Leonardo's Brain
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176. “We must once again accept”: Marshall McLuhan and Bruce R. Powers, The Global Village: Transformations in World Life and Media in the 21st Century (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989), p. 4.
Chapter 17 Epigraphs
179. “In view of his uniqueness . . .”: José Argüelles, The Transformative Vision: Reflections on the Nature and History of Human Expression (Boston: Shambala, 1975), p. 21.
179. “All evil leaves sadness . . .”: Bramly, p. 406.
179. “It takes sixty years of . . .”: Andre Malraux, Man’s Fate, 50th Anniversary Edition (New York: Random House, 1984), p. [72].
Chapter 17
180. And the Nile again springs: Richter, p. 264.
180. “The bosom of the Mediterranean”: Zubov, p. 232.
180. In his book The Sense of Being Stared At: Rupert Sheldrake, The Sense of Being Stared At and Other Aspects of the Extended Mind (New York: Crown, 2003).
181. In Philadelphia in 1902: See generally Eliot Hearst and John Knott, Blindfold Chess: History Psychology, Techniques, Champions, World Records, and Important Games (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2008).
182. Psychiatrist Darold Treffert: Darold A. Treffert, MD, Extraordinary People: Understanding Savant Syndrome (New York: Authors Guild, 2006).
Chapter 18 Epigraphs
185. “It will seem as though nature . . .”: Zubov, p. 206.
185. “When the universe has crushed . . .”: Blaise Pascal, Pensées (Everyman’s Library Series, EBLA) (London: Falcon, 1973), p. 347.
185. “That brings up again . . .”: Argüelles, p. 167.
Chapter 18
186. “I am, as it were”: Rudy Rucker, The Fourth Dimension (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1984), p. 247.
187. “The most important fundamental laws”: Corey S. Powell, God in the Equation (New York: The Free Press, 2002), p. 51.
188. “To be or not to be is not the question . . .”: Fred Alan Wolf, Taking the Quantum Leap (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1981), p. 176.
189. David Premack wonders at: P. F. MacNeilage, M. G. Studdert-Kennedy, and B. Lindblom, “Primate Handedness Reconsidered,” Behavioral and Brain Sciences (1987), pp. 247–303.
190. “Nothing vast enters”: Timothy Ferris, Coming of Age in the Milky Way (New York: William Morrow, 1988), p. 387.
190. “The misconception which has”: Robert Hughes, The Shock of the New (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1982), p. 32.
190. “There is no out there”: Nørretranders, p. 354.
191. “In classical physics, science”: Heisenberg, Physics and Philosophy: The Revolution In Modern Science (New York: Harper, 2007), p. 55.
191. The Talmud expresses this: Leonard Shlain, Art & Physics: Parallel Visions in Space, Time, and Light (New York: William Morrow, 1991), p. 23.
191. “[Atoms] are no longer things”: Werner Heisenberg, Physics and Beyond (New York: Harper & Row, 1971), p. 113.
192. “It is very difficult to elucidate”: V. S. Ramachandran, MD, PhD, and Sandra Blakeslee, Phantoms in the Brain: Probing the Mysteries of the Human Mind (New York: William Morrow, 1998), p. 174.
196. “The atoms that are”: Nørretranders, p. 326.
196. “Of all the great hybrid”: McLuhan and Zingrone, p. 175.
197. “Since education is effective only”: Robert Ornstein, The Right Mind: Making Sense of the Hemispheres (Orlando, FL: Harcourt Brace, 1997), p. 170.
198. “Your tongue will be paralyzed”: Steinberg, p. 53.
