This book shows how painting since the mid?1800s has reflected Western society's mixed feelings about the transformations in our world produced by science and technology. Neither a chronicle of the development of modern art nor a history of the modern era, it instead discusses how artists have represented feelings and ideas about the technological changes of modern times. Some artists approach this task with an outward focus, representing the world they perceive. Others focus inward, choosing to represent their personal reactions to that world. The author examines both approaches to show how...

This book is about what science frequently dodges or even denies: subjective life as experienced by animals as well as humans. Mixing what is known from science with some novel ideas, science writer William Libaw provides a provocative and stimulating thesis on the origins and evolution of consciousness. As the subjective world of any other creature cannot be observed directly by any of us, Libaw plays detective to deduce from gestures, deceptive behavior, and language some of the concepts that play a key role in ape and human minds. The result is an interesting and original synthesis of a...