Override
Caroline Williams
Scribe, $32.99
There's a touch of disappearing down the rabbit hole in following Caroline Williams'  journey into the modern wonderland of neuroplasticity. It is, at once, an examination of the evolving science, a self-help book, a memoir and a quest. At the centre is the question of theory versus practice. Can the brain really rewire itself and can the new science be applied to everyday life, and change things Williams identifies about herself that she'd like to change: worrying, a tendency for stress and distraction, and a lousy sense of direction? Like so much, the more we delve  the less we seem to know. Scientific debate and disputes about the value of neuroscience aside, this is an upbeat journey, Williams emerging positive about controlling such things as anxiety, mental conditions that can be overridden.