I want to give Your Brain on Art by Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross a glowing recommendation, but sadly, I only feel lukewarm about it. First off, I’m happy to see any book that helps show why the arts are essential to our world. Please, please, please, publishers, let’s have more books on this topic. And I learned A LOT about how the arts impact our brains and bodies. But I also found the book a little bit tedious (I ended up purchasing the audiobook and listening to it at 1.2x speed) and repetitive, while at the same time, glossing over the surface in a lot of areas. My brother-in-law and I have a joke about books like this, noting how we “read a book about a book about that” and that’s what this felt like. Lots of mentions of various scientific studies.

Thank you NetGalley for providing a free advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.
2.5 stars rounded up because while I though the book had some significant flaws, I don't believe it is harmful. It is however, surprisingly, a bit short-sighted.

When I read the title and the book description, I expected a book centered on art, incorporating elements of science. And let me make it clear, the book is competently written. It is not, however, as art-oriented as the title suggests. Instead, I read a wellness book--and that's the main reason why I struggled to finish it. The authors focus a lot on apps and programs (some free of charge, some that cost money) that we can use to incorporate esthetics into our lives. Arts are very loosely defined. The book centers on health-problems the arts can help with. As a result, the same type of esthetics/arts are mentioned repeatedly, because unsurprisingly the same form of art can help with different problems. This focus on 'problems' on 'fixing' that dominated the first 2/3 of the book was also off-putting. I would have much preferred that each book chapter focused on a different type of arts, and then explore how say music, painting, mask-making, writing, theater, etc can be incorporated into daily lives.

Another problem I had with the book was the loose science. Some examples of evidence-based medicine including arts seemed legitimate. Others triggered my BS detector. One of these questionable examples I did check turned out to be indeed, to put it nicely, over-exaggerated and not supported by the available data. The example I'm referring to: the author mentions there is scientific evidence that breathing in bacteria from the soil can improve brain function and boost mood. I found the article talking about this. It was an experiment in mice (spoiler: mice aren't humans), that used only 2 strains of soil bacteria which were first heat inactivated and spritzed inside the nose of the mice. There was a boost in cytokine release (immune-effector molecules), followed by some increase in serotonin levels. Sounds legit right? Not so fast. Mice, like I said, are not humans. Two strains of bacteria cannot even begin to encompass the millions upon millions of soil bacteria; what if some are harmful? Also, how does the amount of inhaled bacteria in this experiment compare to the amounts of bacteria you would inhale while gardening? Is it similar? Or do you need to grab a fistfull of soil and snort it? If the effect is based on immune-system activation, can we achieve the same effect with a probiotic spray? This isn't the only example where authors present only part of the story, or overplay the importance of the results. Take the beautiful images of heart muscle cells changing shape when exposed to sound vibrations (the way the word vibration was used in the book made the scientist in me cringe a couple of times). The authors too loosely implied that this in vitro result explains how our heart muscle reacts to music. In vivo. Inside the chest cavity. And I don't know how to explain this to you, but you would likely need to be sitting on top of a really loud speaker to cause a direct effect on your actual heart. Can you imagine if your heart cells changed shapes every time sound happened around you? The heart muscle does change rhythm and force of contraction when music is played--but most of that change is dictated by the nervous system.

While I am excited about incorporating esthetics and art more into our lives and health care, there was no talk about the limitations of art in these settings. An overemphasis on how 'art can fix things' can potentially be dangerous for patients using art therapy, as they need to become aware that art is great for support, but you need more than that. There is an example of a person zeroing in on a plan with her therapist thanks to art therapy. Yeah, I did that too once. That was just the beginning, there was a lot more work to be done to actually get a real improvement (more than a year worth of hard work actually). Art was supportive, but the rest of the work focused on behavioral therapy, mindfullnes, etc. It's the same story with nutrition: good nutrition helps, but if you have a big medical issue you may need medication, surgery, physiotherapy, etc to fully recover or just improve. There was also no discussion on when art can become dangerous. If art is always great, why did so many artists commit suicide? I've used art for healing, but art has also induced distress. When is it safe to engage, and when is it good to proceed with caution? (I have some hypothesis on that, but they weren't addressed by the authors).

