Best Brain Ever
How to Level Up, Be More Focused, and Be Less Stressed
About understanding mental health and the ever-growing adolescent brain, Therese Huston’s Best Brain Ever is an empowering and practical self-help book for confronting everyday stressors.
A whimsical brain character guides this text, its presence energetic on each page. It debunks learning myths, provides neuroscience-backed research, and is motivational in naming different strategies and activities to promote growth. The chapters are dedicated to improving creativity and focus while reducing stress, with extra support for those who have been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Doodles surround the pages, bringing light, a pop of color, and creativity.
Humor and lightheartedness flow through the writing, both in side comments and in Adults Get it Wrong sections. The activities and physical exercises that follow the information also stand to initiate spurts of laughter: there are prompts for writing a random story about a “stuffed animal, rash, report card”; there’s a nudge toward sock wrestling, where socks are snatched off from each other, too.
The book showcases individualized reading pathways by suggesting chapters to jump to depending on one’s mindset and beliefs. Huston also includes practical examples of how to reframe a fixed mindset, transforming it to a growth mindset, and talks about the importance of creativity being a skill that can be nurtured. Definitions for scientific words are included, and the descriptions of tough concepts are clear. Graphs like the feelings wheel further help when it comes to identifying stress and ways to manage it. Check-in questions to assess levels of stress, a parent-to-youth phone contract, and outside resources round out this useful work.
Best Brain Ever is an encouraging self-help text with a fun, joyful take on reducing stress. It makes room for creativity and nurtures focus for growing minds.
Reviewed by
Leanne Galvan
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. No fee was paid by the publisher for this review. Foreword Reviews only recommends books that we love. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
