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A review by danchibnall
Proust Was a Neuroscientist by Jonah Lehrer
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!