Wiser: The Scientific Roots of Wisdom, Compassion, and What Makes Us Good by Dilip Jeste (Hardcover)

For most of us, and for most of human history, wisdom has been considered sublime and indescribable, an accumulation of lessons learned over a lifetime. People seek wisdom, but finding it takes time, frequently accompanied by blood, sweat, and tears. Wisdom was considered the ethereal fruit and reward of aging. But with ever-accelerating advances in science, with our growing ability to literally watch our minds at work and identify the mental mechanisms involved-down to the patterns of electrical and chemical messages between neurons that form memories-we are increasingly able to deliberately and positively alter our minds and behaviors in a relatively short period. If we can alter the very fabric of our minds, why can't we weave in new threads of wisdom as well? I believe we can. Book jacket.