Customer Reviews

Visual Thinking: Thirty-Fifth Anniversary Printing

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The above phrase is the conclusion I came to after reading this book at the library. I am not in art education, but there are many things I wanted to underline and think about in application to the theory of creativity, use of technology in education, visual literacy. I think different people would find different things to think about in this book. Arnheim wrote a masterpiece that catalyzed a paradigm shift in his area (just like Freud or Simon & Newell).
The book is written pretty clear, I would not say it is difficult to read (English is my third language).

Instead of going on & on about the wealth of useful information in this book, I will say this:
There is reason 100 different books cite this book - this book contains art psychology research relavent to a wide variety of fields. More importantly, this information is as relevant to life today as the day it was written. Thought-provoking perspective of creativity.

I had the good fortune to hear Dr. Arnheim lecturing; his lecture style was simpler, and easier to understand. German does not translate well into English, word for word, one must take the spirit, and distill it. The writing is a bit thick, in this book, which is why there are only 4 stars, not 5. Some books are worth slogging through, however, and this one is. Thick as the language may be, it is still quite seminal. I do wish the author had read and applied lessons from Art of Readable Writing, written by a contemporary. Then again, Harry Potter books could stand to be better edited, but it doesn't matter, people flock to read the books, because they like what is communicated.

This book gave me great insight on how the brain processes visual cues and what the differences are between different types of thinkers' approaches to problems. It had interesting tidbits on how completely different images can be linked by abstract principles as well. For me, this novel gave me some inspiration as to how to use abstract ideas and abstract forms in my artwork to achieve my purposes. It opened my eyes to just how powerful an image can be as it "operates" on the brain of the viewer. Both the structure of the sentences and the vocabulary used were a little overwhelming for me at times, but overall, it was a very helpful book.

Pretentiously overly verbosely written. However, if you can wade through the verbal diarrhea it can give you some deep insights as to how the brain, visual cortex, etc, manages to view and process the information we see based on past experiences, consciousness, etc. There are, however, certain findings within the book that you will already know about & realize instinctively anyway. It's just nice to know that these are scientifically & artistically confirmed. So I'm not mad after all....

Arnheim always sheds some new light on his subjects, and this book might be his most enlightening. Whether you care about art, education, perception, or simply living a full human life, this book will make you think about the subject in a new way. Grounded in careful analysis of specific objects and experiences, Arnheim nonetheless manages to convey the importance of his ideas to the wider subject of human consciousness.

The book is fairly complex, and definitely needs reflexion for every sentence. The author explains some psychological and philosophical theories. This is personally not what I expected. I would have liked more examples and applications.

The author's writing style is as if he simply sat down and typed this out after having built up years of experience. Why it fails is because he seems to be writing strictly from memory without checking his notes along the way. The writing isn't so much inaccurate as it just meanders from topic to topic. It has a nice flow, but keeps leaving me feeling like, even when his points are good, one doesn't follow from what preceded it. Also, many of the points he makes don't seem to matter.

A lot of the book is hopelessly dated. The terminology is dated and he doesn't reflect knowledge and awareness of contemporary science or politics or much of anything else. It might work well for people studying period pieces, but as for gaining a good understanding of "visual thinking," by contemporary standards, forget it!

Some alternative sources for better information would be:

Artists on Art
Art in Theory 1648-1815: An Anthology of Changing Ideas
Art in Theory: 1815-1900 An Anthology of Changing Ideas
Art in Theory 1900 - 2000: An Anthology of Changing Ideas
The Amygdala: A Functional Analysis
Synesthesia: A Union of the Senses - Second Edition
Synesthesia: Perspectives from Cognitive Neuroscience
Folk Psychology Re-Assessed
Feeling and Form
Leonardo
The Hidden Sense: Synesthesia in Art and Science (Leonardo Book Series)