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Altered Traits: Science Reveals How Meditation Changes Your Mind, Brain, and Body

Written by: Daniel Goleman, Richard Davidson
Narrated by: Daniel Goleman
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Publisher's Summary

Two New York Times best-selling authors unveil new research showing what meditation can really do for the brain. In the last 20 years, meditation and mindfulness have gone from being kind of cool to becoming an omnipresent Band-Aid for fixing everything from your weight to your relationship to your achievement level. Unveiling here the kind of cutting-edge research that has made them giants in their fields, Daniel Goleman and Richard J Davidson show us the truth about what meditation can really do for us, as well as exactly how to get the most out of it. Sweeping away common misconceptions and neuromythology to open listeners' eyes to the ways data has been distorted to sell mind-training methods, the authors demonstrate that beyond the pleasant states mental exercises can produce, the real payoffs are the lasting personality traits that can result. But short daily doses will not get us to the highest level of lasting positive change - even if we continue for years - without specific additions. More than sheer hours, we need smart practice, including crucial ingredients such as targeted feedback from a master teacher and a more spacious, less attached view of the self, all of which are missing in widespread versions of mind training. The authors also reveal the latest data from Davidson's own lab that point to a new methodology for developing a broader array of mind-training methods with larger implications for how we can derive the greatest benefits from the practice. Exciting, compelling, and grounded in new research, this is one of those rare books that has the power to change us at the deepest level.

©2017 Penguin Group (USA) LLC (P)2017 More Than Sound, LLC
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What listeners say about Altered Traits: Science Reveals How Meditation Changes Your Mind, Brain, and Body

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Meditation changes our brain

Great book!! Highly recommended!!! The author does a great job showing the science behind meditation.

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A very humble commentary of research on mediation

A journey of two researchers who ventured to the u known , strong conviction, courage to accept flaws in design and constant perseverance for the sake of knowledge

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amazing

good book. I enjoyed it. definitely for the more scientifically inclined. sometimes hard to follow the neurology terms and I had to stop the tape a few times to look up some terms. it would definitely work better with a couple diagrams. overall excellent book and work by the authors. keep up the good work!

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Great summary of scientific research on meditation

"What you know about meditation might be wrong. What is true about meditation you might not know". (paraphrased from the book)

Altered Traits delivers on what the authors promise in introducing the book. It summarizes the reasonably robust research findings on a few different benefits of meditation. I particularly liked that the authors are upfront about the potential shortcomings, abuses and misreporting of growing "research" on the benefits of meditation, and separate the reliable findings from the rest.

The order of the middle chapters seems somewhat arbitrary and the quality of the results they report varies. However there are several remarkable findings and thought-provoking hypotheses particularly in the final chapters.

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Read it

Probably a much better read than a listen with technical details and ability to skip to summary pages.

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4 people found this helpful