Is The Power Within Us? Well, Maybe...

Vance starts this book with the story of how he was cured of a deadly disease through his Christian Scientist background. A story of faith. And that's what flows through "Suggestible You". It's a story of placebos, curses/hexes, hypnosis, suggestibility, and even false memories.
The placebo effect gets the vast majority of airtime, but the anecdotes are compelling. I just listened to an NPR episode of a writer who helped come up with a Write Better, Quicker placebo and who wound up, hilariously, abusing it, so this was all fairly fascinating.
Most of the book is history and stories, but the latter two hours or so are how we can harness them in our daily lives. We can get through food cravings because the placebo effect has the effect of raising dopamine levels, just like food. We can run faster, have better sex, live with less pain, and we can even question our bad memories of trauma, our lousy childhoods.
Paul Michael Garcia does a decent enough job, but I dinged him a star because what humor is in the book is kinda sorta just lost. I mean, how can you make the comparison of having pain tolerance and listening to a Justin Bieber album unfunny? Uhm, Garcia can...
A decent enough book, just be prepared for a lengthy, lengthy discussion of placebos and how, basically, we're responsible for ourselves and our states of health.
Fascinating in its discussion of how Parkinson's disease can be helped, fascinating on how memories can be clouded, but it's a bit like a two-by-four over the head.
Still, who likes side-effects when there's the chance we can live without them?
It's all a matter of expectations and suggestibility. I suggest the listen, but I also suggest it as a sale item rather than a full credit. Unless you're looking for relief that's in your hands...

101 persone l'hanno trovata utile

Overstates it's central premise but interesting

Overall it contains a lot of fascinating topics and covers relevant research in an engaging way. The issues crop up around the central concept of the book; the effectiveness of placebos. It basically oversells the idea and doesn't do more than a brief mention of alternative explanations, essentially amounting to a hand wave of information counter to the idea of powerful placebos.

Narration is fine for the most part, it just reads a little slow so for the first time ever I found myself ramping it up to 1.3 speed. That might be related to me not fully engaging in the material and being a little skeptical of its content.

50 persone l'hanno trovata utile

Very interesting book, I have recommended to several others

It is rare that I write a review but this book deserves a good review.
Has changed the way I view many things like faith healers, supplements, hypnotism and placebos.

Great journey into the human mind and how memory meets expectation, suggestion and placebo.

Couldn't stop listening to it. I also see where a great many people who struggle with some of the problems listed as being very susceptible to placebo like addiction, depression, IBS, or even Parkinson's may really appreciate learning the truth about the drugs they are being given.

Highly recommend.

Also, there is a great appendix that is a hypnotic induction to reduce pain during dental work! I'm going to cue it up next time I'm in the chair!

41 persone l'hanno trovata utile

Associations and Expectations

If you frequently question certainty along with the nature of being and why we do the things we do, this book is for you. "Suggestible You" presents so much of this in a cool and easy format, with the author often presenting a sense of humor mixed intellect. He covers a wide range of beliefs and expectations, the biochemistry of placebos and nocebos, along with strange experiences to even the unexplainable; the sciences are still quite incapable (it's a growing dilemma) of proving just what the heck is going on within our brains and the power of belief, radical or not.
It's a delightful insight into the associations and expectations that drive us and make us who we are.
Highly recommended.

25 persone l'hanno trovata utile

Scientific information, but not usable

It gives scientific information on Plecebo, black magic, superstitious beliefs. I personally don't know how to use the information.

22 persone l'hanno trovata utile

Very interesting and well written

This book made me realise what a difference a good science writer makes when it comes to making scientific material entertaining and accessible. Fascinating book.

10 persone l'hanno trovata utile

I didn't know I was so gullible.

If you could sum up Suggestible You in three words, what would they be?

fascinating, entertaining, educational

Who was your favorite character and why?

Luana Colloca and her enthusiasm for placebo response and pain.

Have you listened to any of Paul Michael Garcia’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Haven't before but think he did a good job on this book.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I was fascinated.

8 persone l'hanno trovata utile

I suggest that you read, listen to this book.

A very interesting, enlightening and enjoyable read that it founded in fact and well documented.

7 persone l'hanno trovata utile

Life Changing

Fascinating and empowering... you will be entertained while discovering some of the hidden superpowers of your mind.

7 persone l'hanno trovata utile

Not.

the author talks too much about his views on religion. I couldn't get past the first five or ten minutes. Absolutely not for me.

6 persone l'hanno trovata utile