Praise for Survival of the Beautiful

A brilliant investigation of why nature is beautiful and how art has influenced science.“Taking inspiration from Charles Darwin’'s observations that animals have a natural aesthetic sense, philosopher and musician David Rothenberg dives into the mysteries of why we create art, and why animals, humans included, have innate appreciation for beauty.A searching, accessible, and often ecstatic book. -- Wall Street JournalA bravura investigation..with verve, multidiscipline fluency, and an encompassing vision, Rothenberg accomplishes his mission to change the way we perceive and understand the intertwining of natural evolution and human cultural evolution, beauty and life, art and science. -- Booklist (starred)Survival of the Beautiful is not just a book about beauty, but a beautiful book. And also an important one that moves the debate about the biology of aesthetics beyond the cozy fables of evolutionary psychology to probe the deep nature of art and its origins. Both provocative and generous, Rothenberg's work is pervaded with a sense of wonder at and appreciation of the world. -- Philip Ball, author of Critical Mass and Self-Made Tapestry David Rothenberg's Survival of the Beautiful pushes open farther and further one of the doors at which the great Darwin paused, uncomprehending but awed. Not since reading Darwin or Thoreau or Quammen's The Song of the Dodo have I encountered so many ideas of such depth, breadth, and insistent yearning. Filled with quiet wit and incredible research and synthesis, nearly every sentence in this book challenges its readers to an intellectual rigor that is not to be confused with anything but pleasure, wonder, awe. An amazing book. -- Rick Bass, author of Winter: Notes From Montana David Rothenberg is a brilliantly fun guide on a journey that takes us from bowerbirds to the neuroaesthetics of Semir Zeki. Survival of the Beautiful is just about the best travel literature of the mind out there. With wit by turns gentle and sharp, Rothenberg shows us how art is shaped by animals, and by us. -- Roald Hoffmann, chemist and writer, winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry The nerdy mind-set of modernity often suffers allergic outbreaks when confronted with the softer side of cognition. Aesthetic pleasures are then cordoned off from the serious core work of science. But David Rothenberg makes a convincing case that beauty is an intrinsic aspect of reality. He argues, among other things, that without modern art, modern science would have been hobbled by inadequately challenged cognitive habits. Beauty evolved. Perhaps we should take it seriously. -- Jaron Lanier, author of You Are Not a Gadget David Rothenberg is a rarity--an actual polymath--and his writing, like the music he plays, reveals an extraordinary mixture of curiosity, intelligence, and playfulness. Tracing complex ideas that link consciousness, human spirit, and creativity within the framework of Darwinian theory leads to the sort of book you would expect from a man who makes music with whales and cicadas. Where does the impetus for the making of art and music reside? How does that fit into an evolutionary scheme? Read this book and enter into Rothenberg's world. You will be rewarded with an exploration of these questions that is both entertaining and revelatory. -- David Ross, director emeritus, Whitney Museum of American Art
The Author DR ECM photo midrez.jpg

David Rothenberg

Musician and philosopher David Rothenberg is the author of Why Birds Sing, also published in Italy, Spain, Taiwan, China, Korea, and Germany. In 2006 it was turned into a feature-length TV documentary by the BBC. Rothenberg has also written Sudden Music, Blue Cliff Record, Hands End, and Always the Mountains. His articles have appeared in Parabola, Orion, The Nation, Wired, Dwell, Kyoto Journal, The Guardian, The Globe and Mail, and Sierra, and his writings have appeared in at least eleven languages. His last book Thousand Mile Song, about making music with whales, is being turned into a TV documentary for Canal 3 in France, and an American feature documentary is under development. He is currently collaborating with researchers from CUNY, NYU, and the Netherlands Institute of Ecology on the quantification of the musicality of nightingale songs, a project that stems from his earlier book on bird song and music. His latest major label music CD, One Dark Night I Left My Silent House, a duet with pianist Marilyn Crispell, came out on ECM in May 2010. In 2011 Rothenberg also released CDs with pianist Lewis Porter and electronic musician Scanner. Rothenberg is professor of philosophy and music at the New Jersey Institute of Technology.How did he decide to write a book on beauty? Rothenberg answers:I have always remembered the Navajo Beauty Song that I heard as a teenager visiting the Arizona desert for the first time:Beauty before me, there I walkBeauty behind me, there I walkBeauty above me, there I walkBeauty below me, there I walkOn the trail of beauty, there I walkForever with beauty, all around me.When I get old, there I walk Still on the move, there I walk I'll wander still on beauty's trailAnd live again--there I walkMy words still aim for beauty.
Text Line Video

Events Text Line

Sex and Beauty

Peacock Makes Me Sick!
Blue Bird of Paradise
Come Up and See My Bower...
Vogelkop's Bowerbird
The Vogelkop's Bower
The Evolution of Bower Types
"The Summer Palace" (2009)

Camouflage

Thayer's Peacock
Thayer's Wood Duck
WWI Dazzle Camouflage
Cuttlefish Camo Strategies
Cuttlefish in Disguise

Haeckel

Ernst Haeckel
Haeckel's Raiolaria
Radiolaria Like Tiny Jewels
From Science to Art
Radiolarian Architecture
Tentacles Overhead
Max Ernst's Fantasia
Mandelbrot Set in 3D

Artscience

Snelson's Needle Tower
Jane Richardson's Protein Art
Foldit: the Online Game
Sonoluminescence
"Theory of Flight"

Buy This Book