Reductionism in Art and Brain Science

Bridging the Two Cultures

By: Eric R. Kandel

Narrated by: James Anderson Foster

Length: 4 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's summary

Are art and science separated by an unbridgeable divide? Can they find common ground? In this book, neuroscientist Eric R. Kandel, whose remarkable scientific career and deep interest in art give him a unique perspective, demonstrates how science can inform the way we experience a work of art and seek to understand its meaning.

Kandel illustrates how reductionism - the distillation of larger scientific or aesthetic concepts into smaller, more tractable components - has been used by scientists and artists alike to pursue their respective truths. He draws on his Nobel Prize-winning work revealing the neurobiological underpinnings of learning and memory in sea slugs to shed light on the complex workings of the mental processes of higher animals.

In Reductionism in Art and Brain Science, Kandel shows how this radically reductionist approach, applied to the most complex puzzle of our time - the brain - has been employed by modern artists who distill their subjective world into color, form, and light. Kandel demonstrates through bottom-up sensory and top-down cognitive functions how science can explore the complexities of human perception and help us to perceive, appreciate, and understand great works of art.

©2016 Eric R. Kandel (P)2018 Tantor

A huge shift in perspective for me

It’s not that often that I run across a book that I just can’t put down. I love learning about neuroscience, but despite appreciation of beauty and excellence being one of my VIA strengths I’ve never felt very connected to art, particularly painting. This book shifted my perspective, and I found myself, for the first time ever, searching the internet for images of the art/artists introduced. Coupled with the neuroscience underpinnings, I not only sought out the art, I savored it. I’m sure not everyone will experience the same shift in perspective I did this is definitely a five star book for me.

Brilliant. More Science than Art, tons of details about the brain, its pathways and biological responses

Brilliant, how art, specially abstract art, bypasses our conscious understanding of the world and can touch us deeply. I also bought the e-book and it is fantastic, with the photos, graphs etc., to complement the audio version.
It is also a scientific book, not too technical, but with tons of details about the brain, its pathways, etc. Overall, I really liked, it opened my horizons.

Good and thorough overview

Pretty sound coverage of the topic and incorporates relevant information.
recommended highly and gives a new perspective on modern art

Great book

The discussion of art and brain science is an odd pairing that Kandel handles woth aplomb. Unfortunately the audio book doesn't have a PDF which is very much necessary.

Lack accompanying pdf with images.

These is an actually great book nonetheless had to return it. It desperately need some acompanying pdf with images discussed in the text... without is pretty much useless.

Unexpected

When I first started listening to this my first reaction was "I can't listen to this, it's a bit dry", but I kept it on just to occupy the background. After listening for a while, I found myself rewinding and paying better attention to it. Then I finally stopped the recording, went back to the very beginning and started listening intently. Doesn't sound like a ringing endorsement, right? I probably wasn't in the right frame of mind when I was listening the first time. There were interesting points made, backed up by supporting material. If you're interested in the subject matter its worth the listen.

A bit complicated

And at times seemingly contrived - not sure every emotion prompted by the visual stimuli can be reduced to a simple physiological reaction. The theories presented here are still fascinating even where the thread on incredulity.

Fascinating- Excellent Narration

The subject matter is fascinating. The text successfully creates clear mental images of the art being discussed without the need to consult the pictures in the book. Narration is excellent.

good stuff

vocabulary is wide and sophisticated without being stiff or medical sounding. James narrates amazingly

Nothing new or original

This short book looks at many artists and attempts to build a theory...
As someone who has read a lot of art criticism, there is nothing new here.
This could have been more interesting if the author had taken the thought a step further and attempted to make an artistic statement, but he does not.