Your Brain on Art

How the Arts Transform Us

By: Susan Magsamen, Ivy Ross

Narrated by: Ellyn Jameson

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A life-altering, science-backed exploration of the healing power of art, which has now been proven to help lower stress, supercharge learning and creativity, extend your lifespan, and combat loneliness.

“This book blew my mind!”—Angela Duckworth, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Grit

A BLOOMBERG BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR • Finalist for the Inc. Non-Obvious Book Award and the Porchlight Business Book Award

What is art? Many of us think of the arts as entertainment—a luxury of some kind. In Your Brain on Art, authors Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross show how activities from painting and dancing to expressive writing, architecture, and more are essential to our lives.

We’re on the verge of a cultural shift in which the arts can deliver potent, accessible, and proven solutions for the well-being of everyone. Magsamen and Ross offer compelling research that shows how engaging in an art project for as little as forty-five minutes reduces the stress hormone cortisol, no matter your skill level, and just one art experience per month can extend your life by ten years. They expand our understanding of how playing music builds cognitive skills and enhances learning; the vibrations of a tuning fork create sound waves to counteract stress; virtual reality can provide cutting-edge therapeutic benefit; and interactive exhibits dissolve the boundaries between art and viewers, engaging all of our senses and strengthening memory. Doctors have even been prescribing museum visits to address loneliness, dementia, and many other physical and mental health concerns.

Your Brain on Art is a portal into this new understanding about how the arts and aesthetics can help us transform traditional medicine, build healthier communities, and mend an aching planet.

Featuring conversations with artists such as David Byrne, Renée Fleming, and evolutionary biologist E. O. Wilson, Your Brain on Art is an authoritative guide to neuroaesthetics. The book weaves a tapestry of breakthrough research, insights from multidisciplinary pioneers, and compelling stories from people who are using the arts to enhance their lives.

So Fascinating!

I’ve been meaning to do a review of this book. I have already personally recommended it to several of my friends. There is so much content in this book, that it’s hard to find a place to begin. The author did an excellent job citing sources and studies. It went into so many topics: chronic pain, ptsd, TBI’s, raising children, Parkinson’s disease, dementia, etc. It gives an in depth look at how the arts (from visual to dance to music) react within and alter the brain. About how living a life full of art effects you. Did you know that even just going to live art events regularly increases your life span? I highly recommend this book.

Inspirational

Many great ideas connected to valuable studies and cohesive stories. Read and reread chapters 4-6. Looking forward to putting these nodes into practice

Amazing! Can’t wait to read again!

I loved this book so much. Continuous inspiration throughout. So many interesting case studies and backing to support the arts!

The Arts Are the Human Part of Us

This is a fabulous overview of research into the value the arts bring to our individual and community life. As a life long artist, arts educator and creativity coach for others seeking to find and build their relationship to creativity this book validated all of my observational experience.

Fascinating

It was a bit dry and hard to follow in places, so I had to go back and re-read some places, but overall a fascinating read.