Proust was a Neuroscientist
Proust was a Neuroscientist by Jonah Lehrer, published by Houghton Mifflin in September 2008, is a thought-provoking exploration of the intersection between art and science. In this reprint edition, Lehrer argues that while science has made significant advancements, it is not the sole avenue to understanding the complexities of the human mind. Through the lens of various artists, including a painter, a poet, and a chef, the book illustrates how these figures uncovered profound truths about cognition long before scientific validation.
Readers will find a rich narrative that delves into how artists like Proust and Cézanne revealed insights into memory and perception, while figures such as George Eliot and Gertrude Stein contributed to our understanding of the brain’s adaptability and language structure. Lehrer emphasizes the importance of integrating artistic intuition with scientific inquiry, suggesting that both disciplines can enhance our comprehension of the mind. This edition spans 242 pages and is presented in English, inviting readers to reflect on the valuable lessons that art can offer in the realm of science.
Official synopsis Publisher
In this technology-driven age, it’s tempting to believe that science can solve every mystery. After all, science has cured countless diseases and even sent humans into space. But as Jonah Lehrer argues in this sparkling debut, science is not the only path to knowledge. In fact, when it comes to understanding the brain, art got there first.
Taking a group of artists a painter, a poet, a chef, a composer, and a handful of novelists Lehrer shows how each one discovered an essential truth about the mind that science is only now rediscovering. We learn, for example, how Proust first revealed the fallibility of memory; how George Eliot discovered the brain’s malleability; how the French chef Escoffier discovered umami (the fifth taste); how Cézanne worked out the subtleties of vision; and how Gertrude Stein exposed the deep structure of language a full half-century before the work of Noam Chomsky and other linguists. It’s the ultimate tale of art trumping science.
More broadly, Lehrer shows that there’s a cost to reducing everything to atoms and acronyms and genes. Measurement is not the same as understanding, and art knows this better than science does. An ingenious blend of biography, criticism, and first-rate science writing, Proust Was a Neuroscientist urges science and art to listen more closely to each other, for willing minds can combine the best of both, to brilliant effect.
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