Index
A
Abraham, 191
abstract painting, 60–62
abstract thinking, 139–40
The Act of Creation (Koestler), 89–90
Adam, 191
Adoration of the Magi (1481) (Leonardo da Vinci), 63, 64
adrenaline, 97, 98
aesthetic sense, 96, 99–108
Agnolo, Donato d’, 3
Aiello, Leslie C., 165
Alajouanine, Théophile, 137
Alberti, Leon Battista, 2–3, 16, 48
Alexander VI, 26–27
alexithymia, 88–89
algebra, 118
The Alphabet Versus the Goddess: The Conflict Between Word and Image (Shlain), xiv–xv
Altdorfer, Albrecht, 45–46
Amboise, 29–30
amygdala, 97, 167–68
anamorphism, 49
anatomical dissections and drawings
Church’s objection to, 29
embryos, 131
heart, 129
significance of, 132
techniques, 59–60, 63, 129, 159
of women, 131, 170–72
The Annunciation of the Virgin (1472) (Leonardo da Vinci), 16
anthropic principle, 185–86
Antoniewicz, Jan Boloz, 71
Apollo, 85–86
architecture, 2, 3, 16, 128–29
Argüelles, José, 179
Aristotle, 188
Armenia letters, 154–57
Arno River, 27–28, 153–54
art and artists
left-handedness, 172
Leonardo’s first projects, 15–16
metaphor use, 136–37
science comparison, 1–8
See also painting
Art & Physics: Parallel Visions in Space, Time, and Light (Shlain), xiv
arteriosclerosis, 131
artifactual beauty, 102
artificial intelligence (AI), 41
astronomy, 116–17, 120
asymmetry, 107
Atalay, Bülent, 43, 123
autism, 182–84
autopsy, 33
Autumn Rhythm (Number 30) (1950) (Pollock), 62
avante-garde, 44
axons, 39–40
B
backward writing, 7–8, 173
baldness, 165
The Baptism of Christ (1472–1475) (Leonardo da Vinci), 16
Barkow, Jerome H., xvi
Battle of Anghiari (Leonardo da Vinci), 28
Beatis, Antonio de, 29–30, 132
beauty, 5, 95–96, 99–108
Beethoven, Ludwig van, 83–84
The Benois Madonna (1479–1481) (Leonardo da Vinci), 16, 78
Bernoulli’s law, 114
Bichat, 34
bicycles, 127
Birth of Tragedy (Nietzsche), 86
bisexuals, 161n
Blake, William, 31
Boccaccio, Giovanni, 16
Bogen, Joseph, 36–37, 85, 87, 89
Bondone, Giotto di, 47
Borgia, Cesare, 26–28
botany, 130–31
boundary, between body and space, 64
brain
creativity and, 85–94
differences among women, gays, and left-handed people, 161–68
functions, 31–32
plasticity of, 9
study of, 32–41
uniqueness of human, 32
See also split-brain duality
brain waves, 35
Bramante, Donato, 3, 29
Braque, George, 58–59
bridges, 127
Broca’s area, 34–35, 139
Brown, Dan, 79
Brunelleschi, Filippo, 16, 47
BSTc, 167–68
Buffon, Comte de, 120, 159
Bunsen, Robert Wilhelm, 124
C
calculus, 116
camera, invention of, 63, 124
canals, 27–28
Capra, Fritjof, 117–18
caricature, 52–53
cartography, 16, 27, 117, 152–54
Caterina (mother), 10–11, 12
cave analogy (Plato), 143–44
Cézanne, Paul, 58, 59–60, 63
chaos theory, 118, 176, 189
chess, 181–82
chiaroscuro, 48
China, 2
CIA, 152
city planning, 125
Clark, Kenneth, 43, 78, 157–58, 161
Clementi, Muzio, 83–84
clocks, 128
commissurotomy, 36–37
complexity theory, 118, 176, 189
consciousness, 32–33, 143–44, 180–84
conservation of mass, 115
constants, 185–86
Copernicus, 159
corpus callosum, 35–36, 91–93, 161–63, 183
Cosmides, Leda, xvi
courage, 98, 100
creativity, xii, 85–94, 96–98, 100–101, 167
Creativity: Flow and Psychology of Discovery and Invention (Csikszentmihalyi), 167
critical thinking, 87
cross-sections, 159
Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly, 75, 167
