Research/books — neuroscience for dummies

Hi everyone

i recently bought a book ‘neurosceience For dummies’ in an attempt to understand the mechanics of the autistic mind. May not be the first stop for some people but I really wasn’t too sure where to go to with their being so much to choose from online. I prefer to go straight to the foundation. Do you have any opinions on where I am best to pry into? I’m not too good with having a book in front of me unless I know what I am going to focus on, it overwhelms me. This often happens, I get something because I am aware that it will be helpful, but I can’t tackle it unless I am fully aware of a small area I can begin with. Does this happen to any of you? 

Any other doses of advice? I’m interested in basically what areas of the brain are supposedly non typical, why, behaviours induced, along with self help techniques. 

Best wishes!

Parents
  • Hello, thank you to my two responders.

    In my post, I mentioned that, I can not get my head around a book a lot of the time. I have to be able to visually follow the words I'm expected to process. When I can't develop a clear mental image in some cases, I can't keep my focus, I look to see how much I've got to read, it starts to seem impossible a task, and I give up. This has caused me great frustration growing up. It's meant that I've stuck to more imagery based topics. I'm wondering if any of you have this issue. With it being a new topic, I will specifically find it difficult to make a start and follow it through.

  • You could try coursera, as that's an online lecture, you don't have to read a lot: https://www.coursera.org

    They have quite a few neuroscience-related courses. Introduction to psychology seems really good for beginners, https://www.coursera.org/learn/introduction-psych#, and there's a slightly more advanced-looking one called medical neuroscience https://www.coursera.org/learn/medical-neuroscience 

    There's also an introduction to psychology in the Open Yale Courses: https://oyc.yale.edu/NODE/231 

    Hmm, I usually don't have any issues with reading. I just focus on whichever page I'm on and read from beginning to end. I do not think about how much I have left. It's like when you watch a movie you really enjoy, you just focus on (or be immersed in) the present and not think when will it ever end. 

    By the way, the textbooks I mentioned do have lots of colorful figures, so that might be able to help. I'm sure you can pick up a lot of the main ideas by looking at the pictures and their captions. This might be a good way to begin?

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  • You could try coursera, as that's an online lecture, you don't have to read a lot: https://www.coursera.org

    They have quite a few neuroscience-related courses. Introduction to psychology seems really good for beginners, https://www.coursera.org/learn/introduction-psych#, and there's a slightly more advanced-looking one called medical neuroscience https://www.coursera.org/learn/medical-neuroscience 

    There's also an introduction to psychology in the Open Yale Courses: https://oyc.yale.edu/NODE/231 

    Hmm, I usually don't have any issues with reading. I just focus on whichever page I'm on and read from beginning to end. I do not think about how much I have left. It's like when you watch a movie you really enjoy, you just focus on (or be immersed in) the present and not think when will it ever end. 

    By the way, the textbooks I mentioned do have lots of colorful figures, so that might be able to help. I'm sure you can pick up a lot of the main ideas by looking at the pictures and their captions. This might be a good way to begin?

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