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Arthur I Miller

Insights of genius

Creativity in science and art isn't something that can be readily produced. In Insights of genius : Imagery and Creativity in science and art Arthur I Miller discusses various aspects of creativity and its link to visual images. One thing he looks at is the distinction between visualization and visualizability - for instance Feynman diagrams are a useful tool in quantum theory, but do they actually show what is happening at the micro-level? Miller also examines the outburst of creativity at the start of the 20th Century, considering the work of Poincaré, Einstein and Picasso amoung others, and looking at interactions between them.

There's a lot of material in this book - philosophy of science, artistic creativity and even a bit of neuroscience of vision. I felt that Miller didn't really provide a thread to tie all of this material together - the book seemed to be a bit rambling at times, and it would have been better to concentrate on one subject and so create a shorter book. On the other hand, the book would be useful for stimulating discussion - I could envisage the members of a reading group reading a chapter each week and meeting to discuss it.