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Whole Brain Living: The Anatomy of Choice and the Four Characters That Drive Our Life Hardcover – May 11, 2021

by Jill Bolte Taylor (Author)
4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 1,134 ratings
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The New York Times best-selling author of My Stroke of Insight blends neuroanatomy with psychology to show how we can short-circuit emotional reactivity and find our way to peace.

For half a century we have been trained to believe that our right brain hemisphere is our emotional brain, while our left brain houses our rational thinking. Now neuroscience shows that it's not that simple: in fact, our emotional limbic tissue is evenly divided between our two hemispheres. Consequently, each hemisphere has both an emotional brain and a thinking brain. In this groundbreaking new book, Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor presents these four distinct modules of cells as four characters that make up who we are: Character 1, Left Thinking; Character 2, Left Emotion; Character 3, Right Emotion; and Character 4, Right Thinking.

Everything we think, feel, or do is dependent upon brain cells to perform that function. Since each of the Four Characters stems from specific groups of cells that feel unique inside of our body, they each display particular skills, feel specific emotions, or think distinctive thoughts. In Whole Brain Living, Dr. Taylor shows us how to get acquainted with our own Four Characters, observe how they show up in our daily life, and learn to identify and relate to them in others as well. And she introduces a practice called the Brain Huddle--a tool for bringing our Four Characters into conversation with one another so we can tap their respective strengths and choose which one to embody in any situation.

The more we become familiar with each of the characters in ourselves and others, the more power we gain over our thoughts, our feelings, our relationships, and our lives. Indeed, we discover that we have the power to choose who and how we want to be in every moment. And when our Four Characters work together and balance one another as a whole brain, we gain a radical new road map to deep inner peace.
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  1. Print length
    304 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Hay House Inc.
  4. Publication date
    May 11, 2021
  5. Dimensions
    6.38 x 0.98 x 9.31 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1401961983
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1401961985
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor is a Harvard-trained and published neuroanatomist. In 1996 she experienced a severe hemorrhage in the left hemisphere of her brain causing her to lose the ability to walk, talk, read, write, or recall any of her life. Her memoir, My Stroke of Insight, documenting her experience with stroke and eight-year recovery, spent 63 weeks on the New York Times nonfiction bestseller list and is still routinely the #1 book about stroke on Amazon.


Dr. Taylor is a dynamic teacher and public speaker who loves educating all age groups, academic levels, as well as corporations about the beauty of our human brain and its ability to recover from trauma. In 2008 she gave the first TED talk that ever went viral on the Internet, which now has over 27 million views. Also in 2008, Dr. Taylor was chosen as one of TIME Magazine's "100 Most Influential People in the World" and was the premiere guest on Oprah Winfrey's "Soul Series" web-cast.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Hay House Inc. (May 11, 2021)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1401961983
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1401961985
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.24 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.38 x 0.98 x 9.31 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 1,134 ratings

About the author

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Jill Bolte Taylor

Jill Bolte Taylor

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Jill Bolte Taylor, Ph.D., is a Harvard trained and published neuroanatomist and the author of the memoir My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientists Personal Journey (Penguin 2008). In 2021 she published Whole Brain Living: The Anatomy of Choice and the Four Characters That Drive Our Life (HayHouse). Dr. Taylor is affiliated with the Indiana University School of Medicine and is the national spokesperson for the Harvard Brain Tissue Resource Center (Brain Bank). She is one of Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the World for 2008, and her TED talk 'My Stroke of Insight' was the first TED talk to go viral on the internet. In addition, she was the premier guest on Oprah Winfrey's webcast Soul Series in 2008.

Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
4.7 out of 5
1,134 global ratings
Life Changing in Best Way!
5 Stars
Life Changing in Best Way!
I heard this author on her TED talk, and Oprah and recent podcasts. I wanted what she has - INNER PEACE. Her first book My Stroke of Insight was fascinating and inspiring. But I've been wanting and waiting for Whole Brain Living because here she gives us a roadmap for HOW to get to the Nirvana she describes finding after her stroke.Dr. Taylor's way of seeing the brain is FASCINATING. We all have four personalities - some are our good selves, and some are the our little selves, and don't serve us well. We all know them. They pop up to bite us when we're under stress or dealing with a challenging person. Dr. Taylor explains how we can be our better or best selves more of the time, and what to watch out for when our little selves pop up.I really liked and now use all the time her 90 second rule to help myself be my best self.Thank you Dr. Taylor.
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Top reviews from the United States

