The Stream of Consciousness: Scientific Investigations into the Flow of Human Experience ed. by Kenneth S. Pope and Jerome L. Singer (review)

Books 247 discussedby Beck, all comprise a major element of our fascination with him today, as much as our admiration of his skill at illusionism. The last chapter focuseslargely on Leonardo’s perspective and useof color. In both cases, I find the author’s thesis at its weakest. Perspective seems only historically relevant today; I find it increasingly difficult to muster enthusiasm for teaching it in my drawing classes.Of courseit has its uses, but it appears more a toy than a meaningful description of reality, in my opinion. As a colorist, I find Leonardo least interesting; it is difficultto support the idea that heismore than a tonalist. I compared him, in a recent visit to London’s National Gallery, to painters sharing Room 6 with his ‘Virgin of the Rocks’. Opposite that famous work, is Bronzino’s‘Venus, Folly, Cupid and Time’; to the leftof this, agroup of small Pontormo’s from the ‘Joseph’ series; and across from these, Michelangelo’s unfinished ‘Entombment’. All of these works, to my mind, possess a color richness, intensity and luminosity, that the Leonardo does not contain. The Bronzino, generally considered cool, if not cold, has some marvelous touches of coloristic brilliance; the Pontormo’s sing actually with contrasts of red and green, and the Michaelangelo is both plastic and coloristically alive. Notwithstanding these reservations, I have found Beck‘s book an interesting idea, and though I would have emphasized different aspects of Leonardo’s work, hisrelevancyisunquestionable; the author’s choice of illustrations seemed to me moderately successful; some appear gratuitous, and only superfcially relevant. This book offers an introduction to Leonardo’s ideas as a working artist; for those unacquainted with this most famous of artists, it will be a refreshing and readable one. The Stream of Consciousness:Scientific Investigations into the Flow of Human Experience. Kenneth S. Pope and Jerome L. Singer, eds. Plenum. New York, 1978. 376 pp., illus. $16.50. ISBN: 0-306-31117-8. Reviewed by Peter Y. Windt* According to the editors of this anthology, there has been a recent reawakening of interest in the flowof consciousexperience(asopposed, for instance, to behavior) as the object of psychological investigation. The twelve papers collected together in this volume discuss from a variety of viewpoints the background, theoretical foundations, methods o f study, and anticipated benefits of such investigation. All the essays display enthusiasm for the study of the phenomena of consciousness, and no papers have been included which are unsympathetic or highly critical of such studies. The essayshave beendividedinto four major groups. First comethree papers which discuss a wide variety of conceptions of the nature of consciousness and conscious phenomena, along with something of the historical, cultural, philosophic and religious origins of these conceptions. A second set of three papers presents some approaches to the formulation of theoretical foundations for the precise study of the phenomena of consciousness. Five papers in the third division of the book describe specific empirical studies of conscious phenomena, and, finally, a single essay describes some of the respects in which studies of the phenomena of conscious experience may prove to be fruitful. The essays in this collection are not technical papers designed to report results of research on phenomena of consciousness,or to defend such research and its methods against its professional critics. Rather, they seem to be designed for those who arewillingto read thoughtfully, and who know somethingabout psychologicalresearch, but who are not themselvesengaged in, or professionally familiar with this sort of work. A U the essays are readable, and all include generous references to related works. But the book has a serious problem. The papers in the first two divisions are confronted with extremely ambitious tasks in attempting to provide summaries of the conceptual background and theoretical considerations which form the basis for research on the phenomena of consciousness. The outcome of the attempt to deal with such a mass of material in averylimitedspaceisunfortunate. In striving for completeness, dozens of key ideas, significant discoveries, or important works are mentioned (usually with citations) but not discussed or explained in much detail. The effect is that a reader who is unfamiliar with what is being mentioned cannot acquire enough understanding of it from...