Into the Magic Shop: A Neurosurgeon's Quest to Discover the Mysteries of the Brain and the Secrets ofthe Heart

As a relatively new practitioner of metta (loving-kindness) meditation, I found a deeper appreciation for this practice of compassion through the intimate stories of the authors past and insightful enthusiasm of its future. As Doty shares (I’m paraphrasing), compassion is a sign of strength and wisdom not a feeble endeavor. If you are in need of hope, inspiration or agency, this book yields a simple yet powerful framework to ground readers along their journeys.

I watched Dr. Doty’s interview on YouTube and immediately purchased his book. It took me some months before I opened it and read it. I have couple more chapters left and wanted to chime in and express the wonderful journey he has brought us all through. The book have made me cry, smile, get excited, have hope and pay attention to the life lessons James went through since an early age including all of the mistakes he openly shares with us. I love this book. It is inspiring and intriguing. A must read.

Once in a long while a book comes along that changes your world and for me, this was that book. I was given this by a friend who gave me her copy as after reading the first chapter she thought it was a medical book. It starts out in an operating theatre with Dr James Doty (the author) performing brain surgery on a young boy. Being extremely squeamish, my friend had to stop reading immediately and gave me the book instead and boy am I glad she passed it to me. This book was amazing (if you can get past the first chapter of course). Into The Magic Shop is the true story of Dr James Doty's life from a childhood plagued with violence and poverty, through his incredible medical career that was no easy ride and beyond. But don't let that short synopsis put you off as this is so much more than a book about one man's journey into a high-flying medical career, it is a book that will move you to the core and will stay with you forever. As a boy, James (or Jim as we come to know him) comes across a stranger in a magic shop. This complete stranger, who up until now Jim never knew existed, shows him an act of compassion which is something he has never experienced in his entire life. She promises that if he returns to the shop every day for six weeks then she will teach him some magic. But not just any magic, REAL magic. Of course, as with any child that is made such a promise, Jim returns faithfully each day to the shop to learn from the stranger we come to know as Ruth. What he doesn't realise is that the magic she is teaching him will set him up for life and depending on how he chooses to use it, it has the power to make him or break him. I cannot say anything else about this wonderful book without spoiling it. I want you as a reader to go into it with no expectations, as Jim did that day he walked through the door of the Magic Shop, and to let it slowly unfold before your eyes. As I said earlier this book profoundly changed me in so many ways and I hope it does the same to you. Be prepared to cry...a lot!

This is not a neuroscience book in the technical sense, and it’s not trying to be. What it does well is describe, from the inside, how attention, intention, and emotional regulation change outcomes over time. If you’re expecting hard science, you may find parts of it soft. If you’ve spent years around high-pressure systems—medicine, leadership, finance, or any environment where cognition under stress matters—the value is obvious. Doty is describing control loops most people only experience indirectly. The “magic” is mostly about disciplined awareness and habit formation, not mysticism. Read it that way and it lands.

After 25 years teaching, writing, and dialoguing with thousands about human resiliency, I am considered an expert in the field. This is one of the very best books I have ever read on the subject. I am not sure Dr. Doty even understands how much of what helped him "succeed despite the odds" (for kids like him) is in alignment with the growing body of resiliency research. There were and sadly are a myriad of kids like Jim, but the question to be answered is, why did he "make it" and so many others -probably some he went to school with, and certainly his brother and sister- did not? One finding from resiliency research is "the power of one person", especially the right person at the right time in a child's life. One reason there are not more "Ruths" in the world is that many people have the erroneous belief that a few hours or a few weeks of caring, support, positive mirroring, teaching life skills, and encouragement such as Ruth gave Jim can't hold a torch to the daily stress and trauma of poverty, alcoholism, and mental illness in a child's home. Dr. Doty's story effectively challenges this myth. The story also provides evidence that "even a little bit" given to a child in need can make an amazing difference and it corroborates the research on resiliency now proliferating in the fields of psychology, psychiatry, and sociology. Yet nothing is as powerful as a human face, a real story, behind the research statistics and Dr. Doty's story is as powerful a story as I have ever heard (and I have heard hundreds). Yes, this is a great book for a struggling young person, but it is just as important for neighbors, educators, ministers, youth workers, community volunteers, and everyone who has ever been inspired to try to help a struggling child. Was it the "magic" Ruth taught Jim that helped him so much? We have a growing body of brain research that suggests what she taught might have changed his young brain. But we also now **know** that the kind of kindness, compassion, caring and belief Jim got from both Ruth and her son Neil, when he had it no where else in his life, create the foundation for fostering a resilient outcome for all kids like Jim. --Nan Henderson, President of Resiliency In Action, author of The Resiliency Workbook

Eines der besten Bücher die ich je gelesen habe

It is an easy read. Insightful. Yrena Sabalenka referred to the book & how it helped her with her mental game. Golf is also 90% a mental game. The 4 principles / guidelines helped me a lot.

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A very well written book that is engaging, inspiring and gives hope about manifestation. I finished reading this book in less than 24 hours, which is quite a feat for someone who hasn't finished a book for a while; my library is filled with unfinished books :|

Very easy to read and understand. The concept is amazing.