If you’ve ever been haunted by the possibility of dementia, you’re probably not alone. In a world that glorifies productivity but rarely practices brain health, Keep Sharp by Dr. Sanjay Gupta is a much-needed reality check.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta is not just a trusted neurosurgeon and medical correspondent; he’s also a clear voice cutting through the noise around aging and cognitive decline. In Keep Sharp: Build a Better Brain at Any Age, he uses his medical expertise to busting myths and offer practical lifestyle changes, to remind us that it’s never too early — or too late — to care for our brains.
But here’s something special: Sanjay Gupta doesn’t just offer you advice. He honors the thinkers and scientists who came before him by mentioning the books that deeply influenced his understanding of the brain. If you’re the kind of person who loves going down intellectual study sessions, here’s a brainy reading list inspired by Keep Sharp — which is a beautiful mix of science, philosophy, psychology and brain diets.
1. A Treatise on Insanity by Dr. James Cowles Prichard
Blurb: This is one of the earliest texts that treated mental illness as a medical condition rather than a moral failing. Dr. Prichard introduced the term “moral insanity” — a precursor to our modern understanding of behavioral disorders. Think of it as a brave voice from a time when compassion for mental health was rare.
2. An Alchemy of Mind by Diane Ackerman
Blurb: From the New York Times bestselling author of The Zookeeper’s Wife , an ambitious and enlightening work that combines an artist’s eye with a scientist’s erudition to illuminate, as never before, the magic and mysteries of the human mind.
Long treasured by literary readers for her uncommon ability to bridge the gap between art and science, celebrated scholar-artist Diane Ackerman returns with the book she was born to write. Her dazzling new work, An Alchemy of Mind, offers an unprecedented exploration and celebration of the mental fantasia in which we spend our days — and does for the human mind what the bestselling A Natural History of the Senses did for the physical senses.
Bringing a valuable female perspective to the topic, Diane Ackerman discusses the science of the brain as only she can: with gorgeous, immediate language and imagery that paint an unusually lucid and vibrant picture for the reader. And in addition to explaining memory, thought, emotion, dreams, and language acquisition, she reports on the latest discoveries in neuroscience and addresses controversial subjects like the effects of trauma and male versus female brains. In prose that is not simply accessible but also beautiful and electric, Ackerman distills the hard, objective truths of science in order to yield vivid, heavily anecdotal explanations about a range of existential questions regarding consciousness, human thought, memory, and the nature of identity.
3. The Memory Book by Harry Lorayne and Jerry Lucas
Blurb: Unleash the hidden power of your mind through Harry Lorayne and Jerry Lucas’s simple, fail-safe memory system, and you can become more effective, more imaginative, and more powerful, at work, at school, in sports and play. Discover how easy it is to: file phone numbers, data, figures, and appointments right in your head; learn foreign words and phrases with ease; read with speed — and greater understanding; shine in the classroom — and shorten study hours; dominate social situations, and more.
4. The Principles of Psychology by William James
Blurb: One of the great classics of modern Western literature and science and the source of the ripest thoughts of America’s most important philosopher. As such, it should not be confused with the many abridgements that omit key sections.
The book presents lucid descriptions of human mental activity, with detailed considerations of the stream of thought, consciousness, time perception, memory, imagination, emotions, reason, abnormal phenomena, and similar topics. In its course it takes into account the work of Berkeley, Binet, Bradley, Darwin, Descartes, Fechner, Galton, Green, Helmholtz, Herbart, Hume, Janet, Kant, Lange, Lotze, Locke, Mill, Royce, Schopenhauer, Spinoza, Wundt, and scores of others. It examines contrasting interpretations of mental phenomena, treating introspective analysis, philosophical interpretations, and experimental research.
It remains unsurpassed today as a brilliantly written survey of William James’ timeless view of psychology.
5. Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain by Sharon Begley
Blurb: Is it really possible to change the structure and function of the brain, and in so doing alter how we think and feel? The answer is a resounding yes. In late 2004, leading Western scientists joined the Dalai Lama at his home in Dharamsala, India, to address this very question–and in the process brought about a revolution in our understanding of the human mind. In this fascinating and far-reaching book, Wall Street Journal science writer Sharon Begley reports on how cutting-edge science and the ancient wisdom of Buddhism have come together to show how we all have the power to literally change our brains by changing our minds. These findings hold exciting implications for personal transformation.
For decades, the conventional wisdom of neuroscience held that the hardware of the brain is fixed and immutable–that we are stuck with what we were born with. As Begley shows, however, recent pioneering experiments in neuroplasticity, a new science that investigates whether and how the brain can undergo wholesale change, reveal that the brain is capable not only of altering its structure but also of generating new neurons, even into old age. The brain can adapt, heal, renew itself after trauma, and compensate for disability.
Begley documents how this fundamental paradigm shift is transforming both our understanding of the human mind and our approach to deep-seated emotional, cognitive, and behavioral problems. These breakthroughs show that it is possible to reset our happiness meter, regain the use of limbs disabled by stroke, train the mind to break cycles of depression and OCD, and reverse age-related changes in the brain. They also suggest that it is possible to teach and learn compassion, a key step in the Dalai Lama’s quest for a more peaceful world. But as we learn from studies performed on Buddhist monks, an important component in changing the brain is to tap the power of mind and, in particular, focused attention. This is the classic Buddhist practice of mindfulness, a technique that has become popular in the West and that is immediately available to everyone.
