How many wars has humanity survived? How to measure beauty? What do laughter and a grimace of discontent have in common?
A hundred understandable explanations of a variety of things you will find in this book. Its author is a professor at the Department of Psychophysiology at the UNN named after I. N.I. Lobachevsky, leading researcher at the Institute of Applied Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences Vladimir Antonets.
From book:
Can the sound of your name affect how you are perceived?
Russian philologist Vladimir Zhuravlev found out that the messages contained in the sound of the words of the modern Russian language can be evaluated using 25 emotional antonymous comparisons: “good - bad”, “joyful - sad”, “safe - scary”, “simple - complex” and others.
After conducting research with a large number of people, Zhuravlev was able to establish what subconscious rating on which scale each sound has.
Now it is easy to find a clue on the Internet what impression your name leaves. For example, Nikolai is handsome and safe, Kolya is good, and Kolyan is good, kind and handsome. An analysis of the poems and illustrations to them showed that poets intuitively observe phonosemantic rules and that there are also sound-color relationships that are also observed in the language.
Beauty squared
Most people think that mathematics is too abstract and far from real life science. It wasn't there!
Have you heard of a mathematical theory that makes it easier to find a life partner? Can you guess how exponential growth is connected with catastrophes threatening humanity? Are you aware that the numbers in the company logo affect your purchases? From the book of mathematician and philosopher Alex Bellos, you will learn about this and much more. Read in one breath!
From book:
A warning to humanity
Physics professor Albert Bartlett has been delivering his famous lecture "Arithmetic, Population and Energy" since 1969. Each time, he begins it by saying, in an un- auspicious tone, "The greatest failing of the human race is its inability to grasp the essence of exponential growth."
Exponential growth occurs when a value constantly increases in proportion to its value, for example by doubling: 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64…
Imagine a bottle of bacteria doubling every minute. At 11:00 a.m., there is one bacterium in the bottle, and by 12:00 a.m., the bottle will be completely filled with bacteria. “If you were just a normal bacterium living in this bottle,” asks Bartlett, “at what point in time would you realize that free space is about to run out?” Strikingly, at 11:55 the bottle seems almost empty: it is only 3 percent full.
Bartlett's bottle is a warning to the inhabitants of the Earth. If the world's population continues to grow exponentially, there won't be any free space on the planet much faster than it seems.
Game theory
Do you want to impress others with your perspicacity? Learn to think strategically and emerge victorious from any situation? This book was written especially for you.
From book:
Less is better
Perhaps you think it's always good to have more options. But if you think strategically, reducing the number of possible options can do more good.
Thomas Schelling writes in his book about how the Athenian commander Xenophon fought with his back to a deep gorge. He deliberately chose such a position so that his soldiers would not have the opportunity to retreat. In that battle, their backs were stiff, but they won.
Similarly, Cortés sank his ships after arriving in Mexico. The Aztecs could retreat deep into their territory, and there was no way for the soldiers of Cortes to escape or retreat. By making the defeat even more disastrous than it would have been on its own, Cortés increased his chances of winning - and won.
Psychology
Psychology is one of the most interesting sciences about man, and now it has become accessible to everyone. To better understand yourself and other people, you do not need to read the writings of scientists written in complex language.
In this book, the theory is explained in such a simple and engaging way that you will be able to advise your friends in a couple of days. Paul Kleinman will help you understand the key ideas of psychology, the concepts of Freud, Fromm, Rorschach and other researchers.
From book:
social phobia
Social phobia is one of the most common types of anxiety disorder; its symptoms at some point in time occur in almost 13 percent of the world's population.
A person suffering from social phobia is constantly worried about how others perceive him. Such people experience an irrational fear that someone treats them badly or evaluates them negatively, as well as that they are not presented to others in the best possible way.
Social phobia should not be confused with excessive shyness, since the former is accompanied by persistent and very serious symptoms of an emotional and physical nature: trembling, increased sweating, heart palpitations, severe nervousness in situations of communication with strangers, fear of being underestimated, anxiety due to the possibility of being humiliated , excessive excitement due to the fact that others will notice the patient's anxiety, fear of pre-planned events, and so on.
Naked statistics 
Our world is generating huge amounts of data faster and faster. Yet, as The New York Times rightly pointed out, “data is just the raw material of knowledge.” Statistics is the most powerful tool at our disposal for the practical use of information.
In this book Charles Whelan gives answers to many interesting questions: how to count the number of homeless people in a metropolis, why casinos are always in the black, how globalization affects poor people and others.
From book:
Predictive Police
In the 2002 film Minority Report, Tom Cruise plays a crime-preventing detective. His character is an employee of a certain bureau that uses a certain technology to predict crimes before they are committed. And it's not fantasy anymore.
