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How to Make Your Brain Your Best Friend

A Neuroscientist's Guide to a Healthier, Happier Life

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How to Make Your Brain Your Best Friend

By: Rachel Barr
Narrated by: Rachel Barr
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About this listen

'Fun, but still deeply, rigorously researched.' - Professor Neil Shyminsky

'A true masterpiece. Rachel Barr has done a phenomenal job breaking down the complexities of the human mind.' - Jeffrey Meltzer, LMHC

'Insightful and relatable psychoeducation that demystifies the brain . . . it’s a resource I’ll proudly keep on my shelf as a therapist.' - Joshua Fletcher, anxiety therapist

Your brain is the most remarkable thing in the known universe.


Always trying to mend itself, and always trying to protect you, it’s in a constant state of flux — adapting, reconfiguring, finding new pathways . . . And it has an astonishing capacity for recovery.

Only it doesn’t always get it right.

Rachel Barr struggled through years of devastating loss, heartache, and uncertainty until neuroscience gave her the first spark of self-belief she had felt in her adult life — and proof that, because of the brain’s near-infinite potential for neuroplastic change, it’s never too late to carve out neural pathways to form new habits, new skills, and new ways of thinking.

Whether you want to nerd-out on Neuroscientific acronyms, finally understand what’s going on in your head, or take refuge in an audiobook that’s like a warm hug for your mind, How to Make Your Brain Your Best Friend is a delight-filled, evidence-based guide to taking better care of your brain — so it, in turn, will take better care of you.

Rachel Barr holds a master’s degree in molecular neuroscience and wrote How to Make Your Brain Your Best Friend while completing her PhD in the electrophysiology of memory and sleep. Beyond the lab, her videos as ‘Rachel the Neuroscientist’ demystify the fundamental principles of brain science, empowering her million-plus followers to make informed decisions about their mental health. Born and raised in Fife, she studied in Bristol and is now based in Quebec, where she shares her home — and keyboard — with Gnocchi the cat.

©2025 Rachel Barr (P)2025 DK Audio

Best of 2025 Biological Sciences Mental Health Neuroscience & Neuropsychology Psychology Psychology & Mental Health Science Human Brain Heartfelt Feel-Good Inspiring Thought-Provoking

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Critic reviews

Whether you’re looking to understand why your brain behaves the way it does or seeking practical strategies to get your mind on your side, this is a must-read.
Somehow both a delightful and poignant piece of science communication. Rachel Barr’s writing is Bill Bryson-esque in both its accessibility and playfulness – your brain is “a well-meaning but inadvertently toxic-positive aunt”, “a multi-layered birthday cake”, and “A LIAR” – but it’s also tender and tinged with the pain of loss . . . I really enjoyed it!
Insightful and relatable psychoeducation that demystifies the brain . . . it’s a resource I’ll proudly keep on my shelf as a therapist.
A true masterpiece. Rachel Barr has done a phenomenal job breaking down the complexities of the human mind into language that’s easy to understand.
All stars
Most relevant
Fabulous listen, the Brain is character in its own right, always trying to protect you in a world that identifies with crisis after crisis. Mental health and journey of self discovery.

The brain is a character in its own right!

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This book made me laugh and cry and learn and wonder and smile and think and hope. It’s the perfect balance of heartfelt and sciencey. Dr. Rachel Barr has a beautiful way with words and a passion for brains that make this book feel like a peer reviewed warm hug.

Simply delightful

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Great style which engages the reader from the start. As a Psychotherapist, I have read multiple books which do not attempt to connect with readers not familiar with the subject matter, Rachel Barr goes in a completely different direction and approaches what could be considered as ‘dry’ and makes it meaningful
and so very human

Deeply human and accessible

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A pretty cool book as long as you treat it as a gentle how to guide for your life rather than some deep neurological analysis.

Either way, there's something endearing about Rachel and I'm glad I supported her - all the best chica!

Well done Rachel.

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I have watch a lot of Rachel Barr's neuroscience videos and love them. They are loaded with information in a very high tempo. So I expected the book to dive into that more deeply.
I still love this book for being personal, caring, loving and informative on a daily perspective, and not a sciencepaper.
And Rachel reads it aloud with a very present and personal tone. Thank you for that. Since english is not my native language and the reading tempo is a bit higher than I'm used to with Audible I had to lower the tempo, which worked fine.

A personal guide to braincare

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