Books
Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain
New York: Pantheon Books.
If the conscious mind—the part you consider you—is just the tip of the iceberg in the brain, what is all the rest doing?
"The book is full of startling examples.... Eagleman has a wealth of such observations, backed up with case studies, bits of pop culture, literary references and historic examples. A book that will leave you looking at yourself—and the world—differently."- Kirkus Reviews (Starred review)
"What Eagleman seems to be calling for is a new Enlightenment, where our better understanding of the brain allows us to treat criminality differently. It’s a bold argument and perhaps just the beginning of the debate." - Sunday Herald
"David Eagleman offers startling lessons in neuroscience.... His method in both Sum and his new book, Incognito, is to ask us to cast off our lazy, commonplace assumptions. In one, he delineates, with remorseless logic and clarity, what any conceivable afterlife would actually entail. In the other: you think your brain and senses reveal the world as it is?" - The Guardian
"A stunning exploration of the we behind the I. Eagleman reveals, with his typical grace and eloquence, all the neural magic tricks behind the cognitive illusion we call reality." - Jonah Lehrer, author of How we Decide
"A shining example of lucid and easy-to-grasp science writing." -The Independent
"Like his acclaimed book of short stories, Sum, it's compulsively readable and sure to spark off plenty of discussion." - The Scotsman
"A fun read by a smart person for smart people.... It will attract a new generation to ponder their inner workings" - New Scientist
"Discussions about these difficult issues at the intersection of neuroscience and society are essential and timely. [Eagleman] should be lauded for his clear exposition of the consequences of our emerging understanding of the brain. Incognito is a smart, captivating book that will give you a prefrontal workout." -Nature
"Eagleman says he’s looking to do for neuroscience what Carl Sagan did for astrophysics, and he’s already on his way." -Texas Monthly
"This book grabs you from the first page, tumbling out facts and information in a down to earth and readable way, with a chatty humour which does not disguise the amount of knowledge that neuroscientist author David Eagleman has to offer." - Lovereading
"Your mind is an elaborate trick, and master-mind David Eagleman explains how the trick works with great lucidity and amazement. Your mind will thank you." - Kevin Kelly, author ofWhat Technology Wants
Why The Net Matters
London: Canongate Books.
Why The Net Matters, or Six Easy Ways to Avert the Collapse of Civilization is a digital book/iPad app that develops a new kind of way to navigate a non-fiction argument, to zoom in and out on 3D interactive figures, and to navigate with random-access chapters. It can be purchased as an app on the iTunes Store, or as an eBook on Amazon.
"Some of the most fascinating books around aren’t books; they’re superbooks — books with so much functionality that they’re sold as apps. Consider David Eagleman’s “Why the Net Matters,” a book about the Internet with photos, animation and even 3D." - Virginia Heffernan, New York Times Magazine
"This is an impressive and intriguing work" - Leo Hollis, The Telegraph (UK)
"I read it in one sitting, engrossed.... This bold restatement of the political and social potential of the web was useful and intelligent in its simplicity." - Chris Meade, BookFutures.
"A very enjoyable app with Eagleman's ideas very accessible and engaging." - Sam Missingham, FutureBook.net
"Why the Net Matters on the iPad is a breakthrough work, showing the way for generations of digital books to come. Text has never been so spectacularly illustrated; intellectual argument has never been so fluidly designed. And Eagleman's message is as revolutionary as his format: The Internet protects civilization from collapse without even trying." - Stewart Brand, President, The Long Now Foundation
Why the Net Matters was a finalist for the Digital Book World Innovation Awards.
Wednesday is Indigo Blue
(co-authored with Richard E. Cytowic). Cambridge: MIT Press.