In 2011, The New York Times ran an article headlined: "Police Arrive Before Crime Is Committed." It said that a special computer program predicted a high probability of theft from cars that day in an underground parking lot located in the business district of the city of Santa Cruz.
When the detectives arrived there, they found two women peering too intently into the windows of cars. One of them has already been repeatedly detained for theft, and illegal drugs were found on the other.
The system used in Santa Cruz was developed by two mathematicians, an anthropologist and a forensic scientist. The Chicago Police Department has created a whole division of predictive analysts. Part of its formation was due to the fact that the gangs that terrorized the city acted according to certain patterns.
interstellar. Science behind the scenes
Before filming Interstellar, consulting scientist Kip Thorne offered the director two simple rules. First, nothing in a motion picture should contradict the generally accepted laws of physics or reliable knowledge about the world. Second: all conjectures must be scientifically supported.
If you still have questions after watching, then Kip Thorne's book about the curvature of space and time, black holes, gravity and other mysteries of the Universe will help answer them.
From book:
Time warp
Movie protagonist"Interstellar" Cooper worries that he will never see his daughter Murph again, as being near Gargantua only ages him for a few hours, while years pass on Earth. How to explain it?
As early as 1912, Einstein realized that massive bodies can bend time and that this bending is the cause of gravity. The greater the time dilation, the stronger the gravitational attraction. And near the surface of a black hole, where time barely moves, gravity is so huge that even light cannot overcome it.
The theory was confirmed when Robert Wessot of Harvard used a NASA rocket to lift an atomic clock up to 10,000 kilometers and, using radio signals, compared its rate with the clock that remained on Earth. It turned out that time on Earth flows about 30 microseconds a day slower than at an altitude of 10,000 kilometers.
Economy of everything
Dean of the Faculty of Economics of Moscow State University explains how the economy affects various social processes.
By reading this book, you will learn moreabout the structure of the state and understand why we are faced with certain forces of social friction, why perfection is unattainable, what is social capital, the freeloader problem, as well as the British disease and red sclerosis, what dilemma the elites in Russia face and much more.
From book:
Do we need a state?
Not only in Russian, but also in the world public consciousness, there were many myths associated with the state. And at some point, these myths began to be tested. For example, all the great British economists have given the same example: if not for the government, who would build lighthouses in England? But a nation needs lighthouses - what would England be without shipping?
Economist Ronald Coase went to the archives of the British Admiralty and looked to see who actually built the lighthouses. It turned out that not a single lighthouse in England was built by the government. Whoever built them - captains' guilds, local communities, corporations of shipowners, but not the government.
Then Friedrich von Hayek checked how the monetary systems were doing. It turned out that different states at different times created their own treasury systems of banknotes, but they all died. The banknotes that we use now are the so-called banknotes, that is, systems of private receipts between banks. They began to look at the police, the fire brigade, the army, and again ambiguous answers.
The conclusion that can be drawn from all this is this: if the state is needed, then it is not at all for what it was considered before. The state has substitutes everywhere.
P.S. Liked? Subscribe to our usefulnewsletter. Once every two weeks we send a selection of the best articles from the blog.
Good afternoon, dear readers. Today I would like to talk with you about how to become a literate, erudite and intellectually developed person. Today, success is not enough to just be lucky or talented in one thing. General erudition and versatile development are beginning to be valued more and more highly. With just a few right steps, you can shine not only in the company of acquaintances and friends, but also amaze everyone else.
Be open to new things
First and most important, don't close. Many people have been building their value system for many years, developing a certain line of behavior, filling themselves with some knowledge. But the main problem is stiffness. If you are faithful to only one particular knowledge, you will not be able to expand your horizons. It is very important to be able to see and hear new things.
Do not rush
Remember that the result will not appear quickly. Do everything with pleasure and pleasure. And for this you need to get rid of the haste. Don't expect results right now. Many modern people suffer precisely because of this expectation. A person wants to get everything at once. Relax.
Do everything slowly and slowly. Be aware of your every action. Otherwise, you may miss a lot of important details. Do not educate just for the sake of education. Fill yourself up like a decanter. Study everything with interest, sincere and genuine.
The more you delve into the details, the better you will understand the essence of what is happening. I think we all understand the difference between speed reading and enjoying your favorite book. So it is with any kind of knowledge. Just stuffing a bunch of facts into yourself would be absolute nonsense.
Be sure to take time for yourself alone. No book, no computer, no phone. Just you and silence. It is at such moments that a person can calmly think. And this is precisely the key to success. Not just fill yourself with all sorts of knowledge, but taste it, doubt it, criticize various statements.
