Discusses how the brain works and how to treat it well, including getting enough exercise and sleep, how to learn effectively, and how the brain evolved, presenting twelve principles for optimum brain performance at work, home, and school. 'Contains DVD.

Includes index.

Exercise -- Rule #1 : exercise boosts brain power -- Our brains love motion -- The incredible test-score booster -- Will you age like Jim or like Frank? -- How oxygen builds roads for the brain -- Survival -- Rule #2 : The human brain evolved, too -- What's uniquely human about us -- A brilliant survival strategy -- Meet your brain -- How we conquered the world -- Wiring -- Rule #3 : Every brain is wired differently -- Neurons slide, slither, and split -- Experience makes the difference -- Furious brain development not once, but twice -- The Jennifer Aniston neuron -- Attention -- Rule #4 : We don't pay attention to boring things -- Emotion matters -- Why there is no such thing as multitasking -- We pay great attention to threats, sex, and pattern matching -- The brain needs a break! -- Short-term memory -- Rule #5 : Repeat to remember -- Memories are volatile -- How details become splattered across the insides of our brains -- How the brain pieces them back together again -- Where memories go -- Long-term memory -- Rule #6 : Remember to repeat -- If you don't repeat this within 30 seconds, you'll forget it -- Spaced repetition cycles are key to remembering -- When floating in water could help your memory -- Sleep -- Rule #7 : Sleep well, think well -- The brain doesn't sleep to rest -- Two armies at war in your head -- How to improve your performance 34 percent in 26 minutes -- Which bird are you? -- Sleep on it! -- Stress -- Rule #8 : Stressed brains don't learn the same way -- Stress is good, stress is bad -- A villain and a hero in the toxic-stress battle -- Why the home matters to the workplace -- Marriage intervention for happy couples -- Sensory integration -- Rule #9 : Stimulate more of the senses -- Lessons from a nightclub -- How and why all of our senses work together -- Multisensory learning means better remembering -- What's that smell? -- Vision -- Rule #10 : Vision trumps all other senses -- Playing tricks on wine tasters -- You see what your brain wants to see, and it likes to make stuff up -- Throw out your PowerPoint -- Gender -- Rule #11: Male and female brains are different -- Sexing humans -- The difference between little girl best friends and little boy best friends -- Men favor gist when stressed; women favor details -- A forgetting drug -- Exploration -- Rule #12 : We are powerful and natural explorers -- Babies are great scientists -- Exploration is aggressive -- Monkey see, monkey do -- Curiosity is everything.