Into the Magic Shop

A neurosurgeon's true story of the life-changing magic of compassion and mindfulness. A life-changing memoir of the power of mindfulness and how it helped a boy without hope to find a new future. Now a leading neurosurgeon, Dr. James Doty shares practical tips for meditation and visualization techniques in this inspiring true story of the woman who taught him to think magically.

The day that 12-year-old James Doty walked into his local magic shop is the day that changed his life. Once the neglected son of an alcoholic father and a mother with chronic depression, he has gone on to become a leading neurosurgeon based at Stanford University. He credits Ruth for this incredible turnaround: the remarkable woman who devoted the summer to transforming his mind and opening his heart. In this uplifting memoir, Jim explains the visualization techniques Ruth taught him that gave him the self-esteem to imagine a new future for himself. He examines the science behind mindfulness and why the skills he learned—of focus and attention—now help him to think fast and keep calm in the operating theatre. And he shows us what is possible when you start to change your brain and your heart. Into the Magic Shop imparts some powerful life lessons about how to live better and inspires us to believe that we all have inside us the capacity to change our own destiny.