What to focus on
What skills can help you achieve your goal? I think everyone will agree with me that developing your eloquence will be extremely useful. This is not an urgent need, but being able to speak beautifully and correctly is very useful. Thanks to modern technology, you don’t even need to leave your home to do this.
Today there are a huge number of applications for phones and tablets that can give you direction to develop eloquence. If this is not enough for you, then you can always sign up for courses with a live teacher.
Another thing that will undoubtedly be useful is logic. Buy or download a textbook on logic, solve puzzles, build logical chains, learn to select logical justifications for your thoughts. It is very important to be able to see the whole picture.
Studying psychology and sociology will help you in understanding people. Don't be afraid to start with something small. Don't attack the whole psychology at once. Start by studying yourself. Find out more about your character, take several psychological tests, for example, cattell test. And gradually delve into those areas of science that are most interesting to you.
In addition, and are very helpful in understanding what is happening. Collect images of people through literature and cinema. Study the situations that happen to the main characters. Question their choices and fantasize what you would do.
The exact sciences help put everything in its place. Mathematics, physics, chemistry will be useful to you in life, do not hesitate. One of my acquaintances practically saved the whole company when we went camping. One of the comrades was delayed, and he had all the accessories for the fire. We began to freeze, but there was no lighter or matches at hand. Then the young man took out the batteries from the camera and asked for chewing gum. Thanks to these same batteries and foil, we were able to warm ourselves by the fire. Do not neglect such knowledge.
I hope my article brought you many new ideas and thoughts, thanks to which you can achieve what you want. Share the link to the article with your friends if you want them to think about their lives too.
We all want to be smart, to shine with ingenuity, wit and intellect, but only a select few like Nikolai Baskov and Gennady Onishchenko succeed in this. Read this article - and the world in your head will sparkle with new convolutions.
Alexander Kanygin
1. Read more
The more complex and unusual the books, the better. Complex constructions, long, detailed sentences, rare words, abstruse articles from our magazine, and especially poetry - a real "Rastishka" for your brain.
2. Drum on the table
Better yet, make it a rule to accompany the music you hear: on your knee, on the tabletop or on a freshly bought tom-tom - it doesn't matter. Palms or chopsticks. Neuroscientist Anirud Patel from San Diego believes that the sense of rhythm plays an important role in learning. After all, the basal ganglia are responsible for it - the parts of the brain involved in motor functions.
3. Listen to classical music
Especially Mozart. In 1995, psychologist Frances Rauscher tricked thirty rats into a room. For two months, the Sonata for two pianos in C major was periodically performed there. After the experiment, it turned out that the animals began not only to dance better, but also to run the maze faster and with fewer errors than the other group of rats who lived these two months in silence.
4. Train your memory
London taxi drivers, for example, have an enlarged hippocampus, the part of the brain responsible for emotions and memory. What are you worse?
■ Bookmark brainscale.ru. There you will find one of the variants of the "N back" task, developed in 1958 to explore and stimulate the activity of certain areas of the brain, the development of working memory, logical thinking and the ability to concentrate. Try to take the test every day, set aside a few minutes for this at the beginning of the day and the same amount at the end. According to a 2008 study by Suzanne Yeggi, regular training in this task can significantly improve fluid intelligence, enhance a person's working memory, improve logical thinking and the ability to concentrate.
■ After making a list of products that you need to buy, reread it several times and try to remember not their names, but your future path through different departments in the store. Having collected everything in a cart and standing in line, try to calculate the total amount in your mind. If she later turns out to be true, you can buy yourself a bush of spinach as a reward: it is good for memory.
■ Set aside half an hour each day to memorize poetry. The last time you did this was in kindergarten, but all the words flew out of your head at the moment when the official part of the holiday ended and the coffin was lowered into the ground. The content of the poems does not matter.
5. Drink coffee
Caffeine stimulates the release of the neurotransmitters dopamine and norepinephrine, which help you stay energized and focused longer. It is important not to overdo it: from a very large dose of caffeine, you will get overexcited and will not be able to think rationally. Caffeine in doses of more than 300 mg (four cups of natural coffee) per day will cause anxiety, headache, tremor, arrhythmia.
6. Albert Einstein
Theoretical physicist, Nobel laureate:
“Intellectual growth should begin at birth and stop only at death. Knowing where to find information and how to use it is the secret to success. The mind, once expanded its boundaries, will never return to the former. Outstanding personalities are formed not through beautiful speeches, but by their own work and its results.
7. Mark Porcius Cato
Senior statesman, writer:
"A wise man learns more from fools than fools from a wise man."
