawer, closet or room in your home
  • organize family photos and/or home movies (here’s some tips for digital photos)
  • go for a long walk/hike/bike ride/rollerblade (and leave your cell phone at home!)
  • explore an unfamiliar part of your city, town or neighborhood
  • catch up on your sleep (it’s actually really important)
  • cook or bake your favorite dish, or a recipe you’ve been meaning to try
  • catch up on your reading (here are some simple ways how)
  • paint, doodle, draw or color
  • practice meditation, yoga or just deep breathing
  • call up an old friend you haven’t seen in a while (Facebook doesn’t count)
  • garden or clean your yard (one of my many hobbies)
  • make your own rock garden or terrarium
  • camp out in your own yard
  • practice yoga or pilates
  • spend an afternoon browsing your local library or bookstore (take a buddy!)
  • try a new hobby on for size
  • volunteer
  • make something for your home, or for a friend who deserves something special
  • send a friend or relative some actual snail mail
  • attend a free show or event in your area
  • practice self-care: get a massage, manicure, pedicure or facial
  • research your family tree
  • decorate your reading nook/sanctuary/man cave
  • actually play with your pets (or children)
  • rediscover childhood activities like skipping, sidewalk chalk, or Frisbee
  • have a bubble bath
  • coordinate a new exercise routine
  • teach yourself the latest dance craze, or come up with a routine with some friends
  • practice the art of doing nothing.

Happy staycation!

I want to hear all about your staycation rituals. Share them below or email them to me at keepingbusyb@gmail.com. For more ways to kill time, check out my suggestions for when you’re stuck inside here and here.

Best Books of 2016

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I’ve had the same New Year’s resolution for a few years running now (if you haven’t been following along, check out this post here). To recap: I was sad about giving one of my favorite hobbies such a low priority in my life, and I wanted to challenge myself to include more reading in my routine.

I use my Goodreads account to track and rate all of the books I read, and to encourage myself to keep up the pace on my reading challenge. (This year’s goal: read 60 books.) I’m not affiliated with Goodreads in anyway but I find having a visual way to monitor my progress very beneficial.

However, I’ve since discovered something that’s helped me even more.

It’s this blog, and more importantly, you guys (the readers). There has been nothing more special to me as a bookworm than to find a community of kindred spirits like yourselves to share all my deepest, bookish thoughts with, and to commiserate on all of the books we’ve read, both good and bad.

I’m amazing too, to connect with people across the globe, regardless of race, religion or age. We all have something that brings us together in spite of our differences and I think that makes us pretty special.

So thank you, my dear readers, for making this year a great one, both in blogging and reading adventures.

Here are some of my favorite titles that I’ve read this year:

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Fiction

For someone who relies so much on their sight to read, it seems a little ironic that two of my favorite books of this year were about blindness. For instance, the appropriately-titled Blindness by José Saramago resonated so much with me that I included it on my list of reads that have shocked my poor sensitive system. Just imagine if everyone in your city started going blind- you’d be shocked too.

A little less scary, but no less interesting or beautiful, All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr is about a blind girl struggling to survive through World War II, and a treasure hunt that will leave you wild with excitement.

If modern-day horrors scare you even more than post-apocalyptic worlds and war, be sure to pick up a copy of Lionel Shriver’s So Much for That. It’s one of the many books this year that really made me stop and think, and its darkly humorous take on a family devastated by cancer made it another contender on my list of books that you should read at your own risk.

The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas is another controversial, albeit more gossipy book, about the aftermath of a suburban barbecue where a parent slaps a child that is not their own. No matter where you stand on the discipline issue, the secrets and lies that unravel as a result made this book hard to put down.

Among the serious titles I’ve read this year, I’ve come across a couple of favorites that are a little more light-hearted. The Old Lady Who Broke All the Rules by Catharina Ingelman-Sundberg turns the Scandinavian crime genre on its head with the role of the scheming villain played by an aging pensioner just looking for better treatment. (Ok so maybe it’s a little bit of a tongue-in-cheek look at the way we treat our elders, but it still had me in stitches all the same.)

