My mom has always liked doing crossword puzzles, acrostics and other mind games as a form of entertainment.  Now she does them because she thinks she’s getting old and everything she’s read tells her that constantly challenging her brain will help stave off dementia or just plain memory loss.  So she’s gone from a casual procrastinator to a motivated procrastinator (I’m still in the casual category).

That’s why I think a perfect gift for mom this x-mas will be a book called Mind Performance Hacks from O’Reilly publishing.  David Pescovitz at Boing Boing described the book this way:

The book is like a user’s guide to your brain complete with new
"software subroutines" that you can run to optimize various mental
processes like memory, creativity, emotional response, learning, and
logical analysis.

You can read seven sample hacks here, including:

• Hack 1:
  Remember 10 Things to Bring (PDF Format)

• Hack 15:
  Speak Your Brain’s Language (PDF Format)

• Hack 19:
  Seed Your Mental Random-Number Generator (PDF Format)

• Hack 35:
  Put Down That Calculator (PDF Format)

• Hack 53: Learn Morse Code Like an Efficiency Expert (PDF Format)

• Hack 57:
  Learn Your Emotional ABCs (PDF Format)

• Hack 72:
  Overclock Your Brain (PDF Format)