Why Choose This Book

Wednesday, October 17. 2007


Read Montague explores the new field of Computational Neuroscience. Does that sound like it's going to be easy? You're right, it's not, but Read Montague writes well, and with a light touch. There are definitely useful things to come out of this book for us therapists, and my small brain needs to read it again (and probably again) to figure out exactly what. Clients come to us to help them change their minds, and within this book are some of the rules that will achieve this.

As an addendum, I've just re-read this book and it is definitely worth taking the time to absorb its message. It's definitely helped to shape my thinking about why we do the things we do.

Posted by Trevor Silvester in Recommended Books at 15:59 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

Gut Feelings: The intelligence of the unconscious

Wednesday, October 17. 2007

I have a feeling that this will turn out to be one of the most important books I've read, Gerd Gigarenzer provided much of the research material the Malcolm Gladwell used when writing his brilliant book, Blink. GG lays out rules of thumb the brain uses as short cuts to make decisions and create beliefs. He also demonstrates how these intuitions are often more effective than reason. These rules could prove a marvelous guidance system for how to construct effective suggestions - something I'm working on now.

Posted by Trevor Silvester in Recommended Books at 15:45 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

Quirkology

Wednesday, October 17. 2007

Richard Wiseman is one of my favourite authors. He writes in a really engaging way and always brings interesting things to the table. In Quirkology he excels himself in the range of weird and wonderful experiments he's conducted or reports on that shed a fascinating light on the vagaries of being human. Entertaining and educational, a perfect 'dip into' book.


Posted by Trevor Silvester in Recommended Books at 15:33 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

The Biology of Belief

Friday, July 6. 2007
I've mentioned this book at length in a blog article called the Psychobiology of Suggestion. I found the first half of the book an utter revelation as Bruce Lipton shatters the central dogma of biology - that genes drive behaviour, by showing intriguing evidence for the primacy of the environment. If he's right it offers an amazing justification for mind/body approaches. The second half Lipton leaves his area of expertise and makes connections to quantum physics and spirituality that I found less convincing, but worth the price just for the first 60 pages. A must read.






Posted by Trevor Silvester in Recommended Books at 11:30 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

Mind Sculpture

Friday, July 6. 2007
Ian Robertson does a fabulous job of bringing the 'trembling web' of the brain to life. He gives a real sense of its plasticity and our ability to grow it productively. I first read it about three years ago and I still find myself recommending it to my students on a regular basis despite having read since many other books covering this material, so it must be good.










Posted by Trevor Silvester in Recommended Books at 11:12 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

Mind Wide Open

Wednesday, June 20. 2007
I love Stephen Johnson as a writer, I'd read his shopping list. He presents ideas in a beautifully coherent way, in this case by cleverly using an examination of his own brain as a structure for exploring the latest theories from neuroscience. Stunningly relevant on many levels, and a lovely read.









Posted by Trevor Silvester in Recommended Books at 20:43 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

The User Illusion

Wednesday, June 20. 2007
When I first read this book the first 100 pages or so were such a trial I could hardly bear to continue. Something made me persevere, and I'm glad I did. The book opens up into a wonderful exploration of information theory applied to consciousness. Probably ahead of its time, it really makes you think about the strong possibility that our 'self' is an illusion created by the brain.









Posted by Trevor Silvester in Recommended Books at 20:26 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

Authentic Happiness

Wednesday, June 13. 2007
Martin Seligman is the guy who began the Positive Psychology movement, which has provided some of the most useful insights into how to improve our mental wellbeing. Authentic Happiness is packed with the results of studying how happy people create their happiness - and how unhappy people can change. Optimism is a state of mind that can be created. As therapists it's really worthwhile knowing how.











Posted by Trevor Silvester in Recommended Books at 20:33 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

Blink. The Power of Thinking Without Thinking

Wednesday, June 13. 2007
Malcolm Gladwell is one of my favourite writers. He has that rare ability to find stories that link together to both inform and entertain. The subject of Blink is what Galdwell calls 'thin slicing'; the ability of our intuition to make a decision based on a momentary exposure to information. As a therapist and trainer it's useful on several levels: Gladwell shows how intuition that's untrained by effort and experience is capable of glaring errors, and also he has interesting things to say about the nature of how we acquire our ability to 'know' something without knowing how we know. A great book to take on holiday.









Posted by Trevor Silvester in Recommended Books at 15:28 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

Monsters and Magical Sticks

Tuesday, May 29. 2007
Steven Heller is sadly no longer with us, and it says much for this beautiful book that by the end of it I felt the loss of someone I'd never met. Incredibly prescient, this book is written so wittily and so familiarly that the pages flow by. Based around his view that 'there's no such thing as hypnosis' - because everything is hypnosis it leaves an impression on my work that's never left. Thank goodness.









Posted by Trevor Silvester in Recommended Books at 15:33

Trances People Live

Tuesday, May 29. 2007
This is the book that began a completely new direction for me as a therapist. I think it contains the basis for a revolution in therapy by getting us to recognise that trance states are just part of normal brain functioning; the means by which the brain creates our perception of reality - including our problems and limitations. 'A must read' is an overused phrase, but this really is.









Posted by Trevor Silvester in Recommended Books at 14:54
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