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venkyloquist's review
2.0
In this memorable book, Jonah Lehrer emphasises the importance of bridging the reflexive divide between Arts and Science in order to facilitate a better understanding of human nature. Citing as exemplary examples the poems of Walt Whitman, the prose of George Eliot; the sketches of Paul Cezanne, the symphonies of Igor Stravinsky, Lehrer demonstrates in a beautiful manner the prevalence of Art over the Principles of Science. An extremely illuminating and invigorating read.
davidr's review
5.0
This is a truly perceptive book, about the linkages between art/language/music/cooking/writing and the science of the brain. Each chapter focuses on a different artist, and the insights of his/her artistry into the workings of the brain. I especially appreciated the chapter about Escoffier, the French chef who invented the concept of a restaurant menu. He discovered and put to use the taste of umami, a distinct reaction of taste buds to glutamate. He had a deep understanding about the effects of the smell and appearance of foods on people's appetites. His ideas preceded their acceptance by scientists by many years. The chapter on Igor Stravinsky was also fascinating. He realized that the sense of dissonance in music is temporary. Over time, exposure to dissonance makes the dissonant sound become acceptable, and even beautiful. Therefore, he composed The Rite of Spring to be utterly shocking to the tastes of the contemporary public. He wanted to ensure that the shock value would last for some time, before his music had a chance to become "beautiful".
npientka's review
5.0
I have a degree English and Psychology with a concentration in Creative Writing... This book exceeded my high expectations and I absolutely think it's worth reading for anyone who sees the value in how art and science intersect! It's amazing how Neuroscience was denied for so long and how far it's come in the relatively short time it has existed. There's so much about the brain and human nature to discover -- so why not look at what has been created by said organ?
You don't have to have read any of the writers or seen any of the artists or heard any of the music to understand this book (though it's recommended). Even so, I ended up skipping a few pages so it didn't spoil Ian McEwan's Saturday for me since it's on my reading list!
You don't have to have read any of the writers or seen any of the artists or heard any of the music to understand this book (though it's recommended). Even so, I ended up skipping a few pages so it didn't spoil Ian McEwan's Saturday for me since it's on my reading list!
sarahsparklenose's review
3.0
I'll be honest, I never finished this book. Maybe I wasn't in the mood for introspective literature at the time, or maybe thinking just takes too much effort during pregnancy. BUT I liked that parts I read, and I will probably pick this book up again another day and continue to read bits of it. It's really interesting and thought provoking - I enjoyed how the author laid out his arguments and examples. I just didn't want to think - I wanted to be entertained, so sadly this book ended up on the bottom of the reading pile and the checkout time at the library expired. Maybe I'll finish it next time.
ellenw's review
4.0
Some of the arguments tend toward the vague and uncertain, but Lehrer sure can make vagueness and uncertainty entertaining.
raniahanna's review against another edition
4.0
Being a neuroscience major, I'm a sucker for anything to do with the brain, even pop science books.
This is the second time I'm reading Proust was a Neuroscientist, the first time being when I was in college. Yet again, Jonah Lehrer had me hooked.
Beautiful poetic prose coupled with what is clearly a ton of literature research on his end, Proust was a Neuroscientist is the perfect merger of art and science.
What I loved is that Jonah Lehrer so clearly believes in the marriage of art and science, how one fuels the other, and neither can live without the other. In Proust was a Neuroscientist, Lehrer forges the connection between what writers, artists, painters, musicians, and chefs intuited through their art, and how science is figuring out that they were right. What these 'creatives' understood and felt through their art about the mind, the brain, and what it means to be human, science is now understanding in a lab with controlled experiments and methodologies.
I loved most all the chapters, even the ones I didn't think I would care about because I know nothing about painting or postimpressionism, for example. But Lehrer's writing makes it clear the creatives contribution to neuroscience, and gives a background on their personal and professional context. The book ends up reading less like history and science, and more like art itself.
Though Jonah tends to have some strong opinions on certain subjects, like epigenetics and how we're not genetically predetermined, I still enjoyed his views based on the research literature. He makes strong cases for much of what he says, and has clearly done his readings, providing in-depth bibliography and notes at the back of the book.