Cubism, 58–59
curiosity, 88
D
da Vinci, Antonio (grandfather), 11
da Vinci, Francesco (uncle), 11–12
da Vinci, Leonardo
birth and childhood of, 10–12
dress style, 18, 26, 169
education, 14–15
homosexuality of, 17, 79–80, 169–72
interconnectedness of life worldview, 175–76
language use, 174–75
left-handedness, 172–73
in Milan, 20–25, 28–29
musical ability, 20, 174
personal characteristics, 12, 20, 83, 169
physical characteristics, 20
physical decline and death of, 29–30
religious beliefs, 82
vegetarianism, 7, 17–18, 175
in Venice, 25
da Vinci, Leonardo, inventions. See inventions
da Vinci, Leonardo, quotes
art, 1, 55, 61, 67, 198
control over desire, 169
education, 13, 14
evil, 179
evolution, 185
flight, 43
freedom, 9, 19
inventors, 123
knowledge, 75
lust and beauty, 95
memory, 133
mind, 31
science, 149
sex, 171
time, 143
universe, 109
warfare, 27
work for Duke of Sforza, 22
da Vinci, Leonardo, works
Adoration of the Magi (1481), 63, 64
The Annunciation of the Virgin (1472), 16
The Baptism of Christ (1472–1475), 16
Battle of Anghiari, 28
The Benois Madonna (1479–1481), 16, 78
equestrian monument, 23–24
Ginevra de’ Benci (c. 1476), 16
Lady with an Ermine (c. 1490–1491), 23, 52
The Last Supper (1495–1498), 23, 50, 65, 69–72, 78–80, 198
Leda and the Swan, 63
Mona Lisa, 28, 51, 73–74
St. Jerome (1480), 63, 80
St. John the Baptist, 57, 80–83, 84
Val d’Arno, 45
Virgin of the Rocks, 23, 29, 64, 76–78
The Vitruvian Man, 69
da Vinci, Ser Piero (father), 10–11, 15–16
The Da Vinci Code (Brown), 79
Dalí, Salvador, 65
danger, fear of, 96–98
Dante Alighieri, 16, 135
Darwin Charles, 120–21
David (Michelangelo), 3, 26
Dawkins, Richard, 121, 197
Decameron (1467) (Boccaccio), 16
Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (Picasso), 98
dendrites, 39–40
dendrochronology, 131
Descartes, René, 34, 115
Deuteronomy, Book of, 46
Dickson, William, 62
Dionysus, 81, 83, 85–86
Dissanayake, Ellen, 96
dissection. See anatomical dissections and drawings
The Divine Comedy (c. 1320) (Dante), 16
dogs, 194
Donatello, 17
Doppler effect, 114
drawings, 6. See also anatomical dissections and drawings
dreaming, 135
dual brain theory. See split-brain duality
dual readings of images, 65
Duchamp, Marcel, 67–69, 72–74, 79–80, 84
Dunbar, Robin, 165
Durkheim, Émile, 86
E
Earth
age of, 158–59
Gaia theory, 121
shape of, 120
Edison, Thomas, 62
ego, 192
Egypt, 155–56
Eights, Theory of, 164–66
Einstein, Albert, 110, 135, 145–46, 147, 192
electroencephalogram (EEG), 35
embryology, 131
emotions, 134–35, 163–64
energy, 144
epilepsy, 36–38, 89
equestrian monument, 23–24
Erasmus, 168
ESP, 151, 180–81
Euler, Leonhard, 118
Everett, Hugh, 186
evolution, xvi, 120–21, 140–41, 185–98
exclusive same sex preference (ESSP), 161–72
Extraordinary People (Treffert), 182
F
Faraday, Michael, 187
fear, 96–99, 100
feeling-states, 134–35
Fermat’s principle, 115
Feynman, Richard, 196
film, 62–63
flight, 23, 24, 43, 114, 127, 157
Florence, 16, 17, 25–26, 28
fluid dynamics, 118
fourth dimension, 146–47, 176
The Fourth Dimension (Rucker), 186
FOXP2 gene, 41
Francis I, 28, 29–30
freedom, 9, 18
Freshfield, Douglas, 157
Freud, Sigmund, 3
G
Gaddiano, Anonimo, 17
Gaia theory, 121
Galileo Galilei, 3, 19, 110, 125