Finally, one of my favorite fiction books of the whole year has to have been Rachel Joyce’s The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. It’s everything a good book should be- funny, bittersweet, thoughtful and surprisingly compelling considering it’s actually about a super-long walk across the English countryside.

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Poetry

Once in a while a book of poetry finds its way to my shelves, and my list of favorite books this year wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t mention how much I loved this slim volume of poetry and creative prose by Canadian author (and now friend!) Joel Thomas Hynes. Straight Razor Days is a collection of thoughts about nearly everything in Hynes’ life- his hometown, his childhood, his relationship with his son- and even though it seems like he uses just about anything that crosses his mind as material, the works here still maintain a sense of cohesion. It’s beautifully written, so even if poetry isn’t always your thing, I still suggest that you check it out. (And he doesn’t even know I’m telling you that!)

Update: This title isn’t currently available on Amazon, so I encourage you to hunt it down in your local bookstore, or check out some of his other titles. They’re all good!

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Non-Fiction

The World is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman was a great education for millennials like me in how global events in the 80s and 90s have shaped the interconnected world we live in today. Keep in mind I was just a young’un when a lot of these changes were taking place, and this book helped shed some light on some of the things I didn’t fully understand.

I can’t say enough good things about Elizabeth Gilbert’s creative manifesto, Big Magic. I won’t go on too much about it because of the gushing review I wrote here, but if you’re anyone who has ever felt inclined to do any artistic thing ever, you will find this book valuable.

Do Over by Jon Acuff will forever go down in history as the only career-related book that got me in the feels. If you’re looking to make a change in your career, or just tired of accepting the status quo at your current job, this one is for you. (Don’t believe me? Read the review I wrote about it here.)

KBwB-BFlower-50What were some of your favorite books that you’ve read this year? Send me your list at keepingbusyb@gmail.com or better yet, let’s be friends on Goodreads so we can snoop each other’s virtual bookshelves. Want to see even more of what I like to read? I love talking about books here, here, here and here. Or comment below and let me know what you think of my list. How many books have you read this year? I need to know it all!

 

Read at Your Own Risk

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I’m not really a scary movie person; around this time of year when people invite me to re-watch some of the classics with them my response is usually, “I’m fine, thanks. My imagination scares me enough as it is.”

It’s not a line- this is 100% absolutely, totally true. As a kid I was plagued by crazy, reoccurring nightmares and as I grew older and learned about the horrific historical events that paved the way to our modern society- wars, genocides, holocausts, disease. These things almost scared me more than the ghosts and demons I conjured up in my imagination,

Hearing and watching these stories always shook me to the core- to this day, I still can’t stand watching people torture and kill each other, even if it’s imaginary. War movies are out. I was a mess at the end of Game of Thrones’ sixth season. No, really.

It seems silly to accumulate a list of scary books when the things that frighten me seem like no big deal to other people. “Read at your own risk” is more of a warning then to those of us softies who find this sensitive reading material. Even if you have seen your fair share of blood and guts, I hope my selections are still enough to disturb (if in a quieter, more subversive way).

Patrick Suskind’s novel Perfume is subtitled “The Story of a Murderer” but really should have read “The Story of a Sick, Sick Man That Will Make You Shudder in Equal Parts Horror and Disgust”. It makes you wonder what kind of guy Suskind is in real life, although I’m sure he’s very, very nice.

So Much for That by Lionel Shriver is kind of the modern-day horror story that’s uncomfortable to read because at the back of your mind you know that every procedure that she details, and all of the suffering she describes is actually real, but it’s worth the read for the light it sheds on the frightening reality we live in.

You have to have lived under a rock if you haven’t heard of Room yet. Canadian author Emma Donaghue’s novel was a smash hit that got turned into an award-winning movie and it’s easy to see why- it’s both gripping and tender, funny and frightening. Even so, it was still a tense read for a sensitive soul like myself.

