Beyond Boundaries

The New Neuroscience of Connecting Brains with Machines---and How It Will ChangeOur Lives

By: Miguel Nicolelis

Narrated by: Patrick Egan

A pioneering neuroscientist shows how the long-sought merger of brains with machines is about to become a paradigm-shifting reality.

Imagine living in a world where people use their computers, drive their cars, and communicate with one another simply by thinking. In this stunning and inspiring work, Duke University neuroscientist Miguel Nicolelis shares his revolutionary insights into how the brain creates thought and the human sense of self—and how this might be augmented by machines, so that the entire universe will be within our reach.

Beyond Boundaries draws on Nicolelis's ground-breaking research with monkeys that he taught to control the movements of a robot located halfway around the globe by using brain signals alone. Nicolelis's work with primates has uncovered a new method for capturing brain function—by recording rich neuronal symphonies rather than the activity of single neurons. His lab is now paving the way for a new treatment for Parkinson's, silk-thin exoskeletons to grant mobility to the paralyzed, and breathtaking leaps in space exploration, global communication, manufacturing, and more.

Beyond Boundaries promises to reshape our concept of the technological future, to a world filled with promise and hope.

Interesting, illuminating history and theories

Would you listen to Beyond Boundaries again? Why?

While the writer's attempts to make a scientific field more personal with humor and anecdotes mostly fell flat or were distracting rather than illuminating, the overall description of the history, theory, as well as the experiments. more than made up for those bad bits of writing. It's not just a book of hopeful speculation, but provides insights into current achievements and practical applications of the theory. Great stuff.

The Narrator is perfect for accelerated listening.

I've seen complaints about the speech patterns of the narrator, and I think they feel slow if listening at normal speed, but I would like to see more narration like this because I like to speed up the books as I listen. with this narrator I could accelerate comfortably to 1.4-1.5X and still feel confident in comprehension.

Awesome book, magnificent narration

An awesome book by a brilliant Brazilian neuroscientist.

The narrator has a beautiful voice. It is easy to understand even the most difficult neuroscience terms.

great info on brain machine interfaces

wordy but thorough intriguing and full of anecdotes about owl monkeys who play video games and drink fruit juice

The Lame Will Walk

Miguel Nicolelis, a Duke University neuroscientist, is a leader in brain-machine-interface research. He has produced in “Beyond Boundaries: The New Neuroscience of Connecting Brains with Machines – and How It Will Change Our Lives” a history of neuroscience and a description of the research in the field. In particular, he describes his work with rats and then monkeys which have been able to manipulate robots through the use of their brains – alone. Others have been involved in such research and their work is aptly displayed for the reader and placed into context. This research holds great promise for use with humans particularly having muscular disability. Immediately, I could see the use of this technology with light exoskeletons which would help individuals to walk or use their arms without help. The history of neuroscience may be a little much for those just encountering the field. However, I think that almost anyone can follow Nicolelis’ story and descriptions of his work. This is cutting edge research and Nicolelis allows the uninitiated a window on what is coming to be. The reading is exactly what you have come to expect from Patrick Egan – wonderful.