The secret power of beauty Book

John Armstrong writes philosophy books, but reading his books is more like listening to an interesting friend than like "reading philosophy." His ideas often strike me as thoughts I've had before in some vague form; what's great about Armstrong is that he's taken the time to make the thoughts whole and to write them down in a clear, engaging way. (More than once in The Secret Power of Beauty, he laments the inaccessibility of the writings of philosophers like Hegel, so being readable is clearly a priority for him.)

Armstrong is at his best when he's writing about art -- in addition to being a philosopher, he's an art dealer and art professor. (Everyone with even a mild interest in art should read Move Closer: An Intimate Philosophy of Art. In writing passionately about how he interprets specific works of art and about how art interacts with our lives, he inspires readers to respond to art in a more personal, more fulfilling way.) Lucky for me, he would always seem to drift back to talking about paintings and buildings in this book, and I can't get enough of it.

But The Secret Power of Beauty, though enjoyable, is less inspiring than Move Closer. Armstrong gives plenty of attention to how humans have sought to define exactly what beauty is and why we might have use for it -- and why all of those past interpretations miss the mark -- but somehow his conclusion that our need for beauty is tied directly to our need to find happiness doesn't seem like enough; after my initial response of "well, yeah, duh," I just had more questions. (I wonder if he's going to write a book about happiness next.) I guess when it comes to topics that seem (to me) essentially biological/neurological/evolution-y, I can't expect to find satisfying answers from an interesting art professor. Still, it's nice to hear his take on it all.