Leonard Shlain

Leonardo's Brain: Understanding Da Vinci's Creative Genius Leonard Shlain

Publisher Marketing: Bestselling author Leonard Shlain explores the life, art, and mind of Leonardo da Vinci, seeking to explain his singularity by looking at his achievements in art, science, psychology, and military strategy (yes), and then employing state of the art left-right brain scientific research to explain his universal genius. Shlain shows that no other person in human history has excelled in so many different areas as Da Vinci and he peels back the layers to explore the how and the why. "Leonardo s Brain" uses Da Vinci as a starting point for an exploration of human creativity. With his lucid style, and his remarkable ability to discern connections in a wide range of fields, Shlain brings the listener into the world of history s greatest mind. Shlain asserts that Leonardo s genius came from a unique creative ability that allowed him to understand and excel in a wide range of fields. From here Shlain jumps off and discusses the history and current research on human creativity that revolves around the right brain-left brain split. Most of us now know that there is a split between the right and the left side of the brain; the left primarily controls our rational mind, the right our emotions. Shlain discusses the cutting edge research that is refining our understanding of the split brain model and deepening our knowledge about the nature of human creativity. There is more integration between the left and right brains than previously thought. Shlain argues that Leonardo was unique in human history for the degree of integration that he showed. He also speculates on whether or not the qualities of Leonardo s brain and his creativity presage the future evolution of man. "Leonardo s Brain" integrates art, history, science, medicine, neuroscience, psychology, and philosophy uniting all of the ideas that Leonard Shlain studied and wrote about since the publication of the influential and bestselling "Art and Physics" in 1991." Review Citations: Audio File 08/01/2015 pg. 50 (EAN 9781491529829, Compact Disc) - *Starred Review Kirkus Reviews 09/01/2014 (EAN 9781493003358, Hardcover) Contributor Bio:  Shlain, Leonard Leonard Shlain was a bestselling author, inventor and surgeon. Admired among artists, scientists, philosophers, anthropologists and educators, Shlain authored three bestselling books: Art & Physics, Alphabet vs. The Goddess and Sex, Time, and Power. He delivered stunning visual presentations based upon his books in venues around the world including Harvard, The New York Museum of Modern Art, CERN, Los Alamos, The Florence Academy of Art and the European Council of Ministers. His fans include Al Gore, Norman Lear and singer Bjork. Shlain died in May 2009 at the age of 71 from brain cancer shortly after the completion of this book. His legacy continues with his children who helped bring this book to publication: Kimberly Brooks, artist and founding editor of the Arts and Science Section of the Huffington Post, Jordan Shlain, doctor and founder of Healthloop.com and Tiffany Shlain, filmmaker, founder of The Webby Awards and director of the Sundance documentary, Connected, about the ideas in Leonardo s Brain, as well as Leonard Shlain s final year. Visit www.leonardshlain.com. Contributor Bio:  Gardner, Grover Grover Gardner has recorded more than 650 audiobooks since beginning his career in 1981. He's been named one of the "Best Voices of the Century" as well as a "Golden Voice" by "AudioFile" magazine. Gardner has garnered over 20 "AudioFile" Earphones Awards and is the recipient of an Audio Publishers Association Audie Award, as well as a three-time finalist. In 2005, "Publishers Weekly" deemed him "Audiobook Narrator of the Year." Gardner has also narrated hundreds of audiobooks under the names Tom Parker and Alexander Adams. Among his many titles are Marcus Sakey's "At the City's Edge", as well as "Star Wars: The Phantom Menace", Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer", and John Irving's "The Cider House Rules". Gardner studied Theater and Art History at Rollins College and received a Master's degree in Acting from George Washington University. He lives in Oregon with his significant other and daughter.