Inventing Ourselves: The Secret Life of the Teenage Brain

Author(s): Sarah-Jayne Blakemore

Health & Wellbeing

WINNER of the 2018 Royal Society Insight Investment Science Book Prize 2018


'Finally, a book about the adolescent brain written by someone who actually does the science! Highly readable, ground-breaking' Professor Laurence Steinberg


Why does an easy child become a challenging teenager?
Why do teenagers struggle to get up in the morning?
Why do they often take excessive risks?


We often joke that teenagers don't have brains. For some reason, it's socially acceptable to mock people in this stage of their lives. The need for intense friendships, the excessive risk taking and the development of many mental illnesses - depression, addiction, schizophrenia - begin during these formative years, so what makes the adolescent brain different?


Drawing upon her cutting-edge research in her London laboratory, award-winning neuroscientist, Sarah-Jayne Blakemore explains what happens inside the adolescent brain, what her team's experiments have revealed about our behaviour, and how we relate to each other and our environment as we go through this period of our lives. She shows that while adolescence is a period of vulnerability, it is also a time of enormous creativity - one that should be acknowledged, nurtured and celebrated.


Our adolescence provides a lens through which we can see ourselves anew. It is fundamental to how we invent ourselves.


'Beautifully written with clarity, expertise and honesty about the most important subject for all of us. I couldn't put it down' Robert Winston

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"Beautifully written with clarity, expertise and honesty about the most important subject for all of us. I couldn't put it down." -- Robert Winston "Finally, a book about the adolescent brain written by someone who actually does the science! In this highly readable, ground-breaking book Blakemore takes us not only into the minds of teenagers, but into the minds of the people who study them. It's a must-read for anyone interested in how adolescents think, and for everyone concerned about how to apply this knowledge to policy and practice." -- Laurence Steinberg, Distinguished University Professor of Psychology, Temple University, and author of Age of Opportunity: Lessons From the New Science of Adolescence "A very readable book bringing together the up-to-date research about how the adolescent brain develops. This matters to both adolescents and parents but also should be read by everyone who looks after adolescents, be they teachers, doctors or psychologists." -- Professor Dame Sally Davies, Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health "Inventing Ourselves is a gripping celebration of the teenage brain. Essential reading for parents, teachers and teens. Sane, wise, myth busting, this book is a triumph and should be read by every parent and teacher but they should be warned. They'll have to fight their teenagers to get this gripping book out of their hands." -- Dr Vivienne Parry OBE "The teenage brain is different, but in what way? This beautifully written book tells just how it influences and is influenced by the new challenging demands of a transformational phase of life. There is no sensationalism here. Sarah-Jayne Blakemore is a pioneer in the field and provides a meticulous account of what we know." -- Professors Uta & Chris Frith

Sarah-Jayne Blakemore is Professor in Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London. She has published over 120 papers in scientific journals, and won multiple major awards for her research, including the ?British Psychological Society Spearman Medal 2006, the Turin Young Mind & Brain Prize 2013, the Royal Society Rosalind Franklin Award 2013 and the Klaus J. Jacobs Research Prize 2015. She was named in The Times Young Female Power List 2014 and was one of only four scientists on the Sunday Times 100 Makers of the 21st Century 2014.Professor Blakemore ?has two sons ?and lives in Hertfordshire. Inventing Ourselves is her first solo book.

General Fields

  • : 9780857523716
  • : Transworld Publishers Limited
  • : Doubleday UK
  • : 0.313
  • : March 2018
  • : 234mm X 153mm
  • : United Kingdom
  • : April 2018
  • : books

Special Fields

  • : Sarah-Jayne Blakemore
  • : Paperback
  • : 1
  • : English
  • : 612.80835
  • : 256