Pretty Ugly

Book excerpt: People are chemical machines, yet we (and some other animals) develop a sense of beauty. Why and how did it evolve? How is it formed? This book answers these questions from the perspective of scientists with deep knowledge of the arts. It interweaves experimental sciences with the histories of art, architecture, music, dance, speech, literature, and food. Although we perceive each of our senses to be dramatically different, the authors show them all to be similar under the hood—similar in how they function and in how they shape our aesthetic experience. The authors cover many fields, and do not assume the reader has any special knowledge or expertise. They avoid jargon, equations and formulae, and begin every discussion at an introductory level. However, introductory does not mean elementary. This is a broad knife that cuts deep.