Directly from the Lumosity website:
“Did you know that the human brain starts slowing down as early as age 30? The good news is that you can speed it up, and improve even your most basic cognitive abilities at any age. Keep your brain performing at its best with Lumosity, the brain fitness program developed by some of the leading neuroscientists in the world.”
“Lumosity is the brain fitness program designed by neuroscientists that is scientifically demonstrated to improve your memory, attention and processing speed.”
I’m sold! (although it is free during beta.) I’m signing up right now…
I stumbled upon this book on Amazon.com that sounds pretty cool:
Amazon.com description: “You’re smart. This book can make you smarter. Mind Performance Hacks provides real-life tips and tools for overclocking your brain and becoming a better thinker. In the increasingly frenetic pace of today’s information economy, managing your life requires hacking your brain. With this book, you’ll cut through the clutter and tune up your brain intentionally, safely, and productively. Grounded in current research and theory, but offering practical solutions you can apply immediately, Mind Performance Hacks is filled with life hacks that teach you to:
* Use mnemonic tricks to remember numbers, names, dates, and other flotsam you need to recall
* Put down your calculator and perform complex math in your head, with your fingers, or on the back of a napkin
* Spark your creativity with innovative brainstorming methods
* Use effective systems to capture new ideas before they get away
* Communicate in creative new ways-even using artificial languages
* Make better decisions by foreseeing problems and finding surprising solutions
* Improve your mental fitness with cool tricks and games
While the hugely successful Mind Hacks showed you how your brain works, Mind Performance Hacks shows you how to make it work better.”
Mental Floss magazine “blurs the lines between a great education and great entertainment. Packed full with pages of tidbits, quirky facts and history, this delightfully eclectic new magazine teaches you what you should have learned in school - but didn’t.” Sounds interesting. People are giving it good reviews on Amazon as well. I’ll have to see if I can pick up a copy at Borders to check it out. Personally, I love magazines. Right now I have a subscription to Mens Health and GQ. Mens Health is my absolute favorite and combines almost all of my interests - health, exercise, nutrition and style. GQ is hit and miss for me . Most of the time it seems too stylized for my taste. Mental Floss could be a great addition to my magazine collection.
The other day I stumbled upon this website which lists links to free foreign language lesson podcasts. I’ve already started using Rosetta Stone - Spanish, but the free podcast lessons allows me to continue my spanish lessons during my commute and at work.
Published on Thursday April 26, 2007 .
This morning it became evident that I really need to brush up on my spanish. The reality is Latinos are the largest and fastest-growing minority group in the country. In Los Angeles almost everything is printed in both Spanish and English. And there are plenty of people who speak very little English. When you deal with people in construction or hospitality it’s almost imperative that you know enough Spanish in order to communicate with people. This morning I had to rely on the 3 years of Castilian Spanish I took in High School along with that school trip to Spain in order to communicate with a contractor. I didn’t do too bad. I think I’ve retained a good amount of Spanish from high school because at that time pop music was incorporating Spanish into lyrics - such as the song “I Adore, Mi Amore” by Color Me Bad, or “Mentirosa” by Mellow Man Ace and artists such as Gloria Estefan and Jon Secada were popular.
One of my goals for this year was to finally become fluent in Spanish. I think I might start working on that now. So do you think I can become fluent in Spanish in 30 days? I would say a definite “yes” if I moved to Spain for a month and was forced to think and speak in Spanish everyday. But I guess it’s easy enough to immerse yourself in Spanish living in LA. I will also pickup a copy of Rosetta Stone - Spanish since I’ve heard good things about it.
