Mid-morning, I got into bed ready to embark on a long and unproductive journey of browsing through my phone. Luckily, for me, the charger was not plugged in properly and I saw a mere 24% battery life smirking at it me. Well, I plugged it back in and picked up a book from my bedside pile. This was one I had read before but it is such a storehouse of knowledge that you can read it again, and again.
I bought Inventing Ourselves by Sarah-Jayne Blackmore to prepare as a parent for the crucial stages of my 10-year old son’s adolescent development. But, its more than a parenting book – it’s a scientific book and even a self-help book for it helps to understand your own life when you were a teenager. Inner child therapy is an important part of healing and I think this book provides information that can help in that exercise. The most important lesson is that teenage is the life phase of developing self-worth and obviously family has an impact on this milestone.
Scientifically, it gives significant information that all parents should know, example: schizophrenia is a genetic, developmental disorder that manifests between ages of 18-25; or the psychology of risk-taking; or that the mean age for substance abuse is around 25 years. I am reading this book a second time and marking stuff. It’s insightful and educative, a reference book and yet a story of the teenage brain
This is one of those books you need both as an ebook and a bedside copy. If you are interested in the functioning of the brain and the social influences on our mental growth and well-being, I recommend this as a great weekend read. It is lucid, succinct, and informational.
Blue Pen Strokes 