Strong Imagination: Madness, Creativity and Human Nature
Rates of mental illness are hugely elevated in the families of poets, writers and artists, suggesting that the same genes, the same temperaments, and the same imaginative capacities are at work in insanity and in creative ability. Thus the reason madness continues to exist is that the traits behind it have psychological benefits as well as psychological costs. In Strong Imagination, Daniel Nettle explores the nature of mental illness, the biological mechanisms that underlie it, and its link to creative genius. He goes on to consider the place of both madness and creative imagination in the evolution of our species. From disease to difference and back again -- From nature to nurture and back again -- This taint of blood -- The storm-tossed soul -- The sleep of reason produces monsters -- Such tricks hath strong imagination -- The lunatic, the lover, and the poet -- Civilization and its discontents -- Staying sane