That's not to say there weren't some really enjoyable parts in the book. "Goldfish" the poem was in my opinion the best part of the book, and explained art's ability to help us grow and build resilience better than anything else in the book. The discussion about using mask-making as therapy for PTSD, as a way to circumvent an observed under-activation of Brocca's area in afflicted people, was also fascinating (I am curious however if Wernicke's area was also affected). I strongly embrace the suggestions to incorporate art more into wellness and our daily lives. And I liked the discussion on the importance of making art for yourself, guilt-free, evaluator free. Just create for the sake of creating. I just wish the book was better structured, focused more on arts than illness, and also focused more on arts for healthy people, so that it didn't feel like I was reading a self-help book. A bit more scientific restraint would have also helped. When the authors discussed replacing your daily vitamin pill with art I rolled my eyes: (except for people suffering from a real vitamin deficiency) vitamins are notoriously useless cash-grabs created by a capitalist system to milk fearful people of money. I sincerely hope that art won't be commodiffied like supplements and healthy eating has been. Alas, I fear it will be.

"Your Brain on Art: How Art Transforms Us" (Penguin Random House: 2023) is a well-researched argument for greater attention to the arts in our own lives, our children, elders, and the surrounding community. Advances in physiological research, neuroscience, and neuroaesthetics (neuroarts) delineate the pathways in which subjects experience artistic and sensory pleasure, including visual arts, music participation, and writing.

Authors Sandra Magsamen and Ivy Ross make bold claims about the power of the arts and their impact on people with dementia and PTSD, which they also back with intriguing research and an entertaining narrative.

YOUR BRAIN ON ART by Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross is all about "How the Arts Transform Us" and the authors look at a wide variety of arts, including architecture, crafts, music, painting, sculpture, and more. Their credentials are wide ranging and impressive, too: Magsamen is the founder and director of the International Arts + Mind Lab, Center for Applied Neuroaesthetics at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; Ross is the Vice President of Design for hardware product area at Google and a National Endowment for Arts grant recipient. They begin with a simple quiz and discussion of an Aesthetic Mindset and then turn to aspects like the impact of arts on mental and physical health. Students may find the tone and content to be rather dense or academic and therefore a bit more difficult to decipher and appreciate. However, a range of authors, (e.g., Duhigg, Levitin, Louv, and Pipher), have commented positively on this new text and we will have a copy on our shelves for those who are interested.

This is a thoroughly-researched book on an important, underreported subject. I enjoyed reading the interviews and learning about the physical effect of art and performance, especially related to physical and mental health issues. To be honest, I read a vast majority of fiction compared to nonfiction. I would not say this is the type of nonfiction that is easily enjoyed by the masses. Some of the terminology was very technical, and as a non-expert in the subject, I found it difficult to read. Especially towards the middle and end, I found it a little difficult to finish. I agreed with what this book was trying to prove, but I think I was not the right audience for it.

I guess this is fine if you’re looking for some very basic neuroscience and psychology, but I was expecting something far more sophisticated and with much greater specificity with regard to art, and I was very disappointed.

Additionally, the tone of this is absolutely horrendous, like someone talking to an eight-year-old . I’m just not sure what the audience for this would be, given the way it’s presented laid against the dumbed down content it actually contains.

There has been some really interesting and nuanced research on the subject of the brain’s reaction to art, music, and theater, and I saw none of that here.

If you are one of those people who doubts the transformative power of the arts, then read this. If you already have an idea of the link that exists between the arts and your own personal well-being, then read this.

This book talks extensively about the physiological, psychological, and biological changes that experiencing art can have on the human body and psyche and it's fascinating! It will make you re-think how you interact with or implement it into your own life.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC in exchange for my review.

“Your Brain on Art” examines how art, creativity, and aesthetics dramatically impact our minds and bodies. It shows how drawing, music, sculpting, knitting, and other arts might be the best prescriptions for our problems. Drawing from recent neuroscience, cultural history, and more studies, the authors show how we can use the arts as medicine to achieve our best lives.

For me, “Your Brain on Art” was a life-changing read. It gave me so much insight into myself (I learned that I’ve been self-medicating with aesthetics for years without realizing it). And it took creativity from being an occasional “hobby” to being a vital part of my wellness routine. But this book contains more than art. It explains flourishing, wellness, and how our bodies process emotions and trauma in an easy-to-understand way that I connected with. Reading this book sparked so much healing for me, and I’m incredibly grateful to the authors for sharing their expertise and insight.