8. Play chess, checkers and poker
These games can not only make you richer, but also perfectly develop your thinking. If you think you're too good at chess, try playing against the clock as well, so that it doesn't take more than a minute to make a decision.
9. Develop your numerical sense
Yes, you already have it. Take a handful of small change out of your pocket, take a quick look at it and try to calculate the total amount from memory. Véronique Izgård, a cognitive psychologist at Harvard, has found that ancient brain structures are responsible for expense, something like a quasi-lion years old (is there such a number? We're bad at it), but they can develop throughout a lifetime. To check how your HH is developed at the moment, take a short test or a large-scale test, the results of which will even be preserved in the annals of an American university and help advance science. Well, then - develop the CH. The easiest way is to pack things in a bag. When you figure out how best to cram them in, your brain solves the most difficult tasks and trains.
10. Feed your brain right!
Especially if you still cannot fully tell a single poem from the school curriculum, and Facebook reminds you of the birthdays of your friends.
■ Walnuts. Almost the main food for an erudite! They even look like a brain. Five nuts a day - and you will be provided with lecithin, which improves brain function and activates memory. Nuts are also useful if you suddenly live in conditions of high radiation.
■ Fish. Laconic and cold, it is rich in iodine, its meat contains omega-3 fatty acids, which provide a quick influx of energy necessary for the transmission of impulses in brain cells. They also regulate the level of cholesterol in the blood and improve the functioning of blood vessels. If you eat at least 100 grams of fish a day, you will increase the reaction rate and you will reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease.
■ Pumpkin seeds. Pour half a glass into your jacket pocket and during office scandals improve your memory and make your brain think faster. All thanks to zinc.
■ Spinach. Add it to your morning omelette two to three times a week. The lutein contained in spinach will protect brain cells from premature aging.
■ Sage. Johns Hopkins University found that sage inhibits the action of amino acids responsible for memory impairment. Now they drink tea with sage every day and everyone remembers everyone.
11. Try to guess the next phrase of the interlocutor
Rebecca Sykes of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is confident that with proper training, people will be able to understand others without words at all - by facial expression, look and other similar signs. The section of the brain that is located behind the right ear and is responsible for intuition is responsible for this.
12. Start a blog
Telling about the events of the day in it, you will not only learn to articulate thoughts clearly, but you will also constantly think of new topics and sharp answers to questions from loyal readers.
13. Koichi Tohei
Writer, Aikido Master, 10th Dan, Founder of the Ki-Aikido Style Kii Society “Reading is the cornerstone of intelligence. Fill your free time with reading all kinds of books. Read novels, non-fiction, biographies. First, skim through the book quickly to get a general idea of it. If you think it makes sense, read it again. As a result, your brain’s ability to adapt to different circumstances and organize a wide variety of data will increase.”
14. Solve crosswords
Surprisingly, it works: the work of the brain is greatly spurred on by serious crossword puzzles.
15. Konstantin Sheremetiev
Researcher, author of the "Intelligence" project (), author of the books "Perfect Brain: How to control the subconscious" and "How to become smarter":
“Someone thinks that if at school he was good at solving problems in mathematics or something like that, then he is smart and will remain so forever. This is utter nonsense. If you pump up your muscles at the age of 18, and then lie down on the sofa and forget about them, then very soon they will atrophy. And the same thing happens with the efficiency of the brain.”
To the answer!
Konstantin Sheremetyev cleverly answers our stupid questions.
Who can be considered smart?A person who uses his brain to solve everyday problems. The main mental activity takes place in the subconscious. They don’t teach him how to handle it at school, so the brain of most people is idle. He doesn't help them in any way. And the main purpose of intelligence is to ensure survival. Therefore, in order to evaluate the mind of a person, remember the rule: the result of the work of the intellect is a change in the material world. Survival? Then who is smarter - an office worker or a hunter in the wild?
Oddly enough, the brain does not distinguish between these types of activity. Both need to explore what surrounds them and learn how to act effectively in this environment. How many minutes or hours per day should be devoted to brain training?
The brain works around the clock. The only question is how much load you give him. If you look at life critically, look for what you want to do, realize yourself, then the brain starts to work to its fullest. If there is no mental load, he will atrophy and is only capable of thinking according to a pattern. You developed an emergency response program for astronauts. Are they smarter than those who have not been in space?
I entered knowledge in various fields into the artificial intelligence system so that in a dangerous situation it would suggest the right decision. But you can save useful tips for all occasions in your phone. Then, for example, in the event of an accident, you will know exactly what to do.
