Livewired

I loved this book because it offers a refreshing view of what neuroscience can and should be. Unlike different, highly credentialed neuroscientists who routinely offer vastly incompatible views of consciousness and who we ultimately are, this book instead focuses on the extraordinary theme of how the brain organizes the engineering of consciousness rather than on the more elusive and controversial deeper questions. 

As an illustration of the many mind-broadening themes broached in this superb book, instinct is often used as the be-all and end-all explanation of certain animal and human behaviors. Of the two hundred or so books I have… show more.

Neuroscientist David Eagleman uses a delightful array of examples—from historical to contemporary, geological to quotidian—to explain the marvels and complexities of the human brain. Although, as someone who lost all her sight later in life, I sometimes find myself wishing for the brain plasticity of a two-year-old, I am grateful for the amount of change that can occur in even the older brain. Most excitingly to a blind person living in an ocular centric world, Livewired reveals how “Sensory organs feed many different information sources to the brain,” and the consequence of this diversity is that: “your brain… show more.

Eagleman uses patient stories and metaphors to beautifully illustrate the remarkable flexibility of the human brain. Far from being static, our brains are constantly changing, shaped by our experiences and our surroundings. This comprehensive book explores the limits of our understanding of this ‘live wiring process. Based on his own research, as well as decades of work by other scientists, Eagleman explores how it is that we are able to learn to use new senses, adapt to new body parts, and form new memories.

Along the way, he examines how plasticity can explain common human experiences, from dreaming to heartbreak.… show more.