Regardless of his current status as writer renegade (based on some plagiarism and misquoting), I think Jonah Lehrer is a talented writer. He writes as smoothly as an orator would speak, and I learned much from Proust was a Neuroscientist. I plan on reading more of his other books, including How we Decide and Imagine: How Creativity Works.
I don't think I could possibly read Virginia Woolf or George Eliot the same way again. And I may never eat a madeleine without thinking of Proust and his contribution to our understanding of human memory.
This is the second time I'm reading Proust was a Neuroscientist, the first time being when I was in college. Yet again, Jonah Lehrer had me hooked.
Beautiful poetic prose coupled with what is clearly a ton of literature research on his end, Proust was a Neuroscientist is the perfect merger of art and science.
What I loved is that Jonah Lehrer so clearly believes in the marriage of art and science, how one fuels the other, and neither can live without the other. In Proust was a Neuroscientist, Lehrer forges the connection between what writers, artists, painters, musicians, and chefs intuited through their art, and how science is figuring out that they were right. What these 'creatives' understood and felt through their art about the mind, the brain, and what it means to be human, science is now understanding in a lab with controlled experiments and methodologies.
I loved most all the chapters, even the ones I didn't think I would care about because I know nothing about painting or postimpressionism, for example. But Lehrer's writing makes it clear the creatives contribution to neuroscience, and gives a background on their personal and professional context. The book ends up reading less like history and science, and more like art itself.
Though Jonah tends to have some strong opinions on certain subjects, like epigenetics and how we're not genetically predetermined, I still enjoyed his views based on the research literature. He makes strong cases for much of what he says, and has clearly done his readings, providing in-depth bibliography and notes at the back of the book.
Regardless of his current status as writer renegade (based on some plagiarism and misquoting), I think Jonah Lehrer is a talented writer. He writes as smoothly as an orator would speak, and I learned much from Proust was a Neuroscientist. I plan on reading more of his other books, including How we Decide and Imagine: How Creativity Works.
I don't think I could possibly read Virginia Woolf or George Eliot the same way again. And I may never eat a madeleine without thinking of Proust and his contribution to our understanding of human memory.
hsaggau's review against another edition
2.0
While at times hard to follow and not entirely coherent, I nevertheless found this book a delightful collection of art and science history with a dash of modern neuroscience. It raised some interesting epistemic questions across the humanities' vs. science's ability to uncover truth, between science's reductionist limits and art's difficulty confirming its own hypotheses. The thesis I found convincing was not that art "discovered an essential truth about the mind that neuroscience is only now rediscovering" (from the blurb), but rather that we need both the humanities and science to reach a more cohesive understanding of the human experience.
mgeryk's review against another edition
4.0
Let me just say this: I always enjoy reading books by people who quite plainly have a good deal more intellectual curiosity than I'll ever be blessed with, and yet manage to provoke me instead of making me feel bad about the fact that I will never in a million years be that clever.
A wonderful balance between art and science, written in such a way that even chumps like me can enjoy it. Even after discovering that the reason I had to take such a long pause in reading was because it was buried under a pile of Goodnight Moon and whatnot in my two-year-old's room.
A wonderful balance between art and science, written in such a way that even chumps like me can enjoy it. Even after discovering that the reason I had to take such a long pause in reading was because it was buried under a pile of Goodnight Moon and whatnot in my two-year-old's room.
raerei's review against another edition
4.0
In this collection of artists and scientific explorations, Lehrer attempts to show how art can explain what science cannot. Cezanne painted swatches of color that show how our eyes really do see - not as pixels but as swatches. Virginia Wolfe knew the mind was a fragmented collection of sensations held together by a self that arose from that and science has still not been able to find if there is a where for that greater self.
Very enjoyable book and unlike How We Decide, not filled with scientific stories that I had already heard. Made me much more interested in some of the classic writers and artists of our day. Although I probably won't read Gertrude Stein, I have a greater appreciation for George Elliot, Virginia Wolfe, Cezanne, and many others in that when/if I ever read/see/hear them, I will have a new perspective to enjoy them from.
Very enjoyable book and unlike How We Decide, not filled with scientific stories that I had already heard. Made me much more interested in some of the classic writers and artists of our day. Although I probably won't read Gertrude Stein, I have a greater appreciation for George Elliot, Virginia Wolfe, Cezanne, and many others in that when/if I ever read/see/hear them, I will have a new perspective to enjoy them from.