16. Learn a foreign language
Andrea Macelli, PhD in neurology from the University of London, proves that people who know several foreign languages find it easier to switch between different mental tasks. An additional boost in the development of your brain will give a new way of learning incomprehensible foreign words.
■ Let's say learning a language through parallel translations. On getparalleltranslations.com you will find books with both English and Russian texts on their pages. In fact, these are the same titles with which you love to watch the latest TV shows so much.
■ Vojtek Rinik, a Slovak web developer, believes that words should be learned before they appear in a book. Surprised by his advice, you should feed the unfamiliar text to the wordsfromtext.com service, in response, it will generate a list of the most used words and prompt you to mark unfamiliar ones in it. If desired, they can be printed out with a translation, memorized and already fully armed pounce on unsuspecting literature.
17. Get yourself a smart app
Feeling an unpleasant throb in our too-fast-growing brains, we turned our heads to our mobile phone screens, hoping to find salvation in some mind-numbing game. But what is it? And on mobile devices, do not step a step away from the dominance of developing programs!
Memory trainer. Consistently remember pressing multi-colored buttons and repeat them. In fact, this is still the same "N back" task, disguised as a game.
Einstein. Mind training. HD-collection of 30 exercises for the development of logic, memory, counting and attention.
Brain of Genius. A variation on the well-known logical problem, created, according to legend, by Einstein from his reluctance to go to kindergarten.
18. Don't waste time
If you have a free minute at work and you want to look at a couple of meters of funny pictures, it’s better to open Wikipedia and read a “random” article.
19. Walk
It is enough to defile around the house three times a week for half an hour in order to concentrate, learn and think abstractly by 15% better. And it's not just about the flow of oxygen to your neurons withered in the stuffiness of the office: scientists from the Salk Institute have proven that moderate exercise in the fresh air causes the brain to grow new cells.
20. Give your brain a rest
No matter how busy you are, in the process of mental activity, you must definitely rest every hour and a half. For example, doing simple physical exercises or just walking down the hallway and having a cup of coffee. Consider it a necessity. So the analytical centers of the brain better digest the accumulated information and no, no, yes, and come to some unexpected conclusion.
21. Boost your brain
If you ignored all our advice, and tomorrow is the final of the championship “What? Where? When?" League of classmates, there is another way to shake the fat on the cerebral convolutions.
■ Neurometabolic stimulants, they are also nootropics, will help to urgently increase IQ, - agents that have an activating effect on memory and mental activity. Note: completely legal. Words for searching in a pharmacy are: phenotropil, allertec, deprenyl. You can still try Phenibut, but, unlike previous drugs, it is drunk in a course of 2-3 weeks, a single use will not give the proper result. And it should be like this: lack of desire to quit everything and go to sleep, increased reaction speed, slight irritability and the feeling that you are smarter than everyone around. There is, however, a small problem. “The effect of nootropics on the brain has not yet been fully studied,” says Konstantin Anokhin, head of the memory neurobiology laboratory at the Institute of Normal Physiology of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences. And one more thing: do not confuse nootropics with dietary supplements. These will also make you smarter for a while, but they act differently and have a weaker effect. These are, say, ginkgo biloba, guarana, eleutherococcus and ginseng root.
22. Play Tetris
A study by American scientists has shown that this classic puzzle can have a positive effect on the development of the human brain. Testing has confirmed that regular practice of playing Tetris can increase the amount of gray matter in the player's brain and improve their thinking abilities. The brains of people who played this puzzle for half an hour a day during the experiment for three months underwent changes in areas related to movement, critical thinking, reasoning, language and information processing.
23. Leonardo da Vinci
Artist, inventor, scientist, writer:
“Iron rusts when it has no use, stagnant water rots or freezes in the cold, and the human mind languishes.”
24. Anatoly Wasserman
Journalist, political consultant:
“Read and watch more, try to find connections and analogies between different knowledge - and pretty soon you will feel what other gaps should be filled in order to understand more. Without intelligence, everything else is simply useless. Being smart is not only fashionable, but also very pleasant. In my experience, it is better to remember what interests you. Be inquisitive - and without much effort remember everything that turns out to be curious. But in order to preserve the memory, you need to work actively, have diverse interests. Then much will be remembered, and memory will be a reliable support.
25. Get good sleep
It is during sleep that the brain processes the information collected during the day and forms memories. As calculated by the staff of the University of California at Berkeley, usually an adult needs from 6 to 8 hours of sleep.
26. Read in new ways
You, of course, have already skimmed through this tip and moved on to the next one. Try to go back and do this.
