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The Brain That Changes Itself:

Stories of Personal Triumph

from the Frontiers of Brain

Science

by Norman Doidge. Penguin.

2007. 427 pages. Paperback. $16.

In this New York Times bestseller, Doidge shares compelling success stories from the new science of neuroplasticity, which studies ways the brain can rewire itself to recover from traumatic damage. The individual storiesstroke trauma undone, a half-brain that conditioned itself to function as a whole, IQs that raised themselves, learning disorders that their sufferers overcame, and aging brains that rejuvenated to their youthful vitalityoffer signs of great impending neuroscience breakthroughs.

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The Future of the Internet

And How to Stop It

by Jonathan Zittrain. Yale University

Press. 2008. 342 pages. $30.

The Internet is undergoing a dangerous pendulum swing from too much freedom to too little, argues Zittrain. The ability of anyone to log on and modify content, which was the

Internets initial hallmark, paved the way for proliferations of viruses, spyware, spam, invasions of privacy, and crippling faulty code. Industries responded by creating a lockdown by means of tethered appliances like iPod and TiVo that they can modify but their users and third parties cannot. Zittrain argues that we should not give up freedom for security. He places hope in cooperative uses like Wikipedia, in which users work in tandem with public monitors to ensure a safer Web. Check price/buy book.

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