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  • Inventing Ourselves

  • The Secret Life of the Teenage Brain
  • By: Sarah-Jayne Blakemore
  • Narrated by: Sarah Borges
  • Length: 7 hrs and 29 mins
  • 4.1 out of 5 stars (106 ratings)
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Inventing Ourselves

By: Sarah-Jayne Blakemore
Narrated by: Sarah Borges
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Summary

Until very recently, scientists believed our brains were fully developed in childhood. Now, thanks to imaging technology, we know that the brain goes on developing and changing right through adolescence into adulthood. 

So, what makes the adolescent brain different? Why does an easy child become a challenging teenager? And why is it that many mental illnesses begin during these formative years?

Drawing upon her cutting-edge research, award-winning neuroscientist Sarah-Jayne Blakemore explains how adolescence is fundamental to how we invent ourselves.

©2018 Sarah-Jayne Blakemore (P)2018 W.F. Howes Ltd

What listeners say about Inventing Ourselves

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great accessible science

Loved the presentation of major findings from the field. Very engaging read.

Shame about the posh voice. A missed opportunity to rebrand a social class association in science.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Narrator's enunciation spoils excellent content

Sarah-Jayne Blakemore's book is essential reading for adolescents and those that care for them. She outlines some of the relatively contemporary research which helps us to understand why adolescents think and behave in the way that they do. However, this audiobook version is very disappointing. I did at first wonder if the narrator was the author, but realised it couldn't be, because pronunciation of certain words was just not correct and I have seen Sarah-Jayne Blakemore speak; she is clear, crisp and accurate in her delivery. I discovered that the narrator of this audiobook is a voice-over artist; I know it's not unusual to employ someone other than the author to narrate a book. However, I am wondering who thought it would be a good idea for the narrator to attempt to emulate the author's accent and enunciation. I found the narrator's faux upper-class accent delivery patronising and irritating, unnecessarily distracting from otherwise excellent and very interesting content.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Underwhelmed

Slightly disappointed with this. Lots of build up for only a few nuggets. Not memorable either. Much preferred why we sleep which is more content heavy and more elegantly written.

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2 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Absolutely amazing... Loved this book

Loved it.. Learned so much.... So much information.... Every teacher, educator and parent of a teenager should read this.... I listened to it on audible and found this brilliant as I think reading it I may have gotten bogged down in the detail of the experiments but could just listen to the descriptions with ease.

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2 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent overview of adolescence

A brilliant, exhaustive (but always fascinating) overview of the neuroscience around adolescence. Would recommend to fellow mental health professionals and/or scientists, but it is also written in an accessible way such that anyone with a passing interest in the subject matter would enjoy. Narration was of a very high standard throughout.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Super super boring

Could not get into this. The woman who reads it has the dullest upper class voice ever.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Interesting content, distracting accent


Interesting content, however I found the narrator’s accent very distracting. Shame, because I found content engaging but had to concentrate hard not to be distracted by the narrator.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

AI narrator?

Interesting book, but it seems a shame to have it read by artificial intelligence rather than a real actor, when there are so many wonderful actors looking for work.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Very interesting read

Dad of two teens. Having read a couple of books on the teen brain I really enjoyed this book as it’s based on science, rather than anecdote.

I loved the fact that this was by a UK author, and found it to be more liberal and less scare mongering thank another US published book

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

For students NOT parents

Authoritative work, with all conclusions thoroughly justified, but too slow to recommend to parents. I expect great reading for students of the subject but for everyone else takes far too long to get to the point. Constantly heads off on tangents and (in my opinion) unnecessary detail about the author’s own life. Parents don’t typically have the time to indulge in over 7 hours learning what could be communicated succinctly in 10minutes.

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