I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.

This book was just okay for me. I really wanted to like it, but like other reviewers, I just couldn't get into it. The introduction was very weak and didn't grab my attention. It read like an essay, for example "This book will..." and I found "The Chapters Ahead" section irrelevant.

There was some really good information but the presentation wasn't great and the writing was basic which didn't lend itself to the robust topics. The sentences were short and choppy and were repetitive, they started with the same phrasing over and over. I think the writer would have benefitted greatly with a substantive edit and a good Copy Editor. For me the book read like a textbook and I found the charts to be a cumbersome pedagogical feature - are people really going to fill them out? There was a lot of filler when the topics could have been expanded upon. Perhaps this would have made a nice article instead of a book. ( )

Motivation, instinct and my three brains.

Why do I feel attracted toward something or someone and repelled from something else? Why am I impelled to act some way, sometimes to my benefit and sometimes perversely against my benefit? In this insightful and vulnerable book, Dr. Loretta Breuning, a professor at California State University, tells us.

Our brains have been evolving for several million years. As the brain developed, it added functions on top of the old parts -- but those evolutionary leftovers are still in there, and they matter! Dr. Breuning lays it out in the following simple scheme: the oldest and simplest functions are our lizard brain, then the mammal brain built on top of that, and finally the cortex of the primate brain. The lizard brain manages our routine bodily functions. The top level, the cortex is where we do our thinking, remembering, dreaming, and talking to ourselves. It's the middle part, the mammal brain, that's the focus of this book because it's the mammal brain that released various "feel good" and "feel bad" chemicals that motivate our behavior.

While the release of these chemicals may provide the motivation for action, they don't actually force us to do anything. Our primate cortex gives us the final decision about whether to run from something or stay put. But the mammal brain does have a powerful influence over our behavior by triggering these chemicals which are responsible for a whole host of feelings, good and bad.

The role of serotonin is particularly important because of its impact on how we interact with other humans and its affect on our leadership instincts. In mammalian life, those with higher social status had better mating opportunities. Our brains evolved to give us the motivation to climb the social ladder in order to foster the continuance of our DNA. It is serotonin that encourages this behavior. Even though one could argue that there are plenty of mating opportunities around, we retain this chemical programming for social dominance.

I think this is responsible for our ideas of leadership and for the fundamental leader-follower structure. The issue for those who want to create leaders rather than attract followers, and give control, rather than take control, will be that their instincts will signal it's the wrong thing to do. Fortunately, Dr. Breuning explains how we can rewire our brains. Those feelings may never go away, but ultimately the cortex gives us the deliberateness to be in control, not our instincts. ( )