Agutter Paul S

Springer - Publisher Connector

Agutter Theoretical Biology and Medical Modelling 2013, 10:2
http://www.tbiomed.com/content/10/1/2BOOK REVIEW Open AccessReview of ‘BipolART’ by D. N. Wheatley
(Springer, 2012)
Paul S AgutterCorrespondence:
tbiomedjournal@gmail.com
Theoretical Medicine and Biology
Group, 26 Castle Hill, Glossop,
Derbyshire SK13 7RR, UKThis delightful book comprises just 121 pages of main text, but in that short compass
Denys Wheatley manages not only to convey much about bipolar disorder from the
sufferer’s point of view but also to provoke the reader into pondering the nature of
creativity in art and science. At the same time he contrives to entertain and to please
the eye. Wheatley draws in part on his long personal experience of extreme mood
swings, making stimulating observations about the value of art (particularly doodling)
as therapy, and in part on his profound and wide-ranging scientific knowledge and his
love of great paintings and music. The quality of his art work is well above ‘amateur’
standard, and the often abstract forms show the influence of his decades of research in
zoology and cell biology, a fascination with geometry, the visual environment, and
Europe’s cultural heritage. In addition to the reflective chapters and the analytical
comments on individual drawings and paintings, the author gives us a fascinating
stage-by-stage guide to the process by which a doodle can grow from insignificant
beginnings into an eye-catching piece of art. He almost tempted me to take up dood-
ling, but I doubt whether I could create any end-product to match his.
It would have been all too easy for a book of this kind, the personal reflections of a
‘manic-depressive’, to degenerate into navel-gazing and self-pity. But not for a single
sentence does ‘BipolART’ commit that literary sin. Once I started to read the book I
couldn’t put it down; only the irresistible urge to linger on individual pictures, relishing
their beauty and intricacy, retarded my progression from first page to last. There are a
few minor editing lapses – typographical errors and grammatical infelicities – but they
impaired neither my understanding nor my enjoyment. This