■ Take a pencil and, leading it under the line, read the text. The eye, having caught the movement, will run after the pointer, while reading everything that you slipped into it. Each time you move the pencil faster - this way your eyes will get used to the increased load, the reading speed will increase, and you will be able to absorb information faster.
■ 80% of people mentally pronounce words while reading. You acquired this bad habit while learning to read: you spelled out the text letter by letter, then by syllables, then put them into words. But this is not necessary for understanding. To combat the inner voice, learn to read the text while simultaneously counting to thirty or singing (you can without words) a song. For a week or two you will not understand the content of the text, but gradually everything will return to normal.
■ According to physiologists, in a person who sees something exciting, the pupils expand reflexively. When you reach an interesting place in the text, the same thing is observed: the pupil expands, more light enters the eye, which means that it can catch more information. The only problem is how to make yourself believe that the investigation protocol before you is as interesting as an interview with a cover girl. From a neurophysiological point of view, interest arises when the brain compares new information with what is already in memory. So just guess what exactly can be written in the text. The brain will be forced to compare the information with the real and, willy-nilly, show interest.
27. Get yourself an unusual hobby
(ideas will be thrown to you by our heading "Idea!").
New activities, according to the Salk Institute for Biological Research in the suburbs of San Diego, firstly, perfectly help to escape from the routine, and secondly, they will force your brain to adapt to activities unfamiliar to it and, as a result, to train.
28. Alan Weiss
President of the NCH Health Alliance:
“When you are completely immersed in the world of the game, your brain focuses on solving actual problems. He is looking for unusual solutions and ways out of unusual situations in everyday life. Later, these same ideas can be useful to you in real life, at work or in communication.
29. Try new ways to get information
Are you prevented from reading books at a rock concert? Check out audiobooks and audiopodcasts. And on the Internet, sign up for free courses at knowledgestream.ru (coursera.org for English speakers).
30. Stop watching TV
The contemplation of flickering pictures, supposedly designed to give rest to the brain, which has been strained during the day, loads it in the same way as reading or proving theorems. But at the same time it does not develop at all. Conclusion? Throw the TV out the window and put a pot of sage in its place.
Children learn a foreign language playfully, in parallel with the general development. Scientists attribute this to the peculiarities of memory and the psyche.
For an adult, learning a foreign language is always a challenge. And always a huge benefit. This is an excellent training for the brain and the prevention of memory deterioration in old age. And you can also communicate with people from different countries and expand your horizons.
Method 2. Read more
When our parents needed new information, they opened the book. Generations Y and Z draw new knowledge on the Internet. The volume of reading may not have been reduced, but the quality often suffers. After all, books are read thoughtfully and consistently, and articles usually just scroll with their eyes.
Subordinate reading to the plan: make a list of books, distribute them according to areas of knowledge and genres. Services like or Livelib will help to compile such a list. Then methodically read the books one by one. Just do it right - use .
Method 3. Turn to art
Art is not only contemplation. With it, you can develop perception and thinking.
Choose for yourself some area of the cultural activity of mankind and try to understand it. For example, fine arts. Visit exhibitions, watch documentaries, read artist biographies. Gradually, you will begin to understand painting, and at the same time you will learn a lot and take a fresh look at social processes.
Method 4. Watch video lectures
Method 5. Watch smart TV shows
For users of the World Wide Web, television is often associated with evil. Today it’s even fashionable to brag: “We don’t have a TV at home!”.
Indeed, the quality of content on many channels leaves much to be desired, but there are alternatives. For example, Discovery. This TV channel produces very high-quality popular science programs that cannot be legally downloaded on the Web.
Watch scientific programs in the studied foreign language - this is a double brain training.
Method 6. Play video games
Contrary to popular beliefs about harm, computer games develop reaction, fantasy and logical thinking. Scientific studies have shown that children who play video games score higher than their peers.
Playing difficult quests is like solving puzzles. The player has to make difficult decisions in a short time, choosing the lines of the plot development. And it is a powerful brain exercise.
Method 7. Solve puzzles
If you still don't like video games, buy a good old Rubik's cube, tangram or puzzle. Alternatively, download the .
Puzzles "rejuvenate" the brain, develop memory, thinking and perseverance. And they are also excellent time-killers: if you get carried away, you can spend more than one hour solving the puzzle. What else do you need on a train or plane?
Method 8. Make new acquaintances
Networking not only helps build a career, but also develops memory for names and faces.
In addition, a new person is always a source of new knowledge. Communication with a smart interlocutor, even virtual, enriches you spiritually and intellectually.
Method 9. Get enough sleep
The vast majority of studies have proven that a healthy adult needs 8 hours of sleep. And in the dark, comfort and without extraneous noise. These factors affect the quality of sleep.
