Livewired

Eagleman is nothing if not thorough to a fault. The proposed theories are built step-by-step, but the repetition of certain key ideas chapter after chapter gets a bit much, at the cost of deeper detail. A thought-provoking read nonetheless, but I'll definitely be checking out the citations from the end notes to fill out the picture that Eagleman outlined.

Highly enjoyed this book telling the miracles of a brain and its plasticity especially during the early years. It gives many examples of cases where the brain rewires itself to match the different sensory inputs or lack of appropriate area in the brain otherwise. It explores the capacity of the brain to keep on learning and creating new connections. Very fascinating science told in a language a layperson can understand and gain much knowledge from.
One point which highly resonated with me, is how elderly people with responsibility to lead an active life, teach and look after others had a healthy brain with no degradation as perhaps observed in many others who upon reaching higher ages do not need to look after anything and lose their cognitive capabilities by watching TV endlessly. Similar to an example in his other book, how giving plants to look after in a care home resulted in fewer cases of dementia compared to control group where the carers looked after the plant (that's what I remember, don't quote me on the details). To me it just shows how continuously learning and developing our lives to improving skills will keep the brain healthy long term. Never too late to pick up a new hobby! But if you want to speak languages without accents or be a musical virtuoso, then starting before the age of 8 is a good idea.

The amount of new information in this is low - but such is the way of medical technologies. If you've read his other books you can skip this one. However if you're new this is a great place to start.