Your Brain on Art is a perfect book for those who love a good digression. It is full of fascinating asides about how our brains work and what might have an influence on our emotions.
Just from a scan of the chapter headings - Cultivating Well Being, Restoring Mental Health, Healing the Body, Amplifying Learning, and Flourishing - you can see where the book aims its scholarship.
Featuring conversations with artists such as David Byrne, soprano Renée Fleming and evolutionary biologist EO Wilson, the book begins with Anatomy of the Arts. Just before that is a short survey which invites the reader to answer 14 questions to establish their aesthetic appreciation, intense aesthetic experience and creative behaviour. How you respond and how you engage.
Potential readers should note that "art" has a broad definition not simply drawing and painting but words and music, dance and movement, involving a wide range of sensory perceptions.
For instance, an investigation into poetry found that, by using MRI scanning machines, the part of our brain that lit up when listening to poetry was the same as that stimulated by music.
Denne historien er fra September 2-8 2023-utgaven av New Zealand Listener.
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Denne historien er fra September 2-8 2023-utgaven av New Zealand Listener.
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First-world problem
Harrowing tales of migrants attempting to enter the US highlight the political failure to fully tackle the problem.
Applying intelligence to AI
I call it the 'Terminator Effect', based on the premise that thinking machines took over the world.
Nazism rears its head
Smirky Höcke, with his penchant for waving with a suspiciously straight elbow and an open palm, won't get to be boss of either state.
Staying ahead of the game
Will the brave new world of bipartisanship that seems to be on offer with an Infrastructure Commission come to fruition?
Grasping the nettle
Broccoli is horrible. It smells, when being cooked, like cat pee.
Hangry? Eat breakfast
People who don't break their fast first thing in the morning report the least life satisfaction.
Chemical reaction
Nitrates in processed meats are well known to cause harm, but consumed from plant sources, their effect is quite different.
Me and my guitar
Australian guitarist Karin Schaupp sticks to the familiar for her Dunedin concerts.
Time is on my side
Age does not weary some of our much-loved musicians but what keeps them on the road?
The kids are not alright
Nuanced account details how China's blessed generation has been replaced by one consumed by fear and hopelessness.
