How to Become Smarter
Author
Nikolai Shevchuk
Publisher
CreateSpace
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This book describes techniques for improving mental abilities such as general intelligence, attention control and impulse control, speed of thinking, reading and writing performance as well as understanding and getting along with other people. Regulation of mood is also covered. The methods are mostly biological and include "smart diets" and hydrotherapy (brief cooling or heating of the body). Some of the things that this book can help you to achieve include:
· Depending on circumstances, use different lifestyles that improve one or another mental function.
· Experience euphoria without drugs and come up with new ideas, when needed.
· Slow down and prevent yourself from making rash, impulsive decisions, when necessary.
· Develop a sharp wit, become more talkative, and entertain people.
· When necessary, lower your mood and increase emotional tension, which can help to reduce procrastination.
· Use smart diets to increase your score on intelligence tests or on general aptitude tests.
· Concentrate on reading and writing tasks for many hours daily.
· Increase your grade point average if you are a student or improve your job productivity if you are a knowledge worker.
· Get along with people and live without arguments and conflicts.
Theoretical argumentation and documented evidence are provided to support the claims. In addition, about one half of the claims are supported by previously published scientific studies. The paperback edition will come out in late January-early February 2010. For the time being, a free full preview is available for downloading: www.createspace.com/Preview/1064464
Reviews can be posted on the Amazon.com page for the Kindle edition (identical book): www.amazon.com/dp/B0032JT11K
or when the Amazon.com webpage of the paperback edition goes live (February 2010).
Reviews
Reviewed on 01/20/2011 by ReviewTheBook.com Member Kathleen Albertson
Russian-born microbiologist Nikolai Shevchuk takes his years of self-tested theories about food and delivers this knowledge in an easy to read format called, “How To Become Smarter”. Although I found the title misleading when considering the direction of the content, Shevchuk’s book is crammed full of all kinds of information you won’t find in other food resource books.
“How To Become Smarter” is Shevchuk’s comprehensive and in-depth study of foods, food additives, and elimination diets and their affect on mental clarity and mood. While well documented and interesting, he also responsibly notes several times in the book that these experiments are self tests and not clinically proven. His tests do have limitations, though as his results are subjective and based on opinion, there are no experimental or control groups utilizing various ages or ethnicities, nor could there be any blind or double blind set ups for validity. He does point this out several times throughout the text to avoid misleading his readers. Shevchuk tackles such subjects as natural versus unnatural foods (ie. additives, flavor enhancers, coloring, etc), raw versus cooked foods and the chemical changes which occur as heat is added, and the effects of these foods on mood, concentration and such disorders as Attention Deficit and Hyperactivitiy Disorder (ADD/ADHD), testing, reading, and writing abilities, and a wide range of emotions and social tendencies. He offers elimination diet ideas for all types of intellectual, emotional, and social goals while pointing out that these diets are a temporary fix and not permanent solutions. The book ends rather abruptly after his chapter on social intelligence; Shevchuk offers no wrap up or conclusion for the reader.
I did find Shevchuk’s “How To Become Smarter” title to be quite misleading; I was definitely not expecting a ‘food book’. Something like, “Mood Food”, “Feed Your Mind”, or “Anything and Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Food” would better suit the text while appealing to a wider audience (such as those interested in alternative, natural, and holistic health and wellness). With over 400 pages of details, observations, comparisons, research, suggested foods to eat or eliminate which relate to specific goals, the title “How To Become Smarter” didn’t seem to do the book justice.
Nikolai Shevchuk writes an intelligent, organized book on the mental and physical effects of food on the human body. Meant to serve as informational versus clinically proven fact, “How To Become Smarter” is a great resource!
Reviewed on 05/03/2010 by ReviewTheBook.com Member Vicki Landes