SeriouslyFunJodi
5.0 out of 5 stars Illuminating and Life-Changing
Reviewed in the United States on February 23, 2024
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This books was beautifully written so it can be easily understood and implemented into daily living. I’m so grateful to Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor for her bravery and willingness to recover so that she could share these ideas and revelations with us.
One person found this helpful
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A. W. Wood
5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous Book
Reviewed in the United States on October 13, 2023
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I have studied different methods to help me be the best me I can be. Some of them worked some of the time, usually after a whole lot of practice and with difficulty. I started using Dr. Taylor’s methods before I even finished reading the book, with amazing results. I highly recommend this for anyone who is dealing with behavioral issues such as anger and sadness. This book is like a guiding light. Thank you so much, Dr. Jill.
7 people found this helpful
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RichE
5.0 out of 5 stars a good read for those who want to know how the brain works and how to help it work better
Reviewed in the United States on October 5, 2022
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After Dr. Jill Knowlte Taylor suffered her major stroke she discovered how amazing her brain really was and how much, even as a brain surgeon, just how much she had to learn about it. In this book, she talks about how she has discovered how the different regions of the brain work in creating the way we see and think about the world, how we make decisions, and how we choose to feel. The book is written in a way that most people should be able to understand and discover something about how their own brain, and their personality work. You may remember the old "stories" about how the different voices in your mind try to influence your choices...(the good and not so good angels on your shoulder?) Jill actually explains that in easy to understand ways... and best of all she has come up with easy to follow instructions and activities to help you interact with people and the world around you without necessarily loosing your head. I like her writing and her insights and think you will too.
24 people found this helpful
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avidreader
5.0 out of 5 stars Brillant
Reviewed in the United States on December 2, 2023
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Such an interesting and insightful way of looking at human behavior! In these chaotic and challenging times, Taylor offers a way forward blending scientific research and personal experience.
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Woolf,C
4.0 out of 5 stars I like the 4 character model. Hope research produces more evidence to support nuances
Reviewed in the United States on December 15, 2022
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I enjoyed this book.

The idea of Four Characters, as presented by Dr.Jill Bolte Taylor (JBT), reminds me of what psychologists call IFS / Internal Family Systems. Also reminiscent of typologies such as Enneagram or Myers-Briggs, although these latter typologies seem more like classifying / pigeon-holing you as one of the various types, whereas IFS and this book's "Brain Huddle" aim at integration of, and collaboration between the various parts.​ (I had links for some of these, and following, references, but removed them as they violate guidelines for reviews.)​

JBT's account of her own experience, along with her lessons in brain anatomy, are inspiring and informative. As are many other of her insights, such as our ability at any given time to influence the tenor of our thinking and feelings. I wonder whether, or hope that, further brain science might shed more evidential light on characteristics of thought or feeling that might be based in (or somehow identified with) these four (or perhaps other, smaller or larger) anatomical regions in the brain.

In order to gain insight about my own psychic landscape, I have been trying to grok in my own terms the four characters that JBT describes both at length throughout the book, and with a list of characteristics in an early chapter. She suggests that these characters might correspond to Jungian archetypes, but I have been trying to identify some archetypes that I would find more-easily accessible. For what it's worth, I have come up with the following: #1 The Engineer, #2 The Vulnerable, #3 The Innocent and #4 The Mystic.

If you read the book (I recommend it) you may benefit from coming up with your own idiomatic archetypes. Also, though I have no clue how it might map to my brain, I favor a fifth character: #5 Awareness. This character notices which of the other characters are in play, and may decide and help to shift attention, and/or to integrate / harmonize the whole family of characters.
48 people found this helpful
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VeryFitOma
5.0 out of 5 stars One Aha! moment after another.
Reviewed in the United States on May 12, 2021
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As a fan of the author's first book (My Stroke of Insight), and given her impeccable academic credentials, I anticipated this book with great expectations--and Dr. Jill Taylor Bolton exceeded them by far. I fear my review could never do this book justice. It is a true gift to the world, explaining why we do the things we do and feel the way we do, in resolving the conflicting messaging we receive from our brain. Beyond providing helpful insights into the brain's way operating, the author gives us the tools to apply this knowledge to find a happier balance and more satisfying life experience. For all its scientific grounding, the book also unlocks a deeply spiritual dimension that is an undeniable part of the human experience, albeit often suppressed and derided in a society that values, above all, the rational brain and the gifts of analytical, critical thinking bestowed upon us by the brain cells of left sided hemisphere. Somewhat ironically, I think that people with right brain dominance will enjoy the book far more than the left brain types--since one of its premises is that we should give freer reign to our right brain tendencies and to be less driven by impulses coming from the left hemisphere. Naturally, the left brain thinkers will have none of that. Meanwhile, right brain thinkers will rejoice in this newly found permission (indeed, exhortation) to live in the moment and to embrace its joyful and peaceful serenity.
99 people found this helpful
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Sam
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book.
Reviewed in the United States on December 15, 2023
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The author provides great insight into the brain and its amazing inner-workings.
2 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Candice Neveu
5.0 out of 5 stars Great way to understand our brain
Reviewed in Canada on May 29, 2022
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I really enjoyed this book in terms of it's approach to acquainting me with the characters of my brain. This approach makes accessible what can easily feel intangible, and it gives us a way to work with our natural selves.
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Ferry
5.0 out of 5 stars Lifechanging
Reviewed in Mexico on October 12, 2021
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A completely new way, scientifically backed of looking at life and spirituality. It blows my mind to understand my brain so much better now and I feel it's a huge help to now understand what I'm doing when I meditate and how I connect with the infinite wisdom of the universe.
I'm truly grateful for this book and I want to thank Jill Bolte Taylor for her insight and sharing. Thank you
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lynda durrant
5.0 out of 5 stars well this explains everything!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 3, 2024
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I'm so glad I found this book. To understand the nature of our brain's different voices from someone who has experienced in her own body the way our consciousness is structured is an amazing revelation. It goes a long way to understanding the contradictory ways we often behave, and the different levels we operate on.
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Varghese Parakudiyil
5.0 out of 5 stars A must read book
Reviewed in Italy on October 20, 2023
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Its an Amazing book, i love reading It.
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Stefanos L
4.0 out of 5 stars Very interesting insights
Reviewed in Germany on September 26, 2023
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I found the four characters and the brain huddle really interesting and useful information, with potential for practical implementation on my daily life. However, the second half of the book was disjointed and did not offer much.
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