I read The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne when I was baby-sitting one night. (It’s so engrossing and short that I’m sure you could, too.) As it happened I reached the end just before the parents came home, so when they walked through the door they found me sobbing hysterically. Needless to say, I had to include this book for the shock it gave my system. The ending was like a sucker-punch.

Swamplandia! by Karen Russell sounded like the kind of quirky, fun read that was right up my alley and at first it was. Russell’s writing makes the heat of the swamp shimmer off of the page; it’s so easy to get caught up in the heady landscape that when things start to get sinister it feels like the slither of an alligator inside you. I ended up being so disturbed.

Honorable Mentions

I couldn’t talk about creepy reads without listing a few of the books that have made my blog before. They’re worth a second mention for the chills they gave me.

  • Even if you’ve seen the movie Gone Girl, the novel of the same name by Gillian Flynn is worth the read so you can see just how psychotic her characters were intended to be.
  • The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins is the classic unreliable narrator mystery, and it feels particularly disturbing reading it as a woman watching the main character submit over and over again to addiction, and leaving herself vulnerable and exposed. It’s a reminder that women’s safety continues to be an issue.
  • I have to include the novel Blindness by José Saramago as the premise alone is enough to give me the chills.
  • The Clothes They Stood Up In by Alan Bennett is a short, yet devastating read.
  • If it’s magic and things that go bump in the night that you want, then Andrew Pyper’s The Demonologist is for you.

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I love to read and I love sharing my favorite books with you. (For more reading inspiration click here or here.) Don’t forget to friend me on Goodreads either! Btw: These lists are totally my own creation and I was not paid or perked to share my opinions with you by any author or publishing company.

Kids Books to Read All Over Again

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A lot of people who have seen my movie collection sometimes make fun of me because it’s comprised mostly of movies that involve singing and/or princesses. I’m cool with that. I tend to hold onto the things that make me the happiest, or feel the most lighthearted, because I’m the type of person who is prone to fits of moodiness.

I guess that’s why every so often I return to some of the books that I loved as a child, because they evoke memories of a time when things were simpler, and my outlook on the world was just a tiny bit rosier.

That’s one thing that all of these books have in common: they all feature characters, who, against all odds, still manage to retain some kind of hope that the world is good.

To tiny people like the characters in The Borrowers, for example, almost everyone and everything in the big, wide world poss some sort of threat. You’ll have to read the book yourself (if you haven’t already) to see how they survive against the odds, but the real charm in this book for me as kid was the way in which this small group of people (pun intended!) managed to carve our comfortable lives for themselves and find happiness despite such large challenges. (That pun was also intended.) If you’re my age you may also remember the series, The Littles, about a similar family, although for some reason they had tails.

In stark contrast, Mary, the main character in the novel The Secret Garden, seems to be determined to be miserable in her new home in her uncle’s lonely English manor- but who could blame her? Simultaneously neglected and spoiled from an early age, then orphaned and spirited half a world away from her homeland, Mary’s story starts out pretty bleak. It’s her ability to find beauty even when there seems to be none that transforms this book into a happy and hopeful one. I remember my mother reading it to me as a child. She still gets choked up when she re-reads it.

It would be remiss to talk about hopeful characters without including the infamous Anne Shirley of the Anne of Green Gables fame, and I’m not ashamed to admit that I was obsessed with the story of this plucky orphan when I was younger. I inhaled the rest of the Anne books (and pretty much the entirety of L.M. Montgomery’s work), but this one still remains my favorite.

You wouldn’t normally characterize Cinderella as an intelligent, spirited young woman but in Ella Enchanted, Gail Carson Levine manages to do just that, framing Cinderella (or Ella, in this case) not as a good-natured, submissive servant to a cruel stepmother, but as the unfortunate victim of a curse that renders her unable to disobey a direct command. Ella’s journey to find her own free will is a terrific metaphor for a coming-of-age story about a young woman finding her own voice. Meeting a handsome prince and finding love along the way are just happy coincidences. (For those of you who have seen the movie, I promise you that the book is totally different.)

