The Age of Insight: Building a Bridge Between Art and Science to Illuminate Both

"But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light." -- Ephesians 5:13 (NKJV)

This is a remarkable five-star book.

The Age of Insight is a hard book to categorize. Professor Kandel's stated purpose is to demonstrate how a knowledgeable scientist can write clearly about science so that the interconnections between art and science can be exposed to those who know only about the art. As such, this book is more about informing those interested in the humanities than those whose interest is in science. As a necessary part of his method, there's a circumscription around a narrow set of artists and literary figures rather than an attempt to make a universal statement. To have attempted otherwise would have made a hefty book into a multi-volume tome that few would read.

As someone who reads a lot of art history, history of science, and current research on mental processes, I was impressed by the conception of the book and how deftly it was carried out in ways that deepened my appreciation for subjects I have long been familiar with. I was grateful for these new perspectives. I found the book to be enjoyable for the most part. If I got to a part that was too elementary for what I wanted to absorb, I just skipped quickly through until I got to weightier material. I didn't have to do that very often.

This book would be a wonderful gift to a budding artist or writer... or to an art historian in training. I'm sure that many wonderful shows could be mounted that would take advantage of the information here in ways that would delight museum and gallery goers.

Although the book will seem flawed to some, I think it succeeds in its purpose of proposing a new way to write about art and science. I'm sure that future books that attempt to do the same will benefit from having observed how this one turned out.

I particularly found the repeated examination of certain art works from different perspectives to be revealing. I think you will, too.

A few times in my younger days I had the opportunity to speak to people who were alive in Vienna during the heady days of the salons that Professor Kandel describes here. Their descriptions carried to me a similar fascination with how the leading thinkers influenced one another there and then. I was pleased to be able to expand my understanding of that unique society in the late 19th century and early 20th century.

I am not much of a fan of Klimt, Kokoschka, and Schiele. I was pleased to learn more reasons to appreciate their work. I must admit that if the subjects had been tied to artists I like better I would have enjoyed the book more... but don't let that stop you. This is an important book for you to read!

Bravo, Professor Kandel!

Moonwalking With Einstein - The Art And Science Of Remembering Everything

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

This is the lesson that Joshua Foer, a science writer and journalist, took away with him when he looked at the world memory championships not long ago.

An engaging writer, who believes in becoming involved with his subjects and stories, Foer, who won an Amazon 2010 "Best Books of the Month" Award, looked the wide range of people competing in this amazing competition.

There was one competitor whose memory was so poor that he could not remember beyond the last instant of his life while another competitor was able to memorize complex theorems and mathematical problems, even though the contestant doesn't understand anything about math himself.

Then, there was one of the champions who was able to memorize the exact order of a 1528-digit integer.

The deeper he looked the more Foer wanted to find out how the process worked because, as he noted in one part of his well-written work, he had trouble remembering where he left his car keys and then wondered how many of us have the same problem. It turns out that there are more people out there with this issue than you may think and Foer works with the champions, using their techniques to not only learn where he left his car keys, but other things such as the things like: Brains find it easier to use visual cues than lists; Brains can be trained to take the visual cues they have been given and can then be trained to turn those visual cues into usable lists.

For example, Foer, learning the tricks of the trade from the masters, was able to learn long lists by using a method he called POA - person, object, action. In other words, he was able to remember the layout of deck of cards or actions by associating each individual card or action with a person, perhaps the presenter or a child, or associating the list with an object, an auto or item like a specific clock, for example. Finally, here was the action, where he was able to associate a piece of a long list with a specific action.

In other words, if the item he wanted to remember was the first of a series of actions, he would associate the item in the list with that action. Other people use mnemonics to do the same thing or providing tricks for every day items you hardly think about so that they remain with you all of the time, such as the location of your house keys or your car keys.

There are many, varied training techniques and Foer's engaging style not only shows people master the many issues they have in remembering long lists. It was this type of perseverance and memory management that enabled a contestant to memorize more than 1500 numbers in a row - without knowing them beforehand - and then repeat the list exactly.

The mind is a fascinating science. Some says that we don't use a-tenth of our conscious minds and from the way Foer writes, it is possible. If you want to learn how the master's do it in a delightful, quite readable style, the you will enjoy Foer's work and exactly how he remembers where his keys are.

Roberto Sedycias works as an IT consultant for ecommUS-Books