The Brain is Wider Than the Sky

Bryan Appleyard is a special feature writer and columnist for the SUNDAY TIMES. He has also written for VANITY FAIR, THE NEW YORK TIMES and THE SPECTATOR. He is a three-time FEATURE WRITER OF THE YEAR AWARD winner and twice has been commended in the BRITISH PRESS AWARDS.

As readers have come to expect from Bryan Appleyard, his new book is another literate and sensitive reflection on how science is changing our self-understanding. -- Steve Fuller THE LITERARY REVIEW an acerbic expose of the empty promise of the computer age. -- James McConnachie THE SUNDAY TIMES Brian Appleyard's 'The Brain is Wider than the Sky' is a beautifully written defence of human complexity in the face of the corporate mechanisation of our lives. If you are frustrated by automated queuing, this is one for you. -- Michael Burleigh THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH SEVEN Magazine 20111127 Appleyard is scientifically literate, vigorous and intelligent...Appleyard's meditation is essential reading. -- Simon Ings THE OBSERVER Bryan Appleyard is our foremost guide to understanding contemporary culture. This exploration of what it means to be human today grips the reader from the first page. -- John Gray There are great science writers and there are great arts writers - and then there's Bryan Appleyard. He's both -- John Humphrys Bryan Appleyard is that rarest of rare birds, a journalist who can mine factual subjects for their poetic resonance right across the spectrum. He is our main man for this kind of writing -- Clive James One of the most interesting, curious, cultured and trenchant writers on this planet -- Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Author Of The Black Swan Appleyard is a gifted writer, able to explain both the beauty of a Hockney drawing and the mathematical unit used to measure how many computations processors like our brains are capable of performing...it's always fascinating, and always clearly expressed. -- Helen Lewis-Hasteley NEW STATESMAN In an engaging style, drawing on personal meetings with key figures, cultural analysis and scientific evidence from a wide variety of areas, Appleyard explains how simplification, whereby technology provides simple solutions to complex problems, has been unable to capture the full depth and complexity of human experience...A fascinating and informative read. GOOD BOOK GUIDE An admirably sceptical guide, with a superb journalist's eye for detail, Appleyard makes an engaging prophet. THE SUNDAY TIMES 20120923 A sagacious and timely riposte to contemporary thinking. THE LADY 20121026 With a scientific and philosophical approach Appleyard's polemic - to listen to the voices of art rather than technocrats - is intelligent and convincing. BIG ISSUE IN THE NORTH 20121112