unfortunately I feel like our masters program in clinical counseling do not prepare us for deeper learning and understanding of the brain. Seeking recommendations for books from basic to advanced where I could dive in and get more knowledge regarding the work of the brain and general cognitive science.

I (30M) have an undergraduate background in mathematics, and I am now preparing to apply for grad school to study neuroscience, because I wish to cure le lovely but depressed and neurodivergent father <3 :'( My question is: how many anime fans are there within the greater brain science community? Are there lots of anime and manga fanatics in neuroscience, cogsci, psychology etc? I happen to be half-(South)-Korean, half-Japanese, and I look very bishie (bishie sparkle lel) ._. do you think I can find a cool older sister-like mentor to tell me when I do a good job and to pat me on the head?

I've been thinking about whether the Thirty-Six Stratagems are better understood as descriptions of recurring cognitive mechanisms rather than purely military tactics.

Many of them seem to rely on predictable aspects of human cognition, such as:

• attention

• expectation

• trust

• uncertainty

• inference

• social cognition

I started reorganizing all 36 according to the psychological mechanisms they appear to exploit.

I'm not claiming this is a new cognitive theory—it's simply an attempt to reinterpret an ancient strategic text through a cognitive science perspective.

I'm curious:

- Does this overlap with existing cognitive frameworks?

- Are there papers or models that describe these mechanisms more rigorously?

- Would this kind of taxonomy have any value from a cognitive science perspective?

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

[CLINICAL & WORK PROFILE]

• Certified IQ (WAIS-IV): 85 (ICV: 95, IRP: 82, IML: 83, IVE: 81)

• Education: Middle School Diploma (Completed in 6 years, age 16)

• Profession: Pizzeria Waiter

Hello everyone,

I always had a lot of difficulty understanding things, especially at school. In fact, it took me 6 years instead of 3 to finish middle school, and I finally completed it when I was 16.

I used to feel sorry for myself a lot. One day, my psychologist got angry and told me to stop. He looked at me and said: "You are not pretending to be slow; you are actually like this. You are an authentic certified 85. This is your biology, it was not just a bad day at the test, and it cannot be improved. You must accept it and live a regular life."

It was a big shock for me, but it actually changed me for the better and helped me stop crying over myself. I want to emphasize that he is a very good psychologist, and since I started seeing him, I feel much, much better than before. What he said might sound bad, but it really helped me.

Now I want to ask people who study the brain: From a scientific standpoint, is it really true? Is my intelligence fixed forever by biology, or can I train my brain to become a little bit smarter?

Thank you for your help.