People of Long Now

David Eagleman

Member of the Board of Directors

David Eagleman is a neuroscientist and an author. He holds joint appointments in the Departments of Neuroscience and Psychiatry at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. Eagleman’s areas of scientific expertise include time perception, vision, synesthesia, and the intersection of neuroscience with the legal system. He directs the Laboratory for Perception and Action, and is the founder and director of Baylor College of Medicine’s Initiative on Neuroscience and Law. His scientific publications appear in Science, Nature, Nature Neuroscience, and Neuron, and he serves on the editorial board of several scientific journals.

Dr. Eagleman has written several neuroscience books, including the New York Times bestseller Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain, Wednesday is Indigo Blue: Discovering the Brain of Synesthesia, and the upcoming Live Wired: The Dynamically Reorganizing Brain.

Eagleman has also written an internationally bestselling book of literary fiction, Sum, which has been translated into 27 languages and was named a Best Book of the Year by Barnes and Noble, New Scientist, and the Chicago Tribune. Eagleman and Brian Eno recently performed a musical reading of Sum at the Sydney Opera House, and Eagleman has teamed with German composer Max Richter to translate Sum into an 02012 opera at the Royal Opera House in London.

Dr. Eagleman has written for the New York Times, Discover Magazine, Atlantic, Slate, Wired and New Scientist, and he appears regularly on National Public Radio and BBC to discuss both science and literature.