I loved this book. I think it serves as a fantastic companion to books like The Tell-Tale Brain by V. S. Ramachandran and The Brain That Changes Itself by Norman Doidge. It contains a lot of recent, well-sourced, and fascinating information on brain science and plasticity, and I like Eagleman's conception of the brain being "live-wired" rather than "plastic." I especially enjoyed the sections on the function of dreams, neuroplasticity and aging, and sensory substitution.

If I could give it a 4.5/5 instead of a 4, I would. However, it's closer to a 4 than a 5. My chief point of contention is that when Eagleman steps out of his field (in particular), he sometimes oversimplifies ideas or makes minor mistakes. The first example that caught my attention was the statement in Chapter 12 that "reptiles can't see you if you stand still, because they only register change."

I'm not a herpetologist and I knew intuitively that this isn't accurate. It took me a few minutes of searching online to confirm. Reptiles, at least generally, have sharp vision for detecting movement, important for both hunting and avoiding predators, but they can still detect stationary objects; their visual acuity and processing of visual information just differ from humans, focusing on movement. I believe Eagleman should revisit certain parts of the book, like this one, and make slight adjustments for accuracy. The point he was conveying there would still hold up.

In another section, he mentions that the Clean Air Act, possibly directly, precipitated a significant drop in crime in the 1990s. This is a compelling hypothesis generally supported by evidence outside of the book, so serves as an example of Eagleman branching beyond his domain without getting tangled up. (One might even extend the argument to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1970.)

Overall, still a fantastic book, and I recommend it to anyone interested in neuroscience.