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It all starts with your brain: how you think, how you feel, how you interact with others, and how well you succeed in realizing your goals and dreams. When your brain works right, so do you. When it's out of balance, you feel frustrated, or worse. Yet amid all the advice that bombards us daily about how to keep the rest of our body strong and healthy, we hear very little about how to keep the most complex and magnificent organ of all--the human brain--in top working order.

Based on the most up-to-date research, as well as on Dr. Daniel Amen's more than twenty years of treating patients at the Amen Clinics, where he and his associates pioneered the use of brain imaging in clinical practice, Magnificent Mind at Any Age does exactly that. Dr. Amen shows how many of the traditional approaches to overcoming the mind-centered challenges that hold us back--try harder, work longer, find the sheer willpower--either do not work or may make our problems worse. The true key to satisfaction and success at any age is a healthy brain. By optimizing our brain function we can all develop these qualities of a magnificent mind enjoyed by the world's most successful and happiest people:

• Increased memory and concentration
• The ability to maintain warm and satisfying relationships
• Undiminished sexual desire and performance
• Goal-oriented perseverance
• Better impulse control and mastery over potential addictions
• Free-flowing creativity and the ability to relax and enjoy life's pleasures

To achieve this, as Dr. Amen explains here in clearly accessible language, we have a range of options available, including proper diet, natural supplements and vitamins, exercise, positive thinking habits, and, if needed, medication. In addition to revealing how we can all take advantage of such strategies to enjoy the benefits of a balanced and healthy brain at every stage of our lives, Dr. Amen also pinpoints specific ways to tailor behavior, nutrition, and lifestyle to deal effectively with common mental challenges such as memory problems, anxiety and depression, attention deficit disorder, and insomnia.

Whether you're in the midst of a demanding career or are looking forward to an active and richly rewarding retirement, Magnificent Mind at Any Age can give you the edge you need to live every day to your fullest potential.

From the Hardcover edition.

a scandal for our time

In the early hours of February 22, 2004--a cool, clear, late-winter day --copies of the fat Sunday edition of The Washington Post landed on doorsteps and driveways throughout the nation's capital and its booming suburbs in Maryland and Virginia. Near the top of the front page, an arresting headline announced a scoop:

a jackpot from indian gaming tribes lobbying, pr firms paid $45 million over 3 years

This was a seductive come-on in a city where making money was in vogue, and the story lived up to the enticement. The Post reported startling details about the exploits of a lobbyist named Jack Abramoff, then forty-six, and a public relations man who collaborated with him, Michael Scanlon, thirty-three. They had persuaded four Indian tribes flush with gambling money to pay huge fees to exploit Abramoff's connections with conservative Republicans in the White House and Congress to protect the tribes' interests. At Abramoff's urging, the tribes also hired Scanlon to do unspecified public relations work.

"The fees are all the more remarkable because there are no major new issues for gaming tribes on the horizon, according to lobbyists and congressional staff," reported the Post's Susan Schmidt. Abramoff persuaded the tribes that they needed his help "to block powerful forces both at home and in Washington who have designs on their money," Schmidt wrote, quoting members of the tribes to this effect. She disclosed that the four tribes had donated millions of dollars to politicians and causes suggested by Abramoff, and had changed their traditional patterns of political contributions by giving less to Democrats and more to Republicans--at his urging. "Some members of the tribes" Abramoff represented "have begun to complain that they are getting little for their money," wrote Schmidt.

Neither Abramoff nor Scanlon was a household name in Washington. But Tom DeLay was, and DeLay's name appeared five times in that Post story. DeLay, a successful small businessman who ran an exterminating firm in the suburbs of Houston before he became a politician, was then the most powerful man in Congress. Everyone knew that DeLay had chosen Dennis Hastert of Illinois to become Speaker of the House of Representatives when that job suddenly came open in 1999. DeLay's title was majority leader, technically second-ranking to the speaker, but their colleagues understood that DeLay was smarter and tougher than Hastert, and more influential among House Republicans.

In the mid-1990s DeLay and his colleagues in the Republican leadership had struck a bargain with Washington's lobbyists that was both brazen and remarkably successful: if the lobbyists would help raise hundreds of millions of dollars to support Republicans and help preserve their majority in Congress, DeLay would invite them into the legislative process, and allow them to propose entire bills and suggest changes to legislation proposed by others.

Both sides fulfilled this understanding with gusto. The Republican National Committee and the party's House and Senate campaign committees, which collected $358 million in contributions in the two years prior to the 1994 elections when Republicans won control of Congress for the first time since 1952, reported contributions of $782 million a decade later, in 2003--04--a 220 percent increase. Lobbyists and their clients helped make that possible. And lobbyists for corporate interests won countless legislative provisions from the Republican House and Senate favoring their clients. Under the accepted interpretation of the law on bribery, all of this was entirely legal. The law prohibits a member of Congress from "corruptly" seeking or...

 

"Learn the secrets of a balanced brain from a physician who has experience examining 50,000 scans of patients. Compare a failing mind to a brilliant brain and learn how to move in the direction you desire."

 

"A must-read . . . Magnificent Mind at Any Age blends scientific innovation with a clear and powerful writing style. Dr. Amen's SPECT scans are fascinating, his conclusions are life-changing, and he provides practical health strategies you can utilize immediately."

 

"I consider Daniel Amen to be the most innovative psychiatrist in America. His premise is simple: you can't have a healthy life without a healthy brain. His dietary and lifestyle strategies for maintaining brain health are based on the world's most comprehensive library of brain imaging technology. If you want a better and more fulfilled life, this book is a must-read."

 

"Dr. Amen is without a doubt our nation's leader as a top clinician/researcher who has the gift of making the complexities of reaching brain health and potential understandable by everyone. . . . Magnificent Mind at Any Age is a gift for the baby boomer who is now facing how to live the rest of his or her life and for young parents who want to make sure that they are providing the best they can for their children and teens. Everyone will find Magnificent Mind at Any Age a great resource."

 

"Providing brain basics from cradle to grave, Dr. Amen has written an indispensable handbook for handling emotions, cognition, relationships, and even our spiritual lives. It is comprehensive, inspiring, and user-friendly, explaining the most complex material in a way that's easy to understand and, better yet, to put into practice."

 

"A user's manual to care for our precious brain. If you have a brain, buy this book!"

 

DANIEL G. AMEN, M.D., is a clinical neuroscientist, psychiatrist, and brain imaging expert who heads the world-renowned Amen Clinics. He is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and has won several writing and research awards. He is a regular contributor to Men's Health and has published nineteen books, numerous professional and popular articles, and a number of audio and video programs. His books include Preventing Alzheimer's, Healing Anxiety and Depression, Healing the Hardware of the Soul, Healing ADD, Making a Good Brain Great, The Brain in Love, and the New York Times bestseller Change Your Brain, Change Your Life. He is an internationally recognized keynote speaker and the star of the very popular public television special Change Your Brain, Change Your Life.

From the Hardcover...