Cognitive Dominance

A Brain Surgeon's Quest to Out-Think Fear

By: Mark McLaughlin MD, Shawn Coyne

Narrated by: Dr. Mark McLaughlin

Get a grip.

The first time he cut open a patient's skull, neurosurgeon Mark McLaughlin found himself confronting a powerful force that his fellow brain surgeons agreed was best never spoken of.

Fear.

But Dr. McLaughlin knew that if he couldn't find a way to cope with this formidable foe, all he had striven for as a physician would be lost. So, with a scientist's analytical precision and a philosopher's worldview, McLaughlin derived and formalized a method by which he could act rationally and confidently under the operating room's lights and in all of the complex relationships in his life, especially under fear's profound influence.

With inspiration and guidance from intellectual titans like Rene Descartes, Charles Darwin, William James, and Carl Jung and contemporary thinkers like Nate Zinsser, Jordan Peterson, Iain McGilchrist, and J.K. Rowling, McLaughlin lays out his 20-year intellectual adventure story. The payoff of his odyssey is as life-changing as it is thrilling.

Cognitive Dominance: Enhanced situational awareness that facilitates rapid and accurate decision-making under stressful conditions with limited decision-making time.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

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Critic reviews

"Brilliant! Paradigm-blasting and profound." (Steven Pressfield, best-selling author of Gates of Fire and The War of Art)

Analytical

Great analytical breakdown of how to overcome fear. Offers powerful perspective on overcoming life's obstacles.

Amazing

This is such a good book. I love how the author splits the way that we see fear, and he has actionable ways that we can go about approaching fear. I would listen to this again.


Love this…

… Being given a structure with which to approach fear, especially when faced with “unknown unknowns“. Dr. McLaughlin‘s use of anecdotal stories made his theories easier to understand, and made the book more interesting. I personally love listening to books narrated by the author, although the author usually does not do a great job. Dr. McLaughlin could actually have a second career as an audiobook narrator. His tone of voice and cadence is perfect. Great read for anyone seeking structure to approach difficult situations.

Good book and narration

Good book about how to handle tough decisions and fear in your life. The writer also did a good job narrating the story. it's very personal to him.

Great narration and interesting stories

It was hard to keep up with the quadrants but I enjoyed the stories and the lessons that came with it. I think anybody can benefit from this book.

Really frustrating listen

This is the most frustrating book I've ever listened to. There is some fantastic content about how the mind works and how we perceive unexpected change in our lives but it's buried in between an extreme amount of superfluous detail about brain surgery procedures. The author goes into excruciating step by step detail about surgeries he has performed throughout the book. I would assume that a very small percentage of audible customers are brain surgeons but maybe I'm wrong. If you are a brain surgeon, you'll probably love it. For those who are not, you might find yourself hitting the fast forward button way too often on this one.

Good principles but long winded.

The principles and theories in the book are great and very beneficial, at least I think so. However, the way is presented is long winded. I’m explaining a scenario where the author experiences fear they go into detail of the brains structure. This is interesting but unnecessary and if removed this book would be half the length.