Livewired: The Inside Story of the Ever-Changing Brain book club questions

1. 1.

   Eagleman argues the brain is always rewriting itself toward current demands. What does that imply about the person you will be in ten years compared to who you are now?

2. 2.

   The cortical takeover experiments show that the visual cortex processes language in blind people. What does this tell us about how the brain assigns meaning to experience?

3. 3.

   If the brain can learn to interpret vibration on the skin as sound, what other senses might be practically extensible, and what would be useful?

4. 4.

   Eagleman describes critical periods in development when the brain is especially malleable. What critical periods in your own life do you think shaped you most permanently?

5. 5.

   The book suggests dreams prevent sensory cortex takeover during sleep. How do you respond to the idea that your dreams may be serving a maintenance function rather than a symbolic one?

6. 6.

   What skill have you let atrophy? Based on what Eagleman describes, what would it take to rebuild those neural circuits?

7. 7.

   Eagleman is enthusiastic about brain-computer interfaces expanding human perception. What are the strongest ethical objections to pursuing that direction?

8. 8.

   Memory is reconstructive, not reproductive. Think of a vivid memory. How confident are you that what you remember actually happened as you remember it?

9. 9.

   The taxi driver hippocampus study shows that navigation produces measurable brain change. What does this suggest about the consequences of outsourcing navigation to GPS?

10. 10.

    Eagleman writes about cortical real estate as a competition between inputs. What is competing for territory in your own brain right now, and what is winning?

11. 11.

    The book is more enthusiastic about plasticity's possibilities than its limits. What questions does it leave unanswered that you'd want answered?

12. 12.

    If the brain is constantly rewriting itself, what does that mean for the concept of a stable identity or personality?

How to run the discussion

• Pick six to eight, not all of them. An hour of real discussion covers fewer questions than anyone expects, and racing the list is what makes a book club feel like homework.
• Open with what people noticed, not what they concluded. Asking for a verdict first hardens opinions before anyone has heard each other.
• Let the disagreement run. The questions below that split a room are the ones worth the time; the ones everyone answers the same way can be skipped.
• Ask the quiet person a specific question. A direct, narrow question is far easier to answer than an open invitation to contribute.