Splendours and Miseries of the Brain

Acknowledgements.
 
Introduction.
 
Part I. Abstraction and the Brain.
 
1. Abstraction.
 

2. The Brain and Its Concepts.
 
3. Inherited Brain Concepts.
 
4. The Distributed Knowledge-Acquiring System of the Brain.
 
5. The Acquired Synthetic Brain Concepts.
 
6. The Synthetic Brain Concept and the Platonic Ideal.
 
7. Creativity and the Source of Perfection in the Brain.
 
Part II. Brain Concepts and Ambiguity.
 
8. Ambiguity in the Brain and in Art.
 
9. Processing and Perceptual Sites in the Brain.
 
10. From Unambiguous to Ambiguous Knowledge.
 
11. Higher Levels of Ambiguity.
 

Part III. Unachievable Brain Concepts.
 
Introduction.
 
12. Michelangelo and the non-finito.
 
13. Paul Cézanne and the Unfinished.
 
14. Unfinished Art in Literature.
 
Part VI. Brain Concepts of Love.
 
Conte By Arthur Rimbaud, in English and in French.
 
15. The Brain's Concepts of Love.
 
16. The Neural Correlates of Love.
 
17. Brain Concepts of Unity and Annihilation in Love.
 
18. Sacred and Profane.
 
19. The Metamorphosis of the Brain Concept of Love in Dante.
 
20. Wagner and Tristan und Isolde.
 
21. Thomas Mann and Death in Venice.
 
22. A neurobiological analysis of Freud's Civilization and Its Discontents

Semir Zeki is a visual neurobiologist in the Department of Cognitive Neurology at University College London. Zeki has pioneered the study of the primate visual brain and furthered research on how affective states are generated by visual inputs. He has published extensively in his field, including the books Inner Vision: an exploration of art and the brain (1999) and A Vision of the Brain (Blackwell Scientific, Oxford), and has also co-authored a book with the late French painter Balthus, entitled La Quête de l'essentiel (1995).

" Courageous and carefully considered ... Zeki s book is wide in its sympathies and sources, and it deserves attention as part of a fascinating enquiry set to continue for many years to come." ( Brain , November 2009)

"Set ... quite apart from the snappiness of most contemporary science-writing ... the book thinks hard, feels warmly and puts out provocative suggestions." ( London Review of Books, October 2009)

"I enjoyed reading this book and appreciated the attempt of the author to bridge the expansive chasm between experimental result on visual sensory input and the intimate human experiences for which we all strive." ( The Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences , September 2009)

"Zeki's book has a beautiful and enigmatic cover and title. Zeki explores the unachievable through the works of artists and writers, concluding with Freud's Civilisation and its Discontents. Counsellors with a background both in neuroscience and an interest in the arts will find it a fascinating read." ( Therapy Today, September 2009)

"An exuberant read." ( Times Higher Education , April 2009)

"The book offers a glimpse into the physiological, neurological and emotional mechanisms of the most profound human part of our experience." ( Yoga and Health , February 2009)

"This is a brave and unusual book¯what you are trying to do is look at the detailed neuroarchitecture of the brain, your particular specialty is how the brain sees (vision), and then apply it to a wider range of cultural ideas. I loved this book." (Andrew Marr, Start The Week , Radio 4, November 2008)

"What was once dangerous territory is now the hottest theme in brain research. the subtitle of Semir Zeki s excellent new book is Love, Creativity and the Quest for Human Happines s ... .One of the world s leading neurophysiologist [Zeki] has turned to brain imaging to explore matters as seemingly outside brain science s territory as beauty in literature and art - and even romantic love. " ( Guardian ,