The connection between good sleep and similar mental activity has also been proven. Read to dispel the last doubts.
Sleep deprivation is detrimental to the brain.
Due to the inhibition of neural processes in the parietal lobe, problems arise with the speed of reaction, and when the work of the prefrontal cortex slows down, problems with vision and the formulation of thoughts begin.
Method 10. Switch to a healthy diet
Avocado, salmon, blueberries, oatmeal - there are many that prevent memory deterioration.
Enrich your diet with fruits, vegetables, greens, cereals and seafood, give up cholesterol sweets, and you will feel that your brain is reaching new capacities.
Intellectual front workers are advised to drink more fluids throughout the day. And it is better to alternate coffee with green tea and mineral water.
Perhaps we all want not only to appear, but also to be really smart people. Many believe that if certain skills are not laid down in childhood, then they will not be acquired later. Perhaps there is some truth in such an assumption, but not in this case - it is never too late to become a smart person if there is a desire for this.
If you decide that it's time to increase your level of intelligence, then we recommend starting this process with some simple recommendations.
- Train your memory. To do this, try to set aside at least thirty minutes every day to memorize a verse, because, for sure, the last time you did this was in your school years. This is a very good workout for the mind! Moreover, you can choose simple poems first, and then move on to more complex ones. You can also train in memorization on a list of products - make a list, read it carefully, put it in your bag and try to buy everything you need in the store without looking at it. When you decide that you have coped with the task, then look at the list in order to make sure of this.
- Drink coffee regularly- thanks to this, you can stay in good shape for a longer time, as well as maintain concentration. Try not to overdo it with this drink - a large amount of caffeine will lead to overexcitation of the nervous system and will not allow you to think rationally.
- Eat the "right" foods. First of all, pay attention to walnuts - they even allude to the fact that they are extremely useful for the brain. By eating them, you will improve brain activity and memory. Also, fish, which, as you know, are rich in iodine, as well as omega-3 fatty acids, which provide a rapid flow of energy to the brain, will bring a lot of benefits.
- Crosswords. It would seem that this is rather banal, but the usual crossword puzzles have a completely stimulating effect on brain activity.
- Studying of foreign language not only will it benefit you when traveling, but it will also have an excellent effect on memory development, which, of course, will help you remember more information, and therefore make you smarter.
- Knowledge. Never miss an opportunity to gain new knowledge - for example, if you have a few free minutes, we recommend that you open Wikipedia and read a couple of random articles.
- Relaxation. Periodically let your brain rest - if you have been engaged in active mental activity for several hours in a row, then you definitely need to rest for at least an hour. Do some light exercise or allow yourself a small cup of organic coffee.
Do not forget to get enough sleep, because it is during sleep that the brain processes the information received during the day. According to scientists, an adult will be enough for 6-8 hours of sleep per day, but no less than that.
- Try starting a new activity. This will not only contribute to distraction from the routine, but also force your brain to adapt to a process that was previously unfamiliar to it, which means training.
- Read more books, and keep in mind that the more complex the pieces, the better for your brain.
How to become smart in studies
It takes some effort to achieve a reputation as the smartest student in the class. So where to start:
1) Listen carefully to the teacher in class. Some students believe that in order to study a particular topic, it is enough to read the necessary section in the textbooks. Yes, as a rule, this gives general knowledge, but you can hear various interesting details from the teacher. By the way, teachers often tell something that is not related to the compulsory school curriculum, but this information will subsequently benefit you and may come in handy at the most unexpected moment. In addition, if you listen to the teacher in the classroom, this will significantly save your time - at least you will not have to study the information already voiced at home.
2) Always do your homework. Never ignore homework. Even if you think that the given topic is completely uninteresting and will not be useful to you in the future, this does not negate the fact that such classes will be a wonderful training for the mind. In addition, you cannot guarantee that you will never need this particular information. In addition, one topic that is insignificant, in your opinion, can subsequently become the basis for more serious and necessary material, which, without the paragraphs you ignored, will not be fully understandable to you. And, of course, regular homework will protect you from bad grades.
3) Be interested in and study various sciences beyond the school curriculum. Pupils and students who really want to be erudite will not be limited to the knowledge that is included in the curriculum. Explore all the topics you like in depth - for sure, in this way you will make many impressive discoveries for yourself. In addition, more in-depth knowledge will allow you to get excellent grades, and this is also important. However, it is not necessary to study in more detail only those topics that are already in the school curriculum. Expand your boundaries - read about interesting historical facts, chemical and physical experiments. We also recommend that you familiarize yourself with the masterpieces of the classics and highly appreciated modern works, which were not mentioned in the literature lessons.