I was so excited to read this because as a graphic designer and Art History minor, I love this kind of stuff. However, this read like a very boring biology college textbook. It was very word-heavy, and for a book about art, it doesn't have much art or color. I think just adding in some art and color could really help this book!

As someone who grew up loving and getting involved with the arts, I enjoyed reading this book. "Your Brain on Art" highlights scientific research, and conversations with visual and performing artists to back up on how and why the arts are important and essential in our lives. I liked reading the real life examples of the arts' role when its applied to healing/medicine, community building and engagement, creativity, and much more.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the opportunity to read this digital ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

This is a book about the neurological effects experiencing art have on the human body. The chapters address mental health, physical healing, learning, what they call flourishing as well the place of arts in community. For each topic there is a basic exposition of research in the field and then examples of arts being used for the various purposes. I’m guessing the authors went light on the scientific explanations to avoid scaring off readers. For myself I was hoping for more focus on the science. There are extensive notes with which on might delve more deeply with the time and access to the sources, but it would be great if more of the information was in the book itself. The science exists and is growing in stature, but the heavy advocacy for the programs using these findings was offputting. The concluding chapter came across as utopian. My annoyance with style is an individual reaction. There is good information here and it can be used in arguing the usefulness of the arts.

An interesting overview and explaination of the way art interacts with your brain and why we find happiness in it. A little dry, I wouldn't recommend it for the layperson, but still has lots of good info!

This book is so revolutionary I fear I won’t have adequate words to describe how important I think it is. As a lifelong artist, performer, arts educator and arts advocate, I didn’t need to be convinced of the connection between brain function and art, but the breadth of the information in this book is astounding. The authors, Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross, bring an amazing array of experience and credentials to the table. Ross is Vice President for hardware product area at Google, and Magsamen is founder and director of the International Arts + Mind Lab, Center for Applied Neuroaesthetics at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. They are partners in both doing the research and applying it.

Most of us who participate in the arts are aware of the power of the arts to relieve stress, spur creativity and create connections to others, past and present. But Ross and Magsamen take these ideas and go deeper, pointing to verifiable changes in the brain and neural system that affect our health and well-being. Did you know, for example, that certain heart scans reveal patterns reminiscent of quilt squares? Or that singing to a newborn baby releases hormones that calm both baby and mother? The authors make the case that arts of all types create measurable biological changes in the human body, and can be applied as therapies for mental, physical and social disorders and dysfunctions.

This book should be required reading for medical professionals and students, mental health professionals, business executives, and even politicians. This work raises the question as to why there is so much opposition to public funding for the arts, and completely obliterates the argument that the arts are just a “frill” or “luxury” in our lives, and makes the case for thorough integration of the arts in all facets of our existence.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for my opportunity to receive an advance copy in exchange for my honest review. In that spirit, I will offer one correction to the text. On page 124, the first sentence reads, “…a mambo version of Leonard Bernstein’s “Somewhere” from the musical “West Side Story.” That sentence should read, …”Mambo” from Leonard Bernstein’s “West Side Story.”

Many thanks to Random House for the review copy.

Uh oh. Let me begin by saying that I agree with Magsamen and Ross's core gospel that art is good for people, and I was looking forward to a scientific study of the topic. So where did we go wrong?

As I was reading this book, which builds a scientific case for art by talking to scholars, citing academic articles, providing case studies, etc. I was bothered by a little voice in the back of my mind asking "Why, with all of these sources, does this sound like woo?"
After thinking about it, I realized the following:
Part of it comes down to authorial voice. Magsamen and Ross write with a breathless enthusiasm that I primarily associate with new-age gurus talking about natal charts. The tone is excitable, twee, and earnest to the point of being uncomfortable. Their writing is also sprinkled with vaguely new-agey sounding appeals to "ancient wisdom practices from many cultures," as well as using contemporary indigenous people as examples of "ancient" practices.
There is also an uncomfortable refusal to acknowledge that as much as art can heal us, art can also be harmful. There is no acknowledgment in this book of art's colonial power, gentrifying power, traumatizing power, or anything else besides its' healing power. This is not honest.
In some ways, it reminded me of self-help books: a single, deceptively simple solution for immensely complex issues. Their definition of art is flexible enough to include everything, a single soundwave in a lab can be art, but so can nature, gardening, cooking, etc. Not to be annoying, but if your definition of art is so broad that it encompasses basically everything, then what are you actually saying?

