Books about Barbara’s Work
“Barbara in the Fog”
by Kyoichi Katayama
About Barbara in the Fog
A new book written by a prominent Japanese author, Kyoichi Katayama, based on Barbara Arrowsmith-Young’s life journey has been published in Japanese. Loosely translated into English as “Barbara in the Fog: A Story of a Woman Who Overcame Learning Difficulties, Train Your Brain to Change Your Fate”, the book will make available Barbara’s story and vision to a new audience.
This book is available on Amazon JP
Message from the Author
『Barbara in the Fog』
What I hope to convey most in my new book, “Barbara in the Fog”, is the way of life of a woman named Barbara Arrowsmith-Young.
Since birth, Barbara struggled with learning disabilities. She couldn’t read the hands of the clock. She couldn’t understand what people were saying or what she was reading. She couldn’t understand the meaning of additing or subtracting numbers. But Barbara managed to keep up with in elementary school by leveraging her incredible memory.
However, every year, her studies became increasingly difficult. Eventually, in junior high school, exhaustion drove Barbara to attempt suicide. After barely managing to finish high school and attend college, her difficulties ensued. Unable to join in casual conversation with friends, Barbara always felt a deep solitude. She frequently felt overwhelmed and trapped in despair. But at the age of 26, Barbara overcame her learning disabilities by discovering a way to change her brain.
This is the story of a woman like no other. Barbara embraced the challenging circumstances in which she found herself and forged her own destiny, chafing her hands and sustaining injuries to both body and mind in the process. Barbara’s story is sure to inspire tremendous courage in readers.
Just like Barbara, we all struggle to some extent with distress, inner conflict, solitude, anxiety and despair. By overcoming her obstacles and hardships, Barbara found great joy. She also gained a sense of relief that she could finally be like others, meaning that the place where she spends time is adjoined to where we spend time. This was one of the reasons that inspired me to tell her story.
I had another reason for writing this book. I wanted to explore what it means to be human by taking a look at learning disabilities. Artificial intelligence amplifies the positive aspects of the various abilities we have as human beings. In fact, AI does a better job at this than us. We can go as far as to say that this is the only the reason for AI to exist at all. But it is different for human beings. We are able to extract value from the negative. Even if the negative accumulates and becomes zero, we can still find the highest value there.
I am grateful to Barbara for the opportunity to think about this and hope that this book will reach as many people as possible, inspiring them with the will to live.
Kyoichi Katayama
“The Brain Pioneer”
by Howard Eaton
About The Brain Pioneer
Did you know your brain is plastic?!
That’s right: because “plastic” means it can change.
This is the story of Barbara Arrowsmith-Young. As a child she was told she would never overcome the learning disabilities that made school so difficult and frustrating for her. But Barbara refused to believe that was true.
With courage, inventiveness, and resilience, she found ways to actually change her brain and improve her skills. A dedicated researcher and innovator who came to be known as “the brain pioneer” for her groundbreaking research on what’s now known as “brain plasticity,” Barbara has transformed how people with learning disabilities are perceived and educated.
Barbara created her own brain improvement program, and opened the Arrowsmith School in 1980 to bring the program to other students. Today there are over 100 schools offering the program around the world. The program can also help adults who have had brain injuries from stroke or accidents.
Through Barbara’s passion and achievements, she has taught the world that children with learning disabilities and people who have suffered brain injuries can change their brains, and dream of a brighter future!
Read on to find out how Barbara made her incredible discovery.
Includes a history of studies in brain plasticity, amazing brain facts, vital brain health recommendations, and a comprehensive glossary.
http://gliapress.com/the-brain-pioneer/
The Brain Pioneer is available online in USA / Canada / Australia
“Brain School”
by Howard Eaton
About Brain School
“Stories of Children with Learning Disabilities and Attention Disorders who changed their lives by Improving their Cognitive Functioning” by Howard Eaton, Ed.M. Brain School has just been published and can be ordered at: http://gliapress.com/brainschool/
The “Brain School” chronicles students in the Arrowsmith Program at EAS Vancouver. It describes the students’ success in terms of improved cognitive functioning and how this allows them to participate more fully and effectively in the world as well as demonstrating significant changes pre and post Arrowsmith on academic and cognitive test measures.
“The Brain that Changes Itself”
by Norman Doidge
About The Brain that Changes Itself
THE BRAIN THAT CHANGES ITSELF: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science, by Norman Doidge, M.D. is available online from chapters.indigo.ca and amazon.ca& amazon.com
Published in March, 2007, THE BRAIN THAT CHANGES ITSELF has been attracting wide interest and receiving very positive reviews in Canada and the United States.
Chapter 2 of THE BRAIN THAT CHANGES ITSELF is devoted to the work of Arrowsmith School.
To learn more about the book and read some of the reviews, please visit the website for Dr. Norman Doidge at www.normandoidge.com
The following synopsis is from the publisher’s website:
“An astonishing new science called neuroplasticity is overthrowing the centuries-old notion that the human brain is immutable. Psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, Norman Doidge, M.D., traveled the country to meet both the brilliant scientists championing neuroplasticity and the people whose lives they’ve transformed people whose mental limitations or brain damage were seen as unalterable. We see a woman born with half a brain that rewired itself to work as a whole, blind people who learn to see, learning disorders cured, IQs raised, aging brains rejuvenated, stroke patients learning to speak, children with cerebral palsy learning to move with more grace, depression and anxiety disorders successfully treated, and lifelong character traits changed. Using these marvelous stories to probe mysteries of the body, emotion, love, sex, culture, and education, Dr. Doidge has written an immensely moving, inspiring book that will permanently alter the way we look at our brains, human nature, and human potential.”