You wouldn’t know it from meeting him today, but Dr. James Doty, an extremely successful neurosurgeon, the director of the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Care (CCARE), and a close, personal friend of the Dalai Lama, grew up poor with an alcoholic, unreliable father and a chronically depressed mother. He had no direction, no one in his family had ever gone to college, and he was on a path to nowhere.

But when he was twelve years old, and interested in illusions and magic, he wandered INTO THE MAGIC SHOP: A Neurosurgeon’s Quest to Discover the Mysteries of the Brain and the Secrets of the Heart (Avery, February 14, 2017, Hardcover, eBook) and met Ruth, a woman who saw potential in Jim and taught him how to manifest his greatest desires through a series of techniques and meditative exercises. She already knew what Jim would soon learn: a unique relationship between the brain and the heart could allow one to manifest their greatest desires and lead to incredible success and happiness.

Doty was more successful at manifesting his desires than he ever thought possible: he got into college, medical school, became a neurosurgeon and rich as an entrepreneur that, on paper and with his background and grades, made no sense, but in his mind, were the only possible outcomes for his life.

But Doty neglected one of the most important lessons from Ruth: keeping his heart open. He had riches and dazzling professional success, but felt empty inside. Suddenly he has a financial setback essentially losing everything except for the stock of one company that had yet to go public. Should he take that stock and give it to the charities he had committed to support when he had “everything” or give it away and be virtually bankrupt? Would this act of charity ruin his life or be the stepping-stone to real success?

INTO THE MAGIC SHOP is part memoir, part neuroscience with practical instructions from Ruth included as well. It shows how we can all fundamentally change our lives by changing our brains and opening our hearts and by doing so have real happiness.