Category: Educational

Book: “The Brain Trust Program”

The subtitle of this book is “A Scientifically Based Three-Part Plan to Improve Memory, Elevate Mood, Enhance Attention, Alleviate Migraine and Menopausal Symptoms, and Boost Mental Energy”

This books describes the care and feeding of the brain as in what to eat and not eat. It contains sets of brain exercises that are scientifically designed to enhance the functioning of your brain. It also covers on Alzheimer’s Disease.

BBC Documentary DVD: “Planet Earth”

This the BBC Series 5-disc DVD set “Planet Earth” explores the marvels of our planet and its wildlife.
Watch the trailer »

I have watched all eleven episodes which includes some spectacular footage. Below are just some of the amazing scenes that I saw.

But don’t just take my word for it. Wikipedia also has a good description of the DVD set

Episode 1: “Pole to Pole”

  • Emperor penguins protecting their eggs in Antarctica’s winter darkness
  • Polar bear and its two cubs which are amazingly cute to watch
  • Slow motion footage of shark jumping out of water to catch a seal
  • Elephants with a mother and its baby caught in a sandstorm
  • Birds in the tropics dancing it mating dance
  • Rare footage of wild pack dogs on thier hunt
  • Wolf catching a deer

“Planet Earth Diaries”, which are behind-the-scene look at the filming, explains how the film crew consists of both a land crew and an helicopter crew with a gyro-camera called the Heligimbal mounted at on the helicopter.

Episode 2: “Mountains”

  • Ethiopia’s volcano
  • Avalanche in progress
  • Time elapse photography of mountain monkeys
  • ibex, puma, bear and its cute two cubs, giant panda and it week-old newborn
  • the rarely seen snow leopard and red panda
  • eagle catching its prey in mid-flight
  • cranes who have to migrate over the Himalayas

An amazing treat in this episode is footage of snow leopard chasing its prey. “Planet Earth Diaries” explains its quest to film the snow leopard and how rare it is to spot one.

Episode 3: “Fresh Water”

  • See some strange aquatic creatures
  • Giant salamander
  • Crocodiles dragging off a Wilderbeast
  • piranha’s feeding frenzy that can strip a fish to its bone in minutes
  • spectacular waterfalls

Planet Earth Diaries in this episode shows the crews quest to film the piranha’s feeding.

Episode 4: Caves

  • Watch base jumpers jumps into pit caves
  • Watch snake snatch up a bat
  • Watch the aerial acrobatics of falcons as they catch bats in mid-air
  • See immense caves with its strange inhabitants
  • Cueva de Villa Luz cave with flowing sulfuric acid
  • New Mexico’s famous Lechuguilla Cave with gypsum crystal formations

Planet Earth Diaries shows the film crew filming a giant mound of bat dung covered with cockroaches.

Episode 5: Deserts

  • duelling ibexes
  • multi-colored lizards jumping up to catch black flies
  • giant swarms of locusts which eats everything in its path
  • important role of cactus in the deserts

Planet Earth Diaries shows the difficulty of tracking camels.

Episode 6: Ice Worlds

We see again the mother bear with its two cubs. But what is more distressing is watching the male polar bear swimming for miles looking for food as its ice world dis-integrates with global warming. In an act of desperation, he tries to attack a group of walruses that are larger then he is. Unfortunately he got speared by the walruses meter-long tusk and is not longer able to hunt.

We also see the cooperation of the Emperor penguins as they brave the arctic blizzards.

Planet Earth diaries details the year-long expedition to film the penguins.

Episode 7: Great Plains

Here we see a …

  • importance of grass and water to life
  • group of lions hunt down an elephant
  • fox snatching eggs and catching chicks
  • wolf catching a caribou calf

Planet Earth Diaries explains how infrared cameras are used to film the lion hunt at night.

Episode 8: Jungles

  • Diverse and unusual species of monkeys, birds, and insects are found in the jungle.
  • The time-lapse photography of the growth of the rain forest plants are amazing.
  • See the inventiveness of a spider and its silk thread in capturing prey out of a pitcher plant
  • Raiding monkeys expand their territory and cannibalizes another monkey
  • Watch three species of birds of paradise display their mating rituals

Planet Earth Dairies shows the immense patience of sitting over a total of 100 hours in a hide trying to wait for the display of the mating dances of the birds of paradizes.

Episode 9: Shallow Seas
The episode starts with a mother whale and its few-weeks-old baby calf in the breeding grounds in topics and ends with the two in the feeding grounds in the poles. You’ll see dolphins hydroplane in near the beaches to catch fish and great white sharks breaching out of the waters to catch seals in mid air. BBC catches one of these breaches in slow motion. And Planet Earth Dairies documents the filming of this with its slow motion camera.

