Is science the only path to knowledge?
In this sparkling and provocative book Jonah Lehrer, author of The Decisive Moment, explains that when it comes to understanding the brain, art got there first. Taking a group of celebrated writers, painters and composers, Lehrer shows us how artists have discovered truths about the human mind - real, tangible truths - that science is only now rediscovering.
We learn, for example, how Proust first revealed the fallibility of memory; how George Eliot understood the brain's malleable nature; how the French chef Escoffier intuited umami (the fifth taste); how Cezanne worked out the subtleties of vision; and how Virginia Woolf pierced the mysteries of consciousness. It's a riveting tale of art trumping science, again and again.
- ISBN10 0618620109
- ISBN13 9780618620104
- Publish Date 1 November 2007
- Publish Status Active
- Out of Print 30 June 2021
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Houghton Mifflin
- Format Paperback
- Language English