Livewired: The Inside Story of the Ever-Changing Brain

Written by David Eagleman

Narrated by David Eagleman

"Eagleman renders the secrets of the brain’s adaptability into a truly compelling page-turner.” —Khaled Hosseini, author of The Kite Runner

“Livewired reads wonderfully like what a book would be if it were written by Oliver Sacks and William Gibson, sitting on Carl Sagan’s front lawn.” —The Wall Street Journal

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 color? 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 Earth?
 
The answers to these questions are right behind our eyes. The greatest technology we have ever discovered on our planet is the three-pound organ carried in the vault of the skull. This book is not simply about what the brain is; it is about 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 reweave themselves in an electric, living fabric.

In Livewired, you will surf the leading edge of neuroscience atop the anecdotes and metaphors that have made David 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 synesthesia to dreaming to wearable neurotech devices that revolutionize how we think about the senses.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group
• Release date: Aug 25, 2020
• ISBN: 9780553550979

David Eagleman

David Eagleman (Nuevo México, 1971) es neurocientífico y profesor en la Universidad de Stanford. Es Guggenheim Fellow y director del Center for Science and Law. Su libro Incógnito. Las vidas secretas del cerebro, publicado por Anagrama, se tradujo a veintiocho idiomas y fue elegido Mejor Libro de 2011 por Amazon, el Boston Globe y el Houston Chronicle. En esta colección se ha publicado también El cerebro. Nuestra historia, La especie desbocada, coescrito con Anthony Brandt y Una red viva. La historia interna de nuestro cerebro en cambio permanente

Reviews for Livewired

[ehousewright-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I read this book, or most of it anyway, a couple of years ago. Would have given it a 3 star at that point, but a recent Scientific American article, "Designing Life", made me want to dig it out again. This time I felt better about it-- it's real, it's happening, there is flexibility and continuity in our brains and senses, and work done to understand this is important. both for bioengineering and for personal life. Yes, the book is maybe over popularized, but I'll try to keep up with this.

[jwhenderson_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The leading erdge of neuroscience is discussed in this explanation of the world of cognitive science and the brain. Recent discoveries and the new ways of looking at the brain are presented in a readable fashion. I found this a fascinating overview of the way the brain works and how we are continuing to discover new aspects of its nature.

[jpsnow · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The human brain has evolved to be exceptionally adaptable, at least for a while. Once the nerve patterns are laid down and much of the capacity has been committed, then we're less able to learn. In the strictest cases, the implications can very from a lifelong accent to not being able to see. I found this whole book fascinating, such that I kept reading it in lieu of my more typical vacation reads.

[vpfluke · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I thought I was going to skip through this book. But as a began to read it I gradually became engrossed. On page14, I read "A city is always in flux" and a couple lines later: "Just like cities, brains never reach an end point." So, I was hooked living a life that was invested in cities and their transportation network.
How our senses function and their relationship to the brain and what happens if some pieces are missing is well covered. I was interested in the portion of cochlear implants as a sister-in-law was a manufacturers representative on many of these operations; and how people adapt to being able to hear, or to hear again. (not easy in older persons). References to science fiction abound, and how some predictions have been shown valid and others not. Teasing out what memory is was interesting. All in all a good book.