"Twenty years ago, synesthesia—the automatic conjoining of two or more senses—was regarded by scientists (if at all) as a rare curiosity. We now know that perhaps one person in twenty is synesthetic, and so we must regard it as an essential, and fascinating, part of the human experience. Indeed, it may well be the basis and inspiration for much of human imagination and metaphor. No one has done more than Richard Cytowic and David Eagleman to bring a careful neuroscientific attention to synesthesia, grounded in decades of research and reports from thousands of patients. Their work has changed the way we think of the human brain, and Wednesday Is Indigo Blue is a unique and indispensable guide for anyone interested in how we perceive the world." - Oliver Sacks, author of The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat
"This is a clear, clever book that will appeal to synaesthetes in search of explanations, and to all with a passion for neurology's wild territory." - New Scientist
"An invaluable introduction to the phenomenon of synesthesia.... a well-structured exposition of the vast, rich literature on the subject. The text is richly illustrated, adding to the readers' understanding of the process. This well-written summary of what is known about synesthesia concludes with some helpful suggestions for the direction of future research. Summing Up: Highly recommended." - Choice Magazine
"Wednesday is Indigo Blue adds a new and rich philosophical discussion and a variety of cognitive neuroscience experiments to the topic of synesthesia. Cytowic and Eagleman make a convincing case that research on synesthesia has and will significantly contribute to our understanding of the brain's neural networks." - Harry A. Whitaker, Department of Psychology, Northern Michigan University
"A fascinating survey of the enormous variety and creativity of the synesthetic mind." - Daniel Tammet, synesthete and author of Born on a Blue Day
Sum
New York: Pantheon Books. (Literary fiction).
"This little book is teeming, writhing with imagination." - Los Angeles Times
"This delightful, thought-provoking little collection belongs to that category of strange, unclassifiable books that will haunt the reader long after the last page has been turned. It is full of tangential insights into the human condition and poetic thought experiments.... It is also full of touching moments and glorious wit of the sort one only hopes will be in copious supply on the other side." - Alexander McCall Smith, New York Times Book Review
"Sum has the unaccountable, jaw-dropping quality of genius" - The Guardian
"Imaginative and inventive." - Wall Street Journal
"Eagleman is a true original. Read Sum and be amazed. Reread it and be reamazed all over again." - Time Magazine
"Sum is terrific. The inventiveness, the clarity and wit of the prose, the calm air of moral understanding that pervades the whole thing, add up to something completely original." — Philip Pullman, author of The Golden Compass
"David Eagleman’s Sum is a captivating collection of vignettes that portray possible afterlives–creatively conceived and deftly described. Each tale imagines an unexpected reality that might await us, possible worlds that illuminate life with colors rarely encountered." - Brian Greene, author of The Elegant Universe
"As rigorous and imaginative as the writings of Italo Calvino and Alan Lightman, each vignette is a glimpse into an expansive topic such as time, faith or memory. Together they illuminate an astounding range of possibilities for the meaning of human life." - Nature
"Reading this beautiful book is like pulling back the fabric of reality and peeping behind." - New Scientist
"With both a childlike sense of wonder and a trenchant flair for irony, the Baylor College of Medicine neuroscientist generously offers forty variations on the theme of God and the afterlife.... Sum is great fun—-sort of a brainy parlor game in print-—and a modest satire aimed at zealots who define heaven and God to serve their own ends." - Texas Monthly
"Wow." - The New York Observer
"A disarming, splendid little book... intriguing and extraordinarily well-written.... It made my heart light" - Dallas Morning News
"Witty, bright, sharp and unexpected... as surprising a book as I’ve read for years." - Brian Eno
"SUM is an imaginative and provocative book that gives new perspectives on how to view ourselves and our place in the world." - Alan Lightman, author of Einstein’s Dreams
(Fan of SUM? Please join the Facebook group or follow the news on Twitter)
Upcoming Books
- LiveWired: How the Brain Reconfigures Itself. David Eagleman. Oxford University Press. 2012.
- Cognitive Neuroscience: A Principles Based Approach (Textbook). David M. Eagleman and Jonathan Downar. Oxford University Press. 2012.
- Ten Unsolved Mysteries of the Brain. David M. Eagleman. In progress for 2013. (See cover article in Discover Magazine).
- The BioHistory Files: How the Microscopic Shapes the Macroscopic. David M. Eagleman. (Book to accompany 6 part television series on disease and world history, under consideration at Discovery Channel).