Podcast Summary: New Books Network — Jane G. Goldberg, "Wired for Why: How We Think, Feel, and Make Meaning" (2025)

Date: October 31, 2025
Host: New Books
Guest: Dr. Jane Goldberg

Main Theme

This episode features a conversation with Dr. Jane Goldberg about her new book, Wired for Why: How We Think, Feel, and Make Meaning. The book explores the intricate relationships between the brain, thought, emotion, narrative, and the essential question of "why" that drives psychoanalysis and human meaning-making. Dr. Goldberg discusses the genesis of her book, blending personal narrative, neuroscience, and psychoanalytic insight, and reflects on holistic health, collective intelligence, and the healing power of curiosity.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Why This Book Now? The Motivation and Shift in Focus

• Dr. Goldberg shares that her previous works were rooted in psychoanalysis, focusing on emotions, but Wired for Why is more “thought driven.”
• The book’s evolution—from an initial focus on the brain ("A Revolutionary Brain") to integration of thoughts, feelings, and the sense of self.
• Reflection on aging and thought: “As your hormones...diminish, the capacity of thinking increases.” (Dr. Goldberg, 03:34)

2. Intended Audience and Structure

• The book is written for a lay audience, driven by narrative—personal stories and stories of others, both famous and not.
• Goldberg emphasizes storytelling’s primal role: “The brain is wired for narrative...we teach through stories. We learn through stories.” (05:26)
• The title “Wired for Why” came from her deep love of the question “why,” a cornerstone of the psychoanalytic process.

3. The Centrality of ‘Why’: Curiosity as Cure

• Dr. Goldberg traces the etymology of “curiosity” and “cure,” revealing their shared root, and posits: “Curiosity is the cure. And ‘why’ is the metaphor—the word of psychoanalysis.” (08:54)
• She shares her three favorite words: “why,” “but” (inspired by Oliver Sacks, as an invitation to contradiction and complexity), and “no” (marking individuation).

4. The Power of Metaphor & Abstract Thought

• Goldberg: “Metaphor represents...the ability to think abstractly.” (09:39–10:50)
• She recounts how even animals (her dog Petey) can understand basic associations, but humans uniquely develop metaphor and abstract thinking from about age six onward.

5. Neurology & ‘Wiring’ the Mind

• Thought as electricity: “Everything that happens...is electrons. It’s all electricity...they create a community of neurons, and that’s thought.” (11:30)
• Brain facts: processes 1,000 interactions per millisecond, never switches off, operates via 100 trillion calculations per second.

6. On the Restless Brain and Sensory Deprivation

• Citing John Lilly’s flotation tank research, Dr. Goldberg discusses how the brain, even when unstimulated, generates vivid mentation and remains active (13:00–15:18).
• The flotation tank demonstrates that “the brain will figure out how to keep itself interested and interesting, even if you do nothing to stimulate it.” (15:18)

7. The Importance of Not Paying Attention

• Free association, a psychoanalytic technique, is likened to “paying attention when you’re not paying attention.” (16:04)
• The challenge—and magic—of introspection through free association is explored, referencing Adam Phillips: “We’re not cured by free association, we’re cured by the ability to free associate.” (16:14)

8. Failure, Struggle, and the Creative Brain

• Goldberg reflects on being a B student and recounts famous figures who struggled academically.
• She shares her traumatic experience with violence (rape in college) and her subsequent curiosity about the mind of her attacker as the beginning of her fascination with emotional struggle and psychoanalysis (17:00–19:33).

9. Psychoanalysis Meets Holistic Health

• “The merging of holistic health and my interest in emotional pain came when my mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer...she reversed [it] through holistic health interventions.” (19:33–22:11)
• The personal story leads to her professional integration of psychoanalytic and holistic approaches for cancer patients.

10. Cancer, Curability, and the Mind-Body Link

• Dr. Goldberg describes starting each case with “Why do you think you have cancer and what do you think will help?” not for a factual answer, but to understand a patient’s thought process (24:06).
• Contrary to her mentor Spotnitz, she does not believe cancer is incurable and shares a striking case of a patient who reversed both cancer and infertility after reclaiming her life narrative (25:03–26:36).

11. Emotional Avoidance and Societal Defenses

• The widespread desire to “kill emotions” (Google query: “how do I kill my emotions?”) is discussed.
• Goldberg and host discuss societal dynamics: “Feelings are awful…but when you can think about your feelings…you’re not tortured by them…Feelings move like water.” (28:19–32:16)

12. Polarization and the Role of Group Psychoanalysis

• Dr. Goldberg describes managing political divisions within a long-term therapy group and acknowledges the crucial need to process differences rather than avoid them for the sake of social survival (28:36–32:40).

