The Memory Bible: An Innovative Strategy for Keeping Your Brain Young

by Gary Small

Overview

Clear, concise, prescriptive steps for improving memory loss and keeping the brain young -- from one of the world's top memory experts.

Everybody forgets things sometimes -- from your keys to your lunch date to the name of an acquaintance. According to Dr. Gary Small, the director of the UCLA Center on Aging, much of this forgetfulness can be eliminated easily through his innovative memory exercises and brain fitness program -- now available for the first time in a book. Using Small's recent scientific discoveries, The Memory Bible can immediately improve your mental performance. One of the ten commandments that Dr. Small has pioneered to improve your memory immediately is LOOK, SNAP, CONNECT:

1: LOOK: actively observe what you want to learn
2: SNAP: create a vivid snapshot and memorable image
3: CONNECT: visualize a link to associate images

In addition, Dr. Small's comprehensive program includes a "brain diet" of memory-enhancing foods and a list of the most effective drugs, as well as a workbook with a weekly and daily calendar. Remember, as Dr. Small says, "Great memories are not born, they are made."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781401398538
Publisher:	Hachette Books
Publication date:	09/10/2003
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
Pages:	320
File size:	3 MB
Age Range:	13 - 18 Years

About the Author

Dr. Gary Small is the chief of the UCLA Memory and Aging Research Center. He lectures extensively all over the world, and often appears on national television shows including 20/20, Good Morning America, Today, CNN, NBC Nightly News, and CBS News. His articles have appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Time, Newsweek, and USA Today. He is the author of The Memory Bible and The Memory Prescription. He lives in Los Angeles.

Table of Contents

	Preface	vii
	Acknowledgments	ix
Chapter 1	You Have More Control Than You Think	1
Chapter 2	Rate Your Current Memory	30
Chapter 3	Look, Snap, Connect: The Three Basic Memory Training Skills	42
Chapter 4	Minimize Stress	58
Chapter 5	Get Fit with Mental Aerobics	82
Chapter 6	Build Your Memory Skills Beyond the Basics	111
Chapter 7	Start Your Healthy Brain Diet Now	127
Chapter 8	Choose a Lifestyle That Protects Your Brain	164
Chapter 9	Wise Up About Medicines	187
Chapter 10	Don't Forget the First Nine Chapters	223
	Appendixes
1.	The Amyloid Probe--Keeping Watch on Plaques and Tangles	247
2.	What to Do If Alzheimer's Disease Strikes	251
3.	Current and Potential Treatments for Memory Loss and Alzheimer's Disease	265
4.	Glossary	273
5.	Additional Resources	281
	Bibliography	291
	Source Credits	299
	Index	301

Editorial Reviews

Dr. Gary Small's insights and guidance have certainly helped keep me at the top of my game.

Art Linkletter

I highly recommend this to all who wish to keep their brains fit and memories at peak performance . . .

Horace B. Deets

An effective prescription for keeping that faculty robust . . . extremely helpful.

Bookpage

An effective prescription for keeping that faculty robust . . . extremely helpful.

Nonfiction Notes Growing Older Anyone who has ever forgotten their purse, wallet or cell phone and remembered it while stuck in traffic, or struggled to remember the name of a movie they just saw or a person they just met will find help in The Memory Bible: An Innovative Strategy for Keeping Your Brain Young. Neuroscientist Gary Small says that middle-aged people need to realize that they are "all one day closer to Alzheimer's disease." He gives prescriptive tips for "brain fitness," among them: minimize stress, do puzzles and brainteasers even eat antioxidant fruits and vegetables like prunes and blueberries. Agent, Sandra Dijkstra. (June) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Aging baby boomers are becoming acutely aware of their own memory lapses. Is each case incipient Alzheimer's or just a benign "senior moment"? The increase in age-related memory impairment has produced a host of new books on preventing (or slowing) memory loss based on the latest scientific knowledge of brain and memory. In Saving Your Brain, Victoroff, director of the neurobehavioral program at Ranchos Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center, challenges the theory that Alzheimer's and similar memory disorders are abnormal responses to aging. Instead, he proposes that age-related memory loss may actually be a natural part of aging. Drawing on his clinical experiences and reviews of some 14,000 research studies, his fascinating treatise explores the evolution and function of the human brain and the many things that can damage the delicate balances that enable us to think and function. The author suggests numerous changes that can prevent memory loss and improve brain function: avoiding even minor head injuries and exposure to chemicals (including pesticides and aluminum in drinking water), increasing physical activity, eating a low-fat diet, and keeping mentally sharp with lifelong learning and other mentally challenging activities while avoiding the mind-numbing effects of television. In The Memory Bible, neuroscientist Small, director of UCLA's Memory Clinic and Center on Aging and the author of Parentcare, has compiled an amusing and informative array of self-tests, puzzles, quizzes, and other techniques to enhance memory performance. He also draws upon current scientific advancements in memory and recommends brain-saving lifestyle changes similar to Victoroff's. Small's approach is entertaining yet practical, and the numerous case histories are appealing, but some of his memory-enhancing techniques (like the "peg method" for remembering numerical sequences) seem too cumbersome to be useful. Both titles deserve a place in aging and self-help collections along with Guy McKann and Marilyn Albert's Keep Your Brain Young, which explores the relationship between brain health and physical well-being in later years. Karen McNally Bensing, Benjamin Rose Lib., Cleveland Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

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