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ashianajivraj's review
3.0
Jonah Lehrer draws very interesting lines between art and the development of the brain and how art often precedes neuroscience understanding. I think that the book was often written in a way that I got a bit lost, but there were certain chapters I loved.
staceyll's review against another edition
5.0
This book was not at all what I was expecting. It was so much better. I just loved it. It sent me down a bunch of rabbit holes which I really enjoyed.
rachelhelps's review
4.0
The main thesis of Proust was a Neuroscientist is that artists can predict principles of neuroscience, and that their art is better because of it. I like this idea, and I agree with it, but I found that the most interesting chapters were about artists and neuroscientists I hadn't already heard about. Knowing that smell is closely connected to memory (probably from Lehrer's blog, which I read and recommend), I wasn't surprised with anything in the Proust chapter. However, I wasn't familiar with the research on umami ("fullness" sensation of a food of MSG infame), so the chapter on Escoffier was the most exciting.
Lehrer's writing style is different from most other psychology books I've read: he uses technical language to explain an idea, and then simplifies the idea to an easily remembered phrase (which strongly reminds me of Isaiah: parallelism, alliteration, and paradoxes are all friends here). Example: "Subjects repeatedly exposed to androstenone [steroid in human sweat/urine:] become more sensitive to it, thanks to feedback from the brain. This feedback causes the stem cells in the nasal passages to create more androstenone-sensitive odor receptors. The new abundance of cells alters the sensory experience. What was once a perfume becomes piss." And again: "The Rite started a riot"; "Stein showed us what we put into language by leaving it out." Lehrer uses this technique all over the place, and sometimes I can't decide if I think it's cool or annoying.
Lehrer's writing style is different from most other psychology books I've read: he uses technical language to explain an idea, and then simplifies the idea to an easily remembered phrase (which strongly reminds me of Isaiah: parallelism, alliteration, and paradoxes are all friends here). Example: "Subjects repeatedly exposed to androstenone [steroid in human sweat/urine:] become more sensitive to it, thanks to feedback from the brain. This feedback causes the stem cells in the nasal passages to create more androstenone-sensitive odor receptors. The new abundance of cells alters the sensory experience. What was once a perfume becomes piss." And again: "The Rite started a riot"; "Stein showed us what we put into language by leaving it out." Lehrer uses this technique all over the place, and sometimes I can't decide if I think it's cool or annoying.
danchibnall's review
4.0
I enjoyed Jonah Lehrer's other book "How We Decide" so much that I had to pick up his first one. It did not disappoint and may be better than HWD.
Although I found the direct connections between certain artists ideas and the neuroscience pursuits to be a little shaky at times, it was still fascinating to see the ideas behind them. I thoroughly enjoy any writing where someone takes an idea from one discipline and connects it to an idea in a discipline that seems far, far away. For example, your mind really starts moving when you try to connect Walt Whitman to the concept of the Mind-Body problem. The "Song of Myself" is not so much a poem as it is a self-exploration of the concept of consciousness, something which neuroscientists still wrestle with.
The chapter on Virginia Woolf was extremely interesting because of her pursuit of the idea of "self." Where is the self? Where does it reside? How do we change our idea of self so often? Can we have more than one self?
Even if you don't read anything related to science, you should take a peek at this if you are interested in any of the great thinkers involved in the text.
A delightful read!
Although I found the direct connections between certain artists ideas and the neuroscience pursuits to be a little shaky at times, it was still fascinating to see the ideas behind them. I thoroughly enjoy any writing where someone takes an idea from one discipline and connects it to an idea in a discipline that seems far, far away. For example, your mind really starts moving when you try to connect Walt Whitman to the concept of the Mind-Body problem. The "Song of Myself" is not so much a poem as it is a self-exploration of the concept of consciousness, something which neuroscientists still wrestle with.
The chapter on Virginia Woolf was extremely interesting because of her pursuit of the idea of "self." Where is the self? Where does it reside? How do we change our idea of self so often? Can we have more than one self?
Even if you don't read anything related to science, you should take a peek at this if you are interested in any of the great thinkers involved in the text.
A delightful read!
ayocky's review
informative
reflective
slow-paced
3.5
A really intriguing book. A little outdated at this point in terms of science but I love the dive into the intersection of art and science. By the end his writing tends to be redundant, but overall I really enjoyed the breadth of topics.
lflintsoms's review
4.0
Each chapter covers an artist or philosopher, so it's easy and enjoyable to read. I learned a lot of introductory information about people that I felt I should know a lot more about. Read this book and amaze people at dinner parties!
doctabird's review
2.0
I tried to like this book considering I'm studying neuroscience and I'm endlessly interested in the crossover between neuroscience and other disciplines (scientific or other). However, the book was so dry and I had difficulty getting through it. I enjoyed the chapter on food (August Escoffier) and the music chapter (Igor Stravinsky) held my attention, but I jumped around the other chapters and didn't quite finish all of them. I still like the concept behind the book, I just wish it was a bit more readable.
jamesthomas79's review against another edition
5.0
Fantastic non-fiction. I learned so much!
Perfect for me as a lover Proust and neuroscience. But the other artists in the book I knew little about, so it was an even better read than I anticipated
Perfect for me as a lover Proust and neuroscience. But the other artists in the book I knew little about, so it was an even better read than I anticipated