13. Individual vs. Collective Intelligence

• The Bell Labs example: almost all scientific breakthroughs there were results of collaborative work; “Out of hundreds of papers, there were only three that [George Sperling] wrote by himself. Everything else was collaboration.” (38:33–41:24)
• Group analysis is championed as essential for self-discovery and collective intelligence, which “help[s] our patients to find the me in them.” (37:44)

14. The Nun Study & Complexity of Narrative

• The Nun Study (David Snowden): Autobiographies written by nuns at 19 predicted later cognitive functioning. “The complexity of narrative predicted cognitive longevity.” (41:38–45:17)
• Highlights the importance of narrative complexity for brain health.

15. Hyperbinding: The Analyst’s Talent

• Hyperbinding: the ability to connect disparate ideas, which Dr. Goldberg identifies as her special talent, applicable in both psychoanalysis and writing (45:53–47:10).
• Freud’s struggle with hyperbinding is contextualized by his historical/ethnic posture in Vienna.

16. Paranoia, Intelligence, and Vigilance

• Paranoia (within limits) can foster intelligence: “Paranoia is a very good builder of intelligence.” (49:53)
• The challenge of relaxing vigilance in psychoanalysis and the danger/freedom in free association—likened to Howard Stern’s on-air presence post-analysis (50:09–51:10).

17. Pre-Language Memory and Twin Studies

• The work of Alessandra Piontelli on twins: patterns of interaction in the womb are preserved postnatally, testifying to pre-birth consciousness but complicating traditional notions of memory (52:22–54:58).
• The concept of repeating early relational patterns in group and analysis (repetition compulsion).

18. Embodiment and Somatic Illness

• Failures to take up “space” psychically and physically may contribute to illness, including cancer (56:18–57:23).

19. The Multitasking Myth

• Research affirms: “You’re alternating really quickly…but the research shows that it’s not really multi[tasking].” (57:36–58:15)

20. Personal Reflections and Next Book

• The book is deeply personal and reflects on aging, mortality, and sharing experiential wisdom.
• Dr. Goldberg’s upcoming book: Wired for How, a companion volume focused on exercises for body, mind, and brain—“Brainercise.” (59:52–60:52)
• Importance of envisioning a future, even in later life.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Curiosity is the cure. And ‘why’ is the metaphor—the word of psychoanalysis.” (Dr. Goldberg, 08:54)

• “Everything that happens to us, within us, by us, for us, is electrons. It's all electricity... and that's thought.” (Dr. Goldberg, 11:30)

• “When nothing is stimulating you...the brain will figure out how to keep itself interested and interesting. Even if you do nothing to stimulate it.” (Dr. Goldberg, 15:18)

• “We're not cured by free association. We're cured by the ability to free associate.” (Host referencing Adam Phillips, 16:14)

• “If we can't have that conversation with these polarities of feelings and opinions...nobody on earth can do it. The future of Earth and mankind depends on our ability to have differences and to be able to talk about them.” (Dr. Goldberg, 32:00)

• “Hyperbinding…is that I can take two disparate ideas and I can find an intersection between them.” (Dr. Goldberg, 45:53)

• “Out of hundreds of papers, there were only three that he wrote by himself. Everything else was collaboration.” (Dr. Goldberg on George Sperling, 41:24)

• “The complexity of narrative predicted cognitive longevity.” (Host summarizing Nun Study, 45:17)

• “Paranoia is a very good builder of intelligence.” (Dr. Goldberg, 49:53)

• “You’re alternating really quickly [between tasks]…but the research shows it’s not really multi[tasking].” (Dr. Goldberg, 58:14)

Key Timestamps

• 02:27 – Dr. Goldberg on the evolution from writing about the psyche to focus on thought and the brain
• 05:26 – The importance of narrative and the book’s title genesis
• 09:39 – Metaphor as a marker of abstract thought
• 11:30 – Electricity and the brain’s ‘wiring’
• 13:00–15:18 – Flotation tanks and the restless brain
• 16:04 – Free association and the value of not paying attention
• 17:00–19:33 – Personal trauma and professional motivation
• 22:51–26:36 – Working psychoanalytically with cancer patients
• 28:19–32:16 – Societal defenses against feeling and group analysis
• 38:33–41:24 – Bell Labs and collective intelligence
• 41:38–45:17 – The Nun Study: narrative complexity and brain health
• 45:53–47:10 – Hyperbinding: psychoanalytic creativity
• 49:53 – Paranoia and intelligence
• 52:22–54:58 – Prenatal consciousness and twin studies
• 57:36–58:15 – Multitasking debunked
• 59:52–60:52 – Next book preview (Wired for How)

Closing Thoughts

Wired for Why is a hybrid of psychoanalytic insight, neurological research, and holistic philosophy, seasoned with personal narrative and clinical wisdom. Dr. Goldberg invites readers—and listeners—to embrace curiosity, story, and feeling as the core of human development and healing. Her unique synthesis offers a wide-ranging, accessible bridge between scientific, analytic, and personal meaning-making.

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