Is science the only path to knowledge? In this sparkling and provocative book Jonah Lehrer, author of The Decisive Moment, shows us that celebrated artists discovered truths-real, tangible truths- about the mind, anticipating the findings of neuroscience. We learn how Proust first revealed the fallibility of memory, how George Eliot understood the brain's malleable nature, how the French chef Escoffier intuited umami (the fifth taste), how Cézanne worked out the subtleties of vision, and how Virginia Woolf pierced the mysteries of consciousness. It's a riveting account of the importance of art in the quest to understand the human brain. 'A slim, brainy book about the brain, modernist art and literature.' Entertainment Weekly