The Age of Insight

The Quest to Understand the Unconscious in Art, Mind, and Brain, from Vienna 1900 to the Present

By: Eric R. Kandel

Narrated by: James Anderson Foster

A brilliant book by Nobel Prize winner Eric R. Kandel, The Age of Insight takes us to Vienna 1900, where leaders in science, medicine, and art began a revolution that changed forever how we think about the human mind - our conscious and unconscious thoughts and emotions - and how mind and brain relate to art.

At the turn of the century, Vienna was the cultural capital of Europe. Artists and scientists met in glittering salons, where they freely exchanged ideas that led to revolutionary breakthroughs in psychology, brain science, literature, and art. Kandel takes us into the world of Vienna to trace, in rich and rewarding detail, the ideas and advances made then, and their enduring influence today.

©2012 Eric R. Kandel (P)2018 Tantor

Incredible!science and artistic insight!

Highly recommend this to serious artists and others seeking insights on the working of the mind and the effect of and on artistic practice, understanding and enjoyment of seeing!

I liked this book even more the second time through

I loved this book, I’m probably going to start listening to it again within the next six months.

Marvelous! A work of art as much as of science.

One of the best books I have read in many years. The analysis of creativity in art and/or science with profound knowledge and encyclopedic information, yet elegantly written.

An amazing achievement

This intertwined narrative of history, art, and neuroscience actually works. It is worth reading just for the insights into Vienna at the turn of the twentieth century, but there is so much more. Another magnificent gift Dr. Kandel has given us.

masterwork

This is one of the greatest collections of works cited I've ever come across. Beautifully and comprehensively presented, this is a gold mine of brain science and classic art. I will return to this often.

An incredible journey from imperial Vienna to modern brain science

I was predisposed to liking this book given my love for Vienna and its history. But I was wowed by the scope of this intellectual tour de force. From Klimt and Schiele to Freud to discussions of the workings of the hippocampus, this is not an easy beach read. I often had to go to the Internet to look for maps of the brain. But it was well worth it. This kind of book stays with you and forever changes your perceptions of reality.

Exceptional Book

In this thought-provoking book, the author surveys and reflects on the trends in modern medicine, arts, science, and philosophy. This is a masterful and intriguing examination of the interactions between the
various manifestations of the human thought and creativity. The main idea of the project transcends this book by setting up a promising paradigm for further investigations.

Marin Smillov, Ph. D.

A crash course in history , art and science. As relevant today as when it was written.

After college we need refresher courses to keep up alert and active. This book requires the listener to pay attention and absorb the information. Wonderful!!!

Great book. A bit hard to digest.

I bought this book before a trip to Vienna some things about the art history of the city. I ended up listening to a book with so much scientific information apart from the art history information that it blew my mind.

When a history major wins the Nobel Prize of Physiology/Medicine

This book is a present from Eric R Kandel to you. He didn’t need to write it, but he did it. He brings the cotton of the 19th century’s science explosion and interweaves it with the silk of the arts and philosophy of the 20th century.
The colours come from the biography of a curious man dotted with an amazing capacity of analysis and a creative mind to design experiments that, step by step, have build the foundations of what we know about the information processes of the brain.
This book is a “delicacy” to anyone that enjoys science and how it is made.