Match BookBrain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School (Book & DVD)
John Medina
2008 · 301 pages · Narrative nonfiction
How it reads
Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School (Book & DVD) is narrative nonfiction (popular neuroscience, specifically), and its dominant mood is hopeful. Whatever it puts its people through, it believes things can get better. The pace is moderate — neither a page-turner nor a slow burn — so it holds up whether you read it in long sittings or short ones.
It's set in several locations, in the present day, told through letters, documents or mixed forms. Its central concerns are identity, family and class and society. In weight it sits in the middle: substantial without being heavy going.
It stands alone, so there's nothing else you need to read first or after. The ending resolves happily. At 301 pages it's a quick read. It's a mega-bestseller — the book everyone seems to have read.
Pick it up if…
- you're in the mood for something hopeful
- you want a complete story in one book
- you want to be sure it ends well
Maybe not if…
- you need something melancholy or dark
All 15 dimensions
- Genre
- narrative nonfiction
- Author gender
- male
- Author experience
- established
- Setting: place
- multiple locations
- Setting: time
- contemporary
- Mood / feeling
- hopeful
- Pace
- moderate
- Tone / weight
- balanced
- Length
- medium
- Narrative style
- letters, documents or mixed forms
- Publication era
- modern classic
- Popularity
- mega-bestseller
- Series vs standalone
- standalone
- Ending style
- resolved and happy
What these mean: the 15 dimensions of a book.
Books with a similar reading
The closest books in Match Book's catalogue across the same dimensions, and what they share.
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- Running on Empty: Overcome Your Childhood Emotional NeglectJonice WebbShares: narrative nonfiction, hopeful mood, balanced tone, moderate pace
- Math-ish: Finding Creativity, Diversity, and Meaning in MathematicsJo BoalerShares: narrative nonfiction, hopeful mood, balanced tone, moderate pace
- The Person You Mean to Be: How Good People Fight BiasDolly ChughShares: narrative nonfiction, hopeful mood, balanced tone, moderate pace
- SupercrunchersIan AyresShares: narrative nonfiction, hopeful mood, balanced tone, moderate pace
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