It's not that the idea of the brain as a self-patterning system that adapts and changes as inputs vary is new, but the sheer depth and speed of the phenomenon is only relatively recently understood and Eagleman gives us a very wide range of examples, from a young child who had half his brain removed, but developed normally, the remaining half taking on all the roles of the other, to the remarkably short term adaptations that enable us to cope with, for example, changes in lighting colour and intensity. Eagleman's books in contrast, discuss the topics most tightly related to his theme at hand, and often present new material or familiar material through a novel lens, which I love! With fluid prose and crystal-clear analogies, Eagleman explains the function of the cerebral cortex as a general computing machine that can take any kind of input from environmental sensors — e. Not convinced about the idea that the main purpose of dreaming is to stop the visual cortex from reconfiguring after sunset. One interesting thing he throws out in this book is that dreaming exists to keep the visual cortex active so that other areas don't take it over.

Since first learning of plasticity during neurophysiology lectures at university I have been fascinated by the brain’s ability to adapt. Ljudboken läser Eagleman upp mycket entusiastiskt vilket gör det hela till en mycket trevlig och framförallt spännande lyssning. Precis som en person utan synskada inte reflekterar över hur fotoner träffar näthinnan i olika mönster och antal utan istället upplever världen som "där ute". Along the way you will meet: a surfing dog, a skateboarding dog, and a bipedal dog; an armless archery champ; people who hate their limbs; a man with no short-term memory; and a woman who forgets nothing.Your neural networks are not hardwired but livewired, reconfiguring their circuitry every moment of your life. Particularly loved thinking about how our brain re-wires itself to new body plans, and was telling my spouse about this as they just had eye surgery and were adapting to their "new eyes" :) Real life applicability! Drop everything you think you knew, this book will show you that our brains are even more amazing than we realise, and there's so much more potential for them in the future.

The Wall Street Journal wrote that "since the passing of Isaac Asimov, we haven't had a working scientist like Eagleman, who engages his ideas in such a variety of modes. For example, if the brain's so damn changeable, how can we even hold on to any memories before they get overwritten by new stuff? goodreads و خواندن مطالب در مورد این کتاب متوجه شدم که کلمه قرنیه به جای لنز به کار رفته) و در موردش از یک پزشک اطلاعات کسب کردم و این ایراد تایید شد.This is especially fun since the book is talking about the very same thing you're using to read it (not the Kindle, silly — I mean your *brain*). We strapped the Vest on him, and now—just like the soldiers in Westworld—he could feel the location of those moving around him. Exempelvis skickar småbarns hjärnor ut slumpvis genererade signaler till musklerna som de sedan får direkt feedback från syn, känsel och balans.