But the real downfall of this book is that it presents the glaringly obvious as new. There is a frankly laughable portion of the conclusion that asks us to "Imagine just one day in your life where the science and practices outlined in this book come to fruition, where arts and aesthetics are seamlessly integrated."
Are you ready for this?
You will... have herbs in your kitchen, drink tea or coffee, sing in the shower and the car, pick up a hobby, look out your window at nature, and maybe after work go see a movie or a performance.
Revolutionary. Why has no one thought of that before?

“Just one art experience per month can extend your life by ten years.” Wow. Can that be true? Can something that’s enjoyable and considered recreation actually have such a profound impact on one’s life? Yes. And this book offers proof.

I know the soothing effect making art can have on a person so I was excited to read more about it. The topic here was actually much broader than I expected.

Neuroaesthetics is a word I hadn’t heard before. This book went way beyond “painting makes you calm.” Discussed were the positive effects of music, dance, architecture, nature and more.

This book was full of research studies and anecdotes. I would’ve loved some specific ideas for projects, links to playlists, or action plans. Maybe that was there and I missed it. I docked a star because there was so much information here it was overwhelming. My scattered brain could’ve used a bit more art—even charts and graphs to break up the countless stories and studies presented.

I do highly recommend this book to anyone looking to improve their life in an easy, enjoyable way.

I’m off to find some sources of 40Hz light and sound!

I received this book for free and was happy to offer my unbiased review.

“Your Brain On Art” is a good choice for anyone interested in exactly what the title describes. If you want to learn more about how beauty rewires your brain, or how vital the arts are for building and sustaining communities, or the healing power of arts and aesthetics, this absolutely is the book for you. I highly recommend it if you’re interested in learning more. I also loved the mention of MedRhythms, a really incredible company in my home state of Maine that is doing great work in neurologic music therapy!
The thing that took some enjoyment away from this one for me is how the authors seemed to leap between different scientific concepts extraordinarily rapidly and almost at random - I’m concerned that readers from a non-scientific background will struggle to grasp some of the concepts presented, hence the 3-star rating.
I also think I need to stop picking books like this one. I’m always very excited to read them, but since I majored in neuroscience and music in college, have been a musician my entire life, and am now in medical school, these books simply don’t introduce much that I haven’t already learned, or actually overlap with my course work. I prefer reading to be an escape from that, so sadly this one didn’t quite reach the level of enjoyment I was hoping for.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

5 stars.

It’s a wonderful, quite short, and easy to read book. The authors walk you through the effects different art forms can have on people, potential health benefits, how art affects our mental health. Art helps us connect to ourselves and the outside world. The book, even though it discusses the effects of arts on the brain, is written in simple language, where there are terms not everyone might be familiar with, they are explained. There are some amazing examples. It’s not a dry review of a bunch of scientific studies, it’s written for an average person, and by people clearly enthusiastic about the topic. If you have a chance to read this book, I encourage you to do so. I very much enjoyed reading it.

This is a very careful and thoughtful analysis of how the appreciation and practice of arts can directly impact our biochemistry. It is thoughtfully prepare and presented. The authors give copious examples of broad ranging studies as well as smaller anecdotes about how the arts can and do change us on a fundamental level. My only issue is that the authors never quite seem to believe they've convinced us of this fact and keep hammering it home. Wonderfully researched, probably could have been tightened up around the edges.

A fascinating, in-depth treatise on the necessity of art, its critical role in our evolution as a species. The book largely focuses on how art can be used not only to promote physical, emotional, and mental well-being, but also how art can quite literally save us and evolve us.
An expansive read--I especially found the sections that minutely described how our brains process different art forms to be especially fascinating

What a delightful and informative book! I’m an artist myself and I’ve always been curious about the psychological and neurological affects of the arts and Your Brain on Art didn’t disappoint! I appreciate that the authors were able to present scientific concepts in a way that was easy for me as a layperson to understand.
This book is inclusive of just about every art form so there really is something for everyone here, but i would especially recommend this to fellow artists and others interested in Art Therapy.