Norman Doidge

There is a lot to like about Dr. Norman Doidge's second volume on neuroplasticity. For one thing, he tells entertaining stories about physicians, their patients, and the progression of medicine. Who could fail to appreciate the adventures of a holocaust survivor who becomes infatuated with judo, uses touch to heal the sick, becomes a physicist, and head of Israel's top spying agency? On a deeper level, who cannot fail to appreciate that light, touch, smell, and hearing hold the keys to some of the most debilitating maladies we know? The book does meander somewhat, sometimes losing focus on who the reader is likely to be: like me a complete laymen, or sometimes someone with a little more professional knowledge, like other physicians. There are more footnotes than I cared to read. Another thing I really liked about the book was its shifting focus between the maladies of the elderly, of mature accident victims, and those of children. What that tells me is that the researchers and physicians Doidge profiles are not probing another specialty. They are pushing science forward toward universal ends: a better understanding of man and his environment. A better grasp of where human intelligence comes from and where it is going. I like happy endings. And while this book does sound a little like "Lives of the Saints," i think we can all do with a few more happy endings. What I must ask Dr. Doidge some day is whether his books are a hobby for him, or whether they represent the evolution of his own thought and practice of medicine. After all, he is a psychiatrist. This stuff is pretty far from Sigmund Freud.… (more)