4) Read books. By far, this is one of the most obvious options for students who want to increase their level of intelligence. First of all, you will receive completely new information for yourself, if we are talking about, for example, a study guide. Fiction also has a lot of benefits - it stimulates reflection on a particular topic, teaches how to correctly and beautifully build sentences, and significantly enriches vocabulary. However, knowledge is not the only thing that books give us. In addition, reading books is an excellent memory training, and you will need the skill of quick memorization later in many areas of life.
5) Listen to audiobooks. Listening to audiobooks is perfect for those students who are overworked and do not have enough time to read. Perhaps you are training in the gym - in this case, in parallel, listen to headphones not your favorite musical artist, but some interesting work. You can also listen to audiobooks while riding a shaking bus to school, jogging, eating breakfast, and so on. For convenience, we recommend buying an e-book or downloading your favorite works to your phone, if its functions allow it.
6) Solve different math problems and puzzles. Solving various mathematical problems and interesting puzzles can be a wonderful exercise for the mind. If the tasks from the school textbook seem very boring to you, then pay attention to the various exciting puzzles that can be found on the Internet. You just need to drive into the search engine the query: "Online puzzles", and try your hand. He also recommends looking for various educational applications that can be downloaded to your phone, and solving extraordinary tasks at any convenient moment - standing in line at the store, sitting at the bus stop, and so on.
7) Don't give up if it doesn't work the first time. The mistake of many students is that they quit studying the material as soon as they stumble upon some kind of obstacle - for example, they do not understand this or that topic. If from time to time you are faced with the fact that you are having difficulty studying a subject, then this is not at all a reason to refuse it at all - go the other way! It is quite possible that one day you did not learn any trifle, and now it affects the assimilation of the whole material. It is also possible that your teacher does not explain the topic clearly enough (this happens too!). Try to study an incomprehensible paragraph from the very beginning without missing a single detail. If you're still having trouble, contact your tutor.
First, let's define the word "erudite". We are talking about a person who is able to demonstrate awareness in a variety of issues, well-read, good memory. It is worth noting that far from always an erudite person can be called smart, no matter how paradoxical it may sound. A smart person, comprehending some information, draws the right conclusions from it, which he puts into practice (for example, having learned about the dangers of alcohol, he will not abuse it), at the same time, an erudite person, thanks to his excellent memory, can know all the nuances this or that question and nothing more (for example, he knows for sure that alcohol is harmful, but this does not mean at all that he will not abuse it).
An erudite person pours out quotes, rich knowledge in a particular area and other information, due to which one may get the impression that he is incredibly smart. It is worth noting that this often turns out to be the case, but nevertheless, as we mentioned, there are exceptions.
As you understand, in order to demonstrate erudition, it is necessary not only to read a lot and watch documentaries, but also to actively train your memory in order to memorize the studied material.
Books to help you get smarter
1) Itzhak Adizes, "Reflections on Personal Development"
In his book, the author, who is one of the world's most famous experts in management and business, conducts a fascinating conversation with the reader, raising the topic of the meaning of life and global changes in it, talking about proper nutrition, family relationships, business and self-development.
2) Doug Lemov, Katie Yezzi, Erica Woolway, From Knowledge to Skills
This book can be called a kind of simulator for the mind, with which you can acquire useful skills. The authors suggest that you familiarize yourself with the list of rules that will increase the efficiency of household chores, help you cope with professional tasks faster, and so on.
3) Richard Branson, My Rules
4) Jack Lewis, Adrian Webster, The Brain: A Quick Guide
According to the authors of the book, any person, even as an adult, can radically change their own thinking and help the brain work in a completely different direction. Of course, later this will give a significant impetus to personal and mental development.
Formula 33 of the gene for the mind or how to become a very smart person
Unfortunately, autism is a very common disease related to the pathology of the nervous system. According to the latest information, every sixty-eighth child is affected by autism. The main symptoms of the disease are unsociableness, problems with learning and communication. At the same time, it is very difficult to consider autism as a typical disease - if you choose the right approach, you can completely adapt a child with autism to the environment.
Some time ago, scientists managed to discover 33 new genes that are related to the development of the disease. As it turned out, each gene is the result of painstaking analysis, which included the processing of more than 10,000 DNA from children with autism, their parents, as well as healthy children.
According to media reports, the studied 33 genes are directly related to the DNA component of the development of pathology. The occurrence of the disease is not only due to genetics, but also due to some influence of the internal and external environment. Now experts are working to link each gene to separate processes. Most likely, this will lead to a significant decrease in the frequency of the disorder in the future, as well as new data on how genetics can improve the mental abilities of an individual.
