The Age of Insight

When I read about this book The Age of Insight: The Quest to Understand the Unconcious in Art, Mind, and Brain: From Vienna 1900 to the Present, I think I just saw the Klimt painting on the cover and the words Vienna 1900. I particularly enjoy this period of history - the fin de siècle Vienna - with Klimt and Mahler and coffee with schlag (whipped cream), so I picked up the book with enthusiasm.

The first 200 pages were fun for me - discussions of how Freud, Klimt, Kokoshka and Shiele influenced the thinking of the age, with some discussions of various artworks. Then, the rest of the book started, and my eyes glazed over with all the neuroscience figures. This half of the book is for my daughter, the neurobiologist. Part Three is titled: Biology of the Beholder's Visual Response to Art. I am sorry to say that I will be returning this book to the library unfinished. Not because it isn't a good book, but I think I got out of it what my mind was able to.