Mother Brain: Separating Myth from Biology the Science of the Parental Brain

Chelsea Conaboy

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'Promises a new route through the parenting wilds' Sunday Times'Powerful, honest and reassuring' Professor Gina Rippon'A vital new narrative . . . Meticulously researched, compelling and compassionate' Elinor Cleghorn'A compelling book that upends popular notions about becoming a parent . . . reminds us why scientific research is a feminist issue' New Stateman'I wish I'd had this book when I first became a mother' Emma Jane Unsworth

New parents undergo major structural and functional brain changes, driven by hormones and the deluge of stimuli a baby provides. These neurobiological changes help all parents - birthing or otherwise - learn how to meet their child's needs. Yet this emerging science is mostly absent from the public conversation about parenthood. Untangling insidious myths from complicated realities, Chelsea Conaboy reveals that the story that exists in the science today is far more meaningful than the idea that mothers spring into being by instinct. Weaving the latest neuroscience and social psychology together with new reporting, she uncovers unexpected upsides, generations of scientific neglect and an empowering new narrative of parenthood.

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Praise for Mother Brain: Separating Myth from Biology the Science of the Parental Brain

  • Mother Brain feels like a book that will inspire today's new parents: socially alert, inclusive, kind . . . Conaboy promises a new route through the parenting wilds - SUNDAY TIMESA compelling book that upends popular notions about becoming a parent . . . MOTHER BRAIN reminds us why scientific research is a feminist issue - NEW STATESMANFearlessly researched and deeply empathetic, Mother Brain blew my mind. Every page pruned away sexist, guilt-inducing assumptions about the 'maternal instinct'. If every new parent, boss and lawmaker read this book, we would make a century of progress overnightMeticulously researched and deeply personal, Mother Brain explores how parenting and caregiving shapes us, changes us and makes us human . . . Compelling and compassionateI wish I'd had this book when I first became a motherAwesomely detailed and refreshingly positive . . . powerful, honest and reassuring

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Chelsea Conaboy

Chelsea Conaboy

Chelsea Conaboy is a veteran journalist, specialising in personal and public health. She was part of the Boston Globe's Pulitzer prize-winning team for coverage of the Boston Marathon Bombing and more recently, has worked as a freelance magazine writer with bylines at Mother Jones, Politico, The Week, the Boston Globe Magazine and others. She lives in Maine with her husband, their two young sons and her own changing maternal brain.

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