But for me, the strongest and most hopeful character featured in any of these books has to be Mrs. Frisby, from Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. There’s no tale of survival that’s quite like that of a mouse living in a farmer’s field, and in a world where rats and humans alike terrorize mice, and predators lurk around every corner, Mrs. Frisby’s love for her children shines like a beacon of light through the darkness. (If you’ve read the book, or seen the movie as a kind growing up in the 90s, you’ll know what I mean.)

So what if I’m old enough to be having my own kids instead of reading the books that I enjoyed as a child (and still do?) Being an adult can get pretty tiring, and reading about adults also tired of being adults doesn’t always provide that much of an escape. Instead, I can pick up a book and pretend I’m a mouse, or at least small enough to fit underneath someone’s floorboards. I could be an orphan in a new place, or a servant in my own household, held captive under a spell.

When you’re a kid- and a reader- you can be anything. And that’s kind of the joy, isn’t it?

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What were some of your favorite books as a kid? I had a terrible time trying to narrow this post down to a few, but I’d still love your input. Comment below or drop me a line at keepingbusyb@gmail.com and let me know if there’s any I should add to a future kid lit list. Who knows? Maybe we even loved some of the same things.

I love to read and I love sharing my favorite books with you. (For more reading inspiration click here or here.) Don’t forget to friend me on Goodreads either! Btw: These lists are totally my own creation and I was not paid or perked to share my opinions with you by any author or publishing company.

Graphic Novels for Beginners

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You’ll remember in the movie Beauty and the Beast that Gaston couldn’t wrap his head around the idea that Belle enjoyed reading books without any pictures.

(This is not strictly true- when she’s waltzing around the town with the book in the opening scene and starts reading it to the sheep, she opens it to a page with a picture on it. Go figure.)

I kind of always had the opposite opinion. I love books without pictures. I read my first one when I was six years old and pretty much never looked back. There was a certain magic in not having any pictures to rely on you to tell the story- instead, you had the interpret and invent your own version of what you were reading. The ability to make my own (imaginary) contribution to a story was huge for me as a six-year old.

So there, Gaston.

It’s pretty safe to say then that I never particularly warmed to the idea of graphic novels. They just seemed like longer, more complicated comics for adults and seeing as I was never that interested in comic books as a kid (see above). I guess I just figured that now I was older, it was too late to give them a try.

Until I dated a guy who at first described himself as a reader. Naturally I thought we were a match until I found out his reading material consisted mostly of graphic novels. And they were mostly of the Batman variety. I pride myself on my willingness to read everything I put my hands on so I cast my doubts aside and gave it a go.

Don’t think I’m knocking Batman, because I’m not. In fact, I’ve changed my mind about Batman. I think I kind of like him.

Because what I didn’t count on was discovering a different kind of magic- the kind where an illustrator has the ability to draw evocative, emotional scenes that actually leave the reader filling in the blanks where words would normally do the talking. It’s magic as well, that an illustrator can perform this task in tandem with an author who writes around the scenes rather than describes them. The words, in this case, set the tone and context. It’s the pictures that truly tell the story.

I didn’t realize that graphic novels had the ability to do that; to grab and pull at the imagination and allow a story to take shape using images rather than words to give their ideas meaning.

Having said that, reading Frank Miller’s Dark Knight Saga was kind of a springboard for me into the world of graphic novels. Arkham Asylum, however, remains one of my favorites as well, if only because it’s possibly one of the creepiest things I have ever read.

Persepolis is another graphic novel that stands out in my mind as one of the more unique books that I’ve read. Before I started dabbling in the world of graphic novels I had read just one, which happened to be this one, for some women’s studies course in university. I don’t even remember the name of the class, but I do remember the book, which goes to show how much I enjoyed the book (and how little I enjoyed the course).

My foray into graphic novels also happened in conjunction with the release of two films based on graphic novels, Watchmen (2009) and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010).

I loved Michael Cera in Scott Pilgrim and enjoyed seeing all of the familiar sights around Toronto where it was filmed, and where the story actually takes place. The movie adaptation is actually just one part in a series of books starting with Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life, and the novels give a little more backstory as to how he got his superpowers. (Hint: he’s a video game nerd.)