Galin, David, 31, 37–38
Gallerani, Cecilia, 52
gays. See homosexuality
Gazzaniga, Michael, 37–38
Gell-Mann, Murray, 196–97
gender differences, in brain structure and processes, 161–63, 164
genetics, xvi
genomic research, 41
geoglyphs, 149–50
geometry, 115, 117
Giacomo, 22
Ginevra de’ Benci (c. 1476) (Leonardo da Vinci), 16
Giovio, Paolo, 20, 169
goddesses, xv
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von, 3, 50, 70–71
Gogh, Vincent van, 185
Gombrich, E. H., 52
Goodall, Jane, 104
Gould, Stephen Jay, xvi, 109, 110, 121
Greek language, 13
Greek mythology, 81–82, 85–86
Gregory the Great, 47
Grotstein, James S., 133
guns, 126
Gutenberg, Johannes, 13–14
H
habituation, 97–98
Hamer, Dean, 167, 168
hands, Leonardo’s depiction in paintings, 51–52, 71
handwriting, 7–8
happiness, 163
Hardy, G. H., 5
Harris, Sam, 197
Harvey, William, 129
heart, 32–33, 129
Heisenberg, Werner, 1, 190–91
helicopters, 127
Helmholz, Heinrich, 118
hemispheric specialization, 145, 192
Hippocrates, 33
Hogarth, William, 48n
Hokusai, 60n
holons, 89–90
homeostasis, 121
Homo Aestheticus: Where Art Comes From and Why (Dissanayake), 96
homosexuality
brain differences, 161–72
during Renaissance, 17
sexual attraction, 102
speculation about Leonardo, 17, 79–80, 169–72
Hoyle, Fred, 147–48
humor, 83
Huygens, Christiaan, 119
hydraulics, 128
hygrometer, 128
hypothalamus, 97
I
id, 193
illegitimacy, 10–11, 12, 15
image recognition, 135–36
images, xv, 197–98
Imola map, 152–53
Impressionism, 58
interconnectedness of life, 175–76, 197
Internal and External Forms (1953–54) (Moore), 64
Internet, 195
inventions
bicycle, 127
bridges, 127
camera, 124
machines, 128
measuring devices, 128
musical instruments, 126
oil tanker, 125
robot, 128
scissors, 125
submarine, 126
telescope, 123–24
water lock, 128
water safety, 127
weapons, 125–26
windmill, 125
Italian Renaissance, 2–3, 13
J
Janus, 90
Jesus, 50, 69–71, 72, 76–79, 81, 83, 186, 198
John, Gospel of, 69–70, 79
John the Baptist, 77
John the Younger, 79
Julius II, 29
K
Kafka, Franz, xvi
Kandel, Eric, 144
Kandinsky, Wassily, 60, 135
Kant, Immanuel, 99, 143–44, 145, 147
Keats, John, 95
Kelvin, Lord, 188
Khayyam, Omar, 2
Kimura, Doreen, 138
Koesteler, Arthur, 1, 89–90, 92
Kuhn, Thomas, 97–98
L
Lady with an Ermine (c. 1490–1491) (Leonardo da Vinci), 23, 52
landscape paintings, 45–46
language
brain processes, 34–35, 86–87, 98–99, 139–40, 162, 174–75
evolution and, 88, 189–90
genetics of, 41
vernacular, 13
The Last Supper (1495-1497) (Leonardo da Vinci), 23, 50, 65, 69–72, 78–80, 198
Latin, 13, 15
Le Déjeuner sur L’Herbe (Luncheon on the Grass, 1863) (Manet), 56–57
Leclerc, Georges-Louis, 120, 159
Leda and the Swan (Leonardo da Vinci), 63
left brain
creativity and, 85–88, 89, 90, 91–92
emotions and, 135
role of, xiii, 139–41
skills housed in, 8
left hemineglect syndrome, 137–38
left-handedness, 161–63, 164, 166, 172–74
Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm von, 117
lenses, 123–23
Leo X, 29
Leonardo da Vinci. See da Vinci, Leonardo
Leonardo da Vinci (Clark), 157–58
Leonardo’s Incessant Last Supper (Steinberg), 50, 65, 72
LeVay, Simon, 168
Lewis, Wyndham, 149
Lewontin, Richard, xvi
L.H.O.O.Q. (Duchamp), 73–74, 79–80, 84
light, 119–20, 146, 187–88
Lippershey, Hans, 124