Books

“A book is the only place in which you can examine a fragile thought without breaking it, or explore an explosive idea without fear it will go off in your face. It is one of the few havens remaining where a man’s mind can get both provocation and privacy.” Edward P. Morgan

I read a lot of books, and am often asked for recommendations. The selections found on this page are books that are germane to my work or conversations I’m in, have piqued my interest, or are just great reads. What you’ll find here are my top picks in the areas of neuroscience, biology, change, philosophy, leadership and business. This list will change frequently, so be sure to check back. – Janet Crawford.

New Additions

The Hidden Brain: How Our Unconscious Minds Elect Presidents, Control Markets, Wage Wars, and Save Our Lives

Shankar Vedantam

Washington Post science journalist Vedantam theorizes that there’s a hidden world in our heads filled with unconscious biases that manipulate our attitudes and actions without our knowing it.

Favorites

General Theory of Love

Thomas Lewis, M.D., Fari Amini, M.D., Richard Lannon, M.D.

New research in brain function has proven that love is a human necessity; its absence damages not only individuals, but our whole society. In this stimulating work, psychiatrists Lewis, Amini and Lannon explain how and why our brains have evolved to require consistent bonding and nurturing.

The Brain that Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science

Norman Doidge

Doidge explores the frontiers of neuroplasticity, the brain’s ability to re-wire itself through experience. Challenging the old orthodoxy that brain development stops after childhood, he explores the many ways that our brains continue to develop and change well into old age.

Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers

Robert Sapolsky

Sapolsky, a Stanford University neuroscientist, explores the role of stress in human ailments such as heart disease, diabetes, and memory loss, tracing it to our species’ unique ability to project into the future and worry about the far off outcomes of current threats.

The Neuroscience of Human Relationships: Attachment and the Developing Social Brain

Louis Cozolino

Cozolino provides a thorough treatment of how our individual social and emotional personality patterns emerge through the relationships we have with our caregivers and community.

The Developing Mind: How Relationships and the Brain Interact to Shape Who We Are

Dan Siegel

This book goes beyond the nature and nurture divisions that traditionally have constrained much of our thinking about development, exploring the role of interpersonal relationships in forging key connections in the brain.

Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking

Malcolm Gladwell

Blink is about the instantaneous judgments we make before our conscious logical mind kicks into action. Gladwell explores what produces these intuitive “hits” and what accounts for their accuracy…or lack thereof.

On Being Certain: Believing You Are Right Even When You’re Not

Richard Burton

In On Being Certain, neurologist Robert Burton shows that feeling certain—feeling that we know something— is a mental sensation, rather than evidence of fact. An increasing body of evidence suggests that feelings such as certainty stem from primitive areas of the brain and are independent of active, conscious reflection and reasoning.

Brain Rules

John Medina

Medina presents 12 simple, well-supported and easily understood rules for optimizing our brain function at work, home and school.

Emotional Alchemy: How the Mind Can Heal the Heart

Tara Bennett-Goleman

Bennett-Goleman’s work explores the deep-seated and unconscious emotional habits we form in early childhood, which left unaddressed hold us in their grip throughout our lives. She offers concrete practices grounded in mindfulness to gain awareness and new more functional choices.