[Book of the Week] 'The Secret of the Ageless Brain' and 5 More Books

◆The Secret of the Ageless Brain=Have you noticed a significant drop in motivation or a lack of new ideas compared to before? Do you find it hard to get interested in the world around you or struggle to control your emotions? A Japanese psychiatrist warns that these symptoms signal the degeneration of the brain’s frontal lobe, which governs motivation. According to the author, such symptoms become causes of depression and lethargy after one’s 40s. The frontal lobe, which accounts for 30% of the cerebrum, is generally fully developed by age 25 but begins to shrink and degenerate from the 40s onward. Social distancing due to COVID-19 is also cited as a factor worsening these symptoms. Spending time alone negatively affects empathy and social skills, leading to an increase in depression patients and random violent crimes. While the atrophied brain cannot be restored, methods to minimize damage are introduced. Familiar solutions such as exercise and protein intake are presented alongside clinical cases. (Written by Wada Hideki · Potenup)

◆Focus Training for Highly Distracted People=More and more people are complaining about declining concentration. The advent of communication technology and smartphones, which keep us constantly ‘connected’ to something, also has negative effects. The number of people diagnosed with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) is rapidly increasing. Symptoms vary: being easily distracted by surroundings, inability to organize, failure to connect fragmented thoughts, or difficulty controlling emotions. This is true even for talents in Silicon Valley. The author, who has counseled adults with ADHD in Silicon Valley for 10 years, introduces the brain’s executive functions called ‘mental core skills.’ These five skills?attention/concentration, organization/planning, mental flexibility, emotional regulation, and impulse control?should be trained like exercise. The author says that once you know how to manage symptoms, what was once considered a disorder can be used as a strength. (Written by Phil Boissier · Bookie)

◆Mentality=“You will live alone in a house built with your own words.” For a poet, this is both a blessing and a curse. The poet transforms all words, writings, and images seen and heard in life into their own magnetic field and incorporates them into poetry. Sometimes they overturn forbidden conventions. Through poetry, they appeal or even threaten with their perspective. At this moment, the poet may be a prisoner trapped in the ‘house of words’ or one who has bestowed a blessing upon themselves. This year’s Kim Su-young Literary Award-winning work received high praise for confidently articulating the poetic subject without hesitation as a ‘personal theory of poetry.’ Its charm lies in being read first as a textual image rather than prose. The poet invites us to curse, dream, and love together in a world that is both a home and a prison. (Written by Park Chamsae · Minumsa)

◆The Philosopher and the Wolf=An essay by a philosopher who lived with a wolf as a pet for 11 years. In the 1990s, when raising wolves was illegal, the author disguised the wolf as a dog. Through this cohabitation, the author sheds light on the true face of humans, who wear masks of intelligence and morality. What is the bare face of humanity? The author contrasts the calculating and manipulative human with the wolf that does not calculate. He argues that the ‘true self’ is not the one who devises schemes but the one left behind when the schemes fail, and the ‘most important self’ is not the one who cunningly deceives others and rejoices but the one who is deceived by their own cunning and abandoned. Through the solitary figure left after everything disappears, the author emphasizes that sometimes civilization can be more barbaric than nature. (Written by Mark Rowlands · Chusubat)

◆Masterpieces Are the Times=From Jeong Bi-seok’s Freedom Wife to Han Kang’s The Vegetarian, this book covers the last 50 years of Korean novels, focusing on the facets of the era reflected in literature. It introduces “novels that captivated the public’s enthusiasm and sparked debates in their time, thereby capturing the spirit of the age and acting as sensitive sensors of the era.” Discovering various characters in the 30 novels presented in order of publication is also enjoyable. The Freedom Wife, petty bourgeois, lethargic intellectuals, hostesses, desirous women, single ladies, unemployed people, and low-wage workers make us reflect on the ‘burning desires’ that Korean society has harbored. (Written by Shim Jin-kyung and one other · Nanda)

◆Women Who Killed God=A work depicting the collapse of a family due to members holding different religious beliefs. The story begins when the charred body of a girl, found in pieces, is discovered in a village clearing 30 years ago. The victim was the third daughter of the Sarda family, who believed she lived under God’s care. As the family falls apart, the case remains unsolved. Alfredo, the father, spends 30 years tracking the culprit alone but dies without finding them. Later, a story involving the fanatic mother emerges, opening the door to the truth. The work sheds light on how social oppression confines women and how religion provides individuals with rational justifications. Through the question ‘Why did she have to die?’ it delivers a message beyond mere genre entertainment. (Written by Claudia Pi?eiro · Pureunsup)

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.