With her extraordinary gift for making science accessible, meaningful, and compelling, Sharon Begley illuminates a profound shift in our understanding of how the brain and the mind interact. This tremendously hopeful book takes us to the leading edge of a revolution in what it means to be human.
6. The Story of the Human Body by Dr. Daniel Lieberman
Blurb: In a book that illuminates, as never before, the evolutionary story of the human body, Daniel Lieberman deftly examines the major transformations that contributed key adaptations to the body: the advent of bipedalism; the shift to a non-fruit-based diet; the rise of hunting and gathering and our superlative endurance athletic abilities; the development of a very large brain; and the incipience of modern cultural abilities. He elucidates how cultural evolution differs from biological evolution, and how it further transformed our bodies during the Agricultural and Industrial Revolutions. Lieberman illuminates how these ongoing changes have brought many benefits, but also have created novel conditions to which our bodies are not entirely adapted, resulting in a growing incidence of obesity and new but avoidable diseases, including type-2 diabetes. He proposes that many of these chronic illnesses persist and in some cases are intensifying because of “dysevolution,” a pernicious dynamic whereby only the symptoms rather than the causes of these maladies are treated. And finally — provocatively — he advocates the use of evolutionary information to help nudge, push, and sometimes oblige us to create a more salubrious environment.
7. Diet for the Mind by Dr. Martha Clare Morris
Blurb: Several factors play into whether you will suffer from cognitive decline and develop Alzheimer’s disease — lifestyle, health conditions, environment, and genetics, for example. But now there is scientific evidence indicating that diet plays a bigger role in brain health than we ever thought before. In Diet for the MIND, one of the leaders in this research provides an easy, non-invasive, and effective way to prevent cognitive decline and reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease through diet and lifestyle.
There are specific foods and nutrients that are important for keeping the brain functioning optimally, and also foods to limit because they can cause brain injury. With 80 delicious recipes for every occasion, Diet for the MINDis your roadmap to a healthy brain — for life.
8. The Alzheimer’s Treatment and Prevention Diet by Dr. Richard Isaacson
Blurb: The Alzheimer ‘ s Prevention and Treatment Diet outlines a cutting-edge nutritional program that will be of interest both to Alzheimer’s patients and to anybody who wants to maintain optimal memory and mental agility for years to come. The book begins with an overview of Alzheimer’s disease, outlining its symptoms, risk factors, diagnosis, and current treatment methods. You’ll also learn how Alzheimer’s disease differs from other forms of memory loss and cognitive impairment. Next, Drs. Isaacson and Ochner take a closer look at the impact of nutrition on your ability to think and remember, examining the effects of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins on the brain. Then, they share their innovative program for Alzheimer’s prevention, showing you how to maximize your cognitive health through diet and exercise. Finally, the authors give tips for the caregiver on adapting and implementing the program for people who already have Alzheimer’s, decreasing the speed with which symptoms worsen. If Alzheimer’s disease is a concern for you or a loved one, The Alzheimer ‘ s Prevention and Treatment Diet will give you the information you need to fight back. Using Dr. Isaacson and Dr. Ochner’s recommendations, you can put into practice what the evidence is showing us — that what you eat can make all the difference for your mind.
9. UnDo It! by Dr. Dean Ornish and Anne Ornish
Blurb: Dean Ornish, M.D., has directed revolutionary research proving, for the first time, that lifestyle changes can often reverse — undo! — the progression of many of the most common and costly chronic diseases and even begin reversing aging at a cellular level.
Medicare and many insurance companies now cover Dr. Ornish’s lifestyle medicine program for reversing chronic disease because it consistently achieves bigger changes in lifestyle, better clinical outcomes, larger cost savings, and greater adherence than have ever been reported — based on forty years of research published in the leading peer-reviewed medical and scientific journals.
Now, in this landmark book, he and Anne Ornish present a simple yet powerful new unifying theory explaining why these same lifestyle changes can reverse so many different chronic diseases and how quickly these benefits occur. They describe what it is, why it works, and how you can do
• Eat well : a whole foods, plant-based diet naturally low in fat and sugar and high in flavor. The “Ornish diet” has been rated “#1 for Heart Health” by U.S. News & World Report for eleven years since 2011.
• Move more : moderate exercise such as walking
• Stress less : including meditation and gentle yoga practices
• Love more : how love and intimacy transform loneliness into healing
With seventy recipes, easy-to-follow meal plans, tips for stocking your kitchen and eating out, recommended exercises, stress-reduction advice, and inspiring patient stories of life-transforming benefits — for example, several people improved so much after only nine weeks they were able to avoid a heart transplant — Undo It! empowers readers with new hope and new choices.
Your Brain is Here For You. But Are You?
Reading Keep Sharp made me reflect on how we treat our brains like passive observers until something goes wrong. But what if we could do better with our brain — nourish it, challenge it, calm it down, and maybe, even inspire it? This list is a starting point — not just for understanding brain health, but for falling in love with the mind all over again.
Because being sharp isn’t just about outwitting memory loss. It’s about staying curious, engaged, and mentally alive for as long as we can. And if that journey starts with a good book (or nine), all the better.
Would you add anything more to this brainy reading list?
