The Aesthetic Brain: How We Evolved to Desire Beauty and Enjoy Art

PREFACE INTRODUCTION BEAUTY 1. What is this thing called beauty? 2. Captivating faces 3. The measure of facial beauty 4. The body beautiful 5. How the brain works 6. Brains behind beauty 7. Evolving beauty 8. Landscapes 9. Numbering beauty 10. The illogic of beauty PLEASURE 1. What is this thing called pleasure? 2. Food 3. Sex 4. Money 5. Liking, wanting, learning 6. The logic of pleasure ART 1. What is this thing called art? 2. Art: Biology and culture 3. Descriptive science of the arts 4. Experimental science of the arts 5. Conceptual art 6. The inception of art 7. Messy minds 8. Evolving art 9. Art: A tail or a song? 10. The serendipity of art