The book explores and extends the phenomenon of brain plasticity, with the term livewired proposed as a term to supersede plastic. With his new theory of infotropism, Eagleman demonstrates why the fundamental principle of the brain is information maximization: in the same way that plants grow toward light, brains reconfigure to boost data from the outside world. For example, the brain can successfully navigate a changing body and environment, so why can't our things do the same?

Reading about the brain has given me more empathy and for that reason alone I think everyone should read more about the brain.The theme of this book broadly is brain plasticity, highlighting how the brain is actually a general purpose computing machine that would ably use any input presented from birth as long as it consistently predicted something about the outside world. Our team is made up of book lovers who are dedicated to sourcing and providing the best books for kids. Eagleman is particularly qualified to talk about this not only a neuroscientist, but also as an inventor creating a whole new frontier of livewiring via his company NeoSensory.

It has a compelling, curiosity-based narrative and relies on a broad spectrum of neuroscience sub-domains. I had no idea that brain - something we take for granted because we do not even notice its work on a daily basis - can do such wonders. It is accepted by you that Daunt Books has no control over additional charges in relation to customs clearance. He is the author of many books, including Livewired, Sum, Incognito, The Brain, and The Runaway Species. 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.A lot of popular neuroscience books I read regurgitate a psych 101 class for the first third of the book, which is both tedious and often in need of updating (e. g. it used to be thought that the brain was one continuous neural net BUT THEN Ramon y Cajal, Psychology used to not be real science BUT THEN behaviorism, and then Phineas Gage got a pole launched through his frontal cortex, and HM had to have his hippocampus removed due to epilepsy, and here we are today).

Despite occasional issues with the writing (and a warning that if you're squeamish that there are quite a lot of medical details as a lot we learn about the brain is from the results of damage and surgery) this is one of the best brain books I've read this year. I found factual inaccuracies in the book that I know to be inaccurate because there were about my own field of expertise. Eagleman peppers the book with stories and examples - my absolute favourite was the way that in the late 70s and early 80s, people thought that the IBM logo on floppy disks had changed from white to red. Popular science book topics are a bit like buses - you wait ages for one on a particular topic/route and then a whole string of the turn up.Eagleman packs this book chock full with basic neuroscience knowledge - what we currently know about how the brain works, and we're only just scratching the surface - illustrated by rich, captivating examples.

While outlining his theory of ‘infotropism’ with scientific examples and everyday anecdotes, he relates his argument to unusual phenomena, such as synesthesia; the purpose of dreams; and how modern wearable devices are revolutionizing the way the human sensory system functions. Particularly in the first chapter, the writing was very jerky, suddenly changing topic, even telling half a story then abruptly switching to something else before coming back to the original subject again.It's also one of the most hopeful books I've ever read, particularly needful in these uncertain times.