The author relates how a chance encounter in a magic shop with a woman who taught him exercises to ease his sufferings and manifest his greatest desires gave him a glimpse of the relationship between the brain and the heart, and drove him to explore the neuroscience of compassion and altruism. With an alcoholic father and a depressed mother Doty's life was at a dead end when, at age twelve, he wandered into a magic shop looking for a plastic thumb. Instead he met Ruth, who taught him a series of exercises to ease his own suffering and manifest his greatest desires. She gave him his first glimpse of the unique relationship between the brain and the heart. Part memoir, part science, part inspiration, and part practical instruction, Doty shows us how we can fundamentally change our lives by first changing our brains and our hearts.

Real magic -- A body at rest -- Thinking about thinking -- Growing pains -- Three wishes -- Apply yourself -- Unacceptable -- It's not brain surgery -- The sultan of nothing -- Giving up -- The alphabet of the heart -- Manifesting compassion -- The face of God.