Episode 10: Seasonal Forest

  • You see the tallest trees and the oldest trees in these forest
  • Watch owl chicks take their first flight
  • Mass emergence of cicadas that comes in 17 year cycles

Planet Earth Dairies shows how filming was done via hot air balloons. It is not easy as you can see from a small crash of the balloon into the trees.

Episode 11: Ocean Deep

  • whale shark
  • dolphines
  • spider crab
  • whitetip sharks
  • sail fish
  • and more

Planet Earth Dairies shows the filming of whitetip sharks.

Three more episodes

  • Saving Species: Episode show scientists and conservationists talk about the importance of saving species.
  • Into the Wilderness: This episode focuses on the human effect on the environment
  • Living Together: This episode documents conservation efforts.

Video Documentary: “The Other Side of Outsourcing”

Thomas Friedman, New York Times Foreign Affairs columnist goes to India Bangalore’s call centers to talk to the young folks living there and how globalization is changing the way they live. Friedman does not only just visit the high tech centers; he also visits the villages of the working poor less than an hour’s ride away where there is often not even running water.
Thomas Friedman, New York Times Foreign Affairs columnist goes to India Bangalore’s call centers to talk to the young folks living there and how globalization is changing the way they live. Friedman does not only just visit the high tech centers; he also visits the villages of the working poor less than an hour’s ride away where there is often not even running water.

WATCH VIDEO on YouTube »

Thomas Friedman has written the following books on globalization…

Books on Brain Health

Here are some practical books on the care of your brain and how to keep it healthly.

Change Your Brain, Change Your Life

The subtitle of this book is “The Breakthrough Program for Conquering Anxiety, Depression, Obsessiveness, Anger, and Impulsiveness”

Dr. Daniel G. Amen write an informative and practical book on how to keep your brain healthy and working well. Regardless of what state your brain is in now, it can be improved. Because the brain is so central to our being, improving the brain often will improve our lives. The two main points is good diet and exercise.

Dr. Amen is a clinical neuro scientist and medical director of Amen Clinic for Behavioral Medicine.

More books by Dr. Amen »

The Brain Trust Program:

The subtitle of this book is “A Scientifically Based Three-Part Plan to Improve Memory, Elevate Mood, Enhance Attention, Alleviate Migraine and Menopausal Symptoms, and Boost Mental Energy”

This books describes the care and feeding of the brain as in what to eat and not eat. It contains sets of brain exercises that are scientifically designed to enhance the functioning of your brain. It also covers on Alzheimer’s Disease.

Preventing Alzheimer’s: Ways to Help Prevent, Delay, Detect, and Even Halt Alzheimer’s Disease and OtherForms of Memory Loss

The authors Dr. Shankle (neurologist) and Dr. Amen (psychiatrist) writes in the first chapter, “Alzheimer’s disease (AD) begins an average of 30 years before the first symptoms.”

This books will provide you with prevention strategies that may delay onset long enough so that one never have symptoms.

Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain

Aerobic exercise is not just good for the heart, it is also good for the brain in more ways than one. That is according to John Ratey, the author of this book who is professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.

A User’s Guide to the Brain: Perception, Attention, and the Four Theaters of the Brain

An excerpt from the back cover reads “Ratey clearly and succinctly surveys what scientists now know about the brain and how we use it. He looks at the brain as a malleable organ capable of improvement and change, like any muscle, and examines the way secific motor functions might be applied to overcome neural disorders ranging from everyday shyness to autism.”

Brain Health Foods

According to chapter 4 of the book The Brain Trust Program:, some brain healthy foods are …

  • Fish and Seafood with omega-3 such as salmon, tuna, mackerel, herring, trout, sardines, and anchovies. If you are worried about toxins in fish, keep in mind that smaller fish generally have less toxins.
  • Berries because their anti-oxidant ability to absorb free radicals
  • Spinach and dark-green vegetables for its vitamin B and floic acid
  • Spices like turmeric, ginger, sage, rosemary
  • Coffee and green tea
  • eggs for its vitamin A, E, B-12, and folate
  • avocados because it contains good oils and many vitamins and minerals such as A, C, E, K, magnesium, and potassium
  • Nuts and seeds
  • Wine
According to page 5 of the book
Preventing Alzheimer’s: Ways to Help Prevent, Delay, Detect, and Even Halt Alzheimer’s Disease and OtherForms of Memory Loss
Anti-oxidants like vitamin E, ginkgo biloba, and possibly alpha lipoic acid may delay the onset of Alzheimer. These antioxidants absorbs the free radicals which damage or kill brain cells.

This article on Alzheimer’s Association suggests …

  • dark-skinned fruits and vegetables such as spinach, broccoli, blueberries, blackberries, etc.
  • cold water fish such as halibut, mackerel, salmon, trout, and tuna
  • nuts such as almonds, pecans, and walnuts

It also indicates that vitamin E, C, B12, and folate may be helpful.