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Brain Changer

Aug 31, 20244 min read

Part of the Casswiki article series Books

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Brain Changer: How Harnessing Your Brain’s Power to Adapt Can Change Your Life is a book by David DiSalvo, first published in 2013. It describes our potential to change our brains through neuroplasticity, by consciously influencing the feedback loops that control our brains and minds.

The book has three parts: one theoretical (“Know”), one practical (“Do”), and one recommending further material on relevant themes (“Expand”) in the form of nonfiction and fiction books as well as movies.

Metacognition and neuroplasticity

Two basic concepts are at the root of Brain Changer: metacognition (“thinking about thinking”) and neuroplasticity. Neuroplasticity is the ability of our brains to change over time – and they change according to what they do, the mental and behavioral patterns we choose forming habitual “tracks”. The key, then, is to influence ourselves so as to form beneficial tracks rather than detrimental ones – and one of the keys to this is metacognition.

While people often “think” about their thinking, this usually amounts to being pulled along by a flood of mental energy, and as such simply following an ingrained track; the key to effectively changing the “track” we follow at a given moment is to think deliberately, taking the time to pause and reach a more detached, level-headed perspective, from which we can judge more objectively and make different choices.

Self-knowledge and practical tools

There is more to self-change than metacognition alone – our brains have evolved to function in a certain way, and along with bad habits or programming formed in our past, the challenge can be formidable. To work effectively on changing ourselves, we must know how our brains work, in terms of motivation and habits, and how we can influence it. The more “tricks” we know, and the more pitfalls we avoid, the better the endeavor goes.

A large portion of Brain Changer consists of a collection of “tools”. These include both psychological techniques and concrete actions we can take to change the way our brains work. The Cassiopaea Forum discussion about the book contains a summary of some of them.

In relation to the Fourth Way

There are strong parallels between certain discoveries of modern psychological and brain sciences and Fourth Way ideas. This book not only makes for a great example, but taken together with The Wave Series, In Search of the Miraculous, and other books such as the ‘Narcissism “big five”’, it can serve as an introduction to The Work. These other books place the information in Brain Changer in a wider context, and also give an understanding of the underlying issues one may have and have to face.

Brain Changer also goes very well with the recommended books on cognitive and social psychology, e.g. Strangers to Ourselves and DiSalvo’s other recommended book What Makes Your Brain Happy and Why You Should Do the Opposite. These make clearer our mechanical nature, how we don’t know ourselves, and some of the things we can do about it.

The main challenge in reading Brain Changer is gaining a deeper understanding of what is written, and so becoming able to put it into effective practice. It is easy to read and it all makes sense on the surface, but it requires reflection and further knowledge to really make it click.

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