I wasn’t particularly compelled to read Watchmen after suffering through the three-hour movie. It left me with so many questions, like, who are these people? And, why is this happening again? A friend insisted reading the novel would help me gain a better appreciation of the movie, and he wasn’t wrong. I now think that the reason why Watchmen is so misunderstood as a movie is that it’s not so much a story about superheroes as it is a story about what it is to be a superhero, and what that means to the ones you love and know around you.

I’ll never my abandon my picture-less novels completely (sorry, Gaston) but I can definitely say that I’ve enjoyed adding more graphic novels to the mix over the years. They may be a slightly different art form than the one that I’m used to, but that doesn’t make them any less beautiful.

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I love to read and I love sharing my favorite books with you. (For more reading inspiration click here or here.) Don’t forget to friend me on Goodreads either! Btw: These lists are totally my own creation and I was not paid or perked to share my opinions with you by any author or publishing company.

Wrap Your Head Around This!

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Up until recently it was widely accepted that the adult brain no longer generated new brain cells. The rapid death of brain cells was part of the natural aging process.

In actuality, this is only partially true. The scientific community now believes that the brain actually produces up to 1,000 new brain cells every single day that die if they are not used- 1,000 brain cells we can put towards mastering a new skill, learning a new language, or memorizing a new information. Just kaput. Bye-bye. Every. Single. Day.

This is exciting information to me because it means that learning is still a life-long process and that we as humans have the capacity to expand our brains by putting them to use and take advantage of those new brain cells that we generate on a daily basis.

Improving your brain health has longed been linked to long-term health benefits such as the prevention of devastating diseases that affect the brain and nervous system, and has been linked to greater well-being overall. I’m no scientist, and I could probably cite hundreds of articles listing the benefits of keeping your brain in tip-top shape, but my own personal experience with trying to keep my mind engaged is proof enough to me that taking care of your brain is a practice that can lead to stress reduction, improved memory, increased energy and results in a much happier, more balanced me. Who could argue with something like that?

I’ve been reading up on better brain health (call me a neuroscience nerd) and a lot of the solutions seem to be common sense to our overall well-being. A balanced diet and regular exercise all contribute to better brain health (and some argue can reduce the effects of certain mental and anxiety-related illnesses caused by chemical disorders). But keeping your mind engaged by utilizing these new brain cells we grow everyday seem to be the key for improving your brain’s elasticity in both short and long-term situations.

Environmental and social factors also play a big role in our physical and mental health. Smoking, lack of sleep and excessive alcohol consumption can contribute to poor brain health.

Brain health advocates recommend taking up fun hobbies and pastimes. Activities that require expanding on or learning new skills force your brain to work harder, and putting yourself in new social situations encourages the brain to make more connections, process more information and store more memories.

Reading, crossword puzzles, Sudoku and other fun puzzles and games are also widely touted as helping to improve memory and learning over time, and certain smartphone apps supposedly encourage activity in all areas of the brain with specially designed brain games.

There are so many ways that we constantly put our bodies (and subsequently) our brains under stress that it’s little wonder we get sick so often despite the advances in health care. In an age where it seems technology has solved all of our problems for us, we’re at risk for becoming lazy, dispassionate people too distracted by modern comforts to engage in a life that can be rich and challenging. Our brains are the only ones in the animal kingdom that have the capacity to create that kind of consciousness, and it’s something of which we do not take enough advantage.

Let’s make that change today. Learn Italian. Go back to school. Read a book. Play a game. Grow your brain.

You are totally worth it!

KBwB-Flower-50

Skeptical about brain games? I’m not paid or perked to write about them but I still like playing them, even if they don’t transform my brain as dramatically as their advertising claims. To brush up on the brain game controversy, click here.

What’s your favourite way to train your brain? I’m not so good at sending and receiving psychic messages yet, so comment below or shoot me a line at keepingbusyb@gmail.com. Want some more ways to keep your brain busy? I always love me a good organizing project. You can find a list of them here.