Critique du Library Journal

With age, many of us experience lapses of memory, concentration, and reasoning power. This nonpathological cerebral dysfunction can be prevented or corrected, according to Le Poncin, the founder of a French institute on cerebral aging. While they admit that the program outlined in this book is based on scientific hypotheses, the authors cite experiments which suggest that certain kinds of degeneration can be overcome. A brief explanation of brain mechanisms is followed by a month's worth of practice exercises. Emphasizing speed and diversification, these exercises purport to develop perceptive, logical, verbal, structural, and visual/spatial abilities. After much initial failure and frustration, this reviewer's ``efficiency rating'' dramatically increased, though whether from simple improvement as a test-taker or actual improvement in mental fitness is unclear. A best seller in Europe, according to the publisher, this self-help book will undoubtedly find an audience among general readers eager to ``improve'' their minds.-- Laurie Bartolini, Lincoln Lib., Springfield, Ill. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.