Name: Guy Moorhouse's review of Livewired by David Eagleman
Item: Livewired
Rating: 4.5
Author: Guy Moorhouse

David Eagleman

What does drug withdrawal have in common with a broken heart? Why is the enemy of memory not time, but other memories? How can a blind person learn to see with her tongue or a deaf person learn to hear with his skin? Why did many people in the 1980s mistakenly perceive book pages to be slightly red in colour? Why is the world’s best archer armless? Might we someday control a robot with our thoughts, just as we do our fingers and toes? Why do we dream at night, and what does that have to do with the rotation of the planet? The answer to these questions is right behind our eyes. The greatest technology we have ever discovered on this planet is the three-pound organ carried around in the vault of the skull. This book is not simply about what the brain is, but what it does. The magic of the brain is not found in the parts it’s made of, but in the way those parts unceasingly re-weave themselves in an electric, living fabric. Surf the leading edge of neuroscience atop the anecdotes and metaphors that have made Eagleman one of the best scientific translators of our generation. Covering decades of research to the present day, Livewired also presents new discoveries from Eagleman’s own laboratory, from synaesthesia to dreaming to wearable neurotech devices that revolutionize how we think about the senses.

The Inside Story of the Ever-Changing Brain

Livewired

Guy Moorhouse

From the best-selling author of Incognito and Sum comes a revelatory portrait of the human brain based on the most recent scientific discoveries about how it unceasingly adapts, re-creates, and formulates new ways of understanding the world we live in. The magic of the brain is not found in the parts it's made of but in the way those parts unceasingly reweave themselves in an electric living fabric. And there is no more accomplished and accessible guide than renowned neuroscientist David Eagleman to help us understand the nature and changing texture of that fabric. With his hallmark clarity and enthusiasm he reveals the myriad ways that the brain absorbs experience: developing, redeploying, organizing, and arranging the data it receives from the body's own absorption of external stimuli, which enables us to gain the skills, the facilities, and the practices that make us who we are. Eagleman covers decades of the most important research into the functioning of the brain and presents new discoveries from his own research as well: about the nature of synesthesia, about dreaming, and about wearable devices that are revolutionizing how we think about the five human senses. Finally, Livewired is as deeply informative as it is accessible and brilliantly engaging.

Nadine 

About 5 years back all the talk was about neuro-plasticity and the advantages it would afford us. This book re-iterates bits of that and adds to it with the ideas of wearable & assistive technology. Some of it is repetitive as it goes through the history that anyone who has an interest in these matters must already have read about multiple times, but quite a lot is new and cutting edge.
Worth a read particularly if you're working with or in contact with people who have issues with hearing or sight.

Harsha G

Beautiful book, though not much here is new if you have already read any recent literature about plasticity.

Guy Moorhouse &
Livewired by David Eagleman

Reviews

Join the club

Guy Moorhouse &Livewired by David Eagleman

Reviews

Join the club

Guy Moorhouse &
Livewired by David Eagleman