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 20^th 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.