Our Awe-inspiring, Astonishing Brains
ALS Awareness Month + brain books to love
Dear Brain,
How do I love thee. You are amazing and astounding - also confusing and confounding.
I’m no brain expert, but I want to be. I’m here to briefly extol this amazing powerhouse of an organ, and to recommend some brainy books for your next reading pleasure.
Below are some brain pictures of my Anatomy & Physiology teaching days.
I’ll ease us in and start with the skull. Isn’t it so beautiful? So protective, so ingeniously designed, the perfect illustration of “form follows function”:
If you want to educate yourself, students (or kids) about the brain, I suggest starting with play-doh. “Learning while doing” is so effective. Look at anatomy textbooks or google “brain” and form the brain structures. Even pre-k kids can do this! Use all of the colors, rolling up little balls of orange or red or blue to form the pituitary gland, for instance. Then you can move on to researching the physiology (what each part does).
During Covid, when teaching online (with much more downtime), I painted anatomy and turned them into stickers:
In college (with my sister by my side!) we were lucky enough to work on human cadavers. In high school, I taught with sheep brains, which are quite similar to human brains. These are VERY preserved. Our brains are not this color, nor quite so…bouncy and spongey feeling…
Kids will be so grossed out and first and proclaim I CANNOT LOOK AT THAT, SMELL THAT, TOUCH THAT…and by the end of class, they’re wearing gloves and cutting with scalpels, saying WOW. The shiny outer layer of the brain is called the “dura mater,” a German word that translates to “tough mother,” because of how tough and impenetrable it is to disease and foreign substances.
There’s the form and function, and then there’s the mind.
How incredible is it that our thinking patterns can grow ACTUAL NEURAL PATHWAYS? And once those are formed, they will inform the way we think and act next time.
Hypothetically, when you’re running to the bathroom thinking I AM NOT GOING TO MAKE IT, the pelvic floor specialist might hypothetically say: stop, breathe, and think I am fine, I will walk to the bathroom and have complete control of when I go. Otherwise, we’re reinforcing the feeling of PANIC, decreasing our odds of making it to the bathroom.
Hypothetically, I’m here to tell you that harnessing this thinking at least HELPS.
My son, Nelson, sent me As a Man Thinketh (one hour and free on Spotify). We have been having many spirited discussions about thought and action.
“Act the Way You Want to Feel” so often works. It’s empowering.
It’s not being fake; I’ve been amazed at how I can change the way I want to feel by the power of thought.
I didn’t have that “mental toughness” at age 13 trying to high jump at the district meet. I couldn’t get control of my brain and totally freaked myself out.
It takes years and years. We’re all in training.
But the more we practice, the more those neurons make connections until we are just like that dura mater - one “tough mother.”
Then there are the homeostatic imbalances: when something goes wrong and no amount of “mental toughness” is going to keep your brain from glitching.
It is ALS Awareness month. Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, affecting the nerve cells so you can no longer walk, talk and eventually, breathe.
Our friend, Eric, died from ALS in 2017. When he could no longer control his muscles, he still had complete control over his mind. He chose to live with an extraordinary grace. I’ll always remember how he was the calm guiding the rest of us through the storm.
Will we ever have a cure? I hope so.
In the meantime, I hope you’ll enjoy some reading on the brain. The more you dive in, the more you may want to keep diving. The brain is endlessly fascinating.
Recommended Books for Brain Appreciation…
ALS Fiction:
Ten Thousand Tries by Amy Makechnie (can Golden win the soccer championship AND save his dad?)
Every Note Played by Lisa Genova (a marriage between two brilliant musicians reconciled by a devastating diagnosis)
When Something Goes Wrong With the Brain1 Fiction:
The Unforgettable Guinevere St. Clair by Amy Makechnie (a brain injury leaves a mother unable to remember her daughter, Guinevere)
Before the Ever After by Jacqueline Woodson (the cost of professional football on black bodies, written in verse)
Still Alice by Lisa Genova (the end still haunts me)
Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness by Susannah Cahalan (memoir, instant NYTimes bestseller, and Netflix show. A medical mystery and exploration of madness)
Neurodiversity:
Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief by Rick Riordan (I love how Riordan wrote this as a kind of love letter to his son who has ADHD - and it was a superpower)
The Fire, the Water, and Maudie McGinn by Sally J. Pla (Neurodivergent Maudie spends an amazing summer with her dad, but will she find the courage to tell him a terrible secret about life with her mom and new stepdad?)
SO GOOD Brainy Non-Fiction:
The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science by Dr. Norman Doidge (this book changed my writing life in many ways…)
Menopause by Dr. Marie Clare-Haver (yes, menopause GREATLY affects the brain!)
The Brain and Poetry:
The Brain's Lectionary: Psalms & Observations by
who writes The Lovely Brains Newsletter (a collection of astonishing poetry encompassing art, science, and the spiritual while recovering from a traumatic brain injury)Have a “brainy” book to add? Please comment…
Another day, another post…psychology, self-help, and mindset!
Yours in building a better brain,
Amy 🧠
School and Library Visits
Want to get brainy and bookish with me? Please be in touch or tell a friend…
And Finally…
Favorite Brain Tik-Tok-er: Dr. Amen (short, concise, science-backed brain tips)
Reading: Goodbye Stranger by Rebecca Stead
Watching: Just watched American Fiction. As a reader and writer, you’ll enjoy
Snacking on: Pistachios (brain health!)
Running: Loving my Saucony Triumphs (on sale; move for brain health!)
The Brain and Mental Health: Enter the Simon Kids Book Giveaway!
The definition of “homeostatic imbalance”
All Bookshop.org links are affiliate ones, something new I’m trying! Visit my storefront, where 10% of all sales go to local bookstores, and I get a small commission (to buy more books)
You always have such interesting posts and recommendations :).
Those anatomy paintings!!! Love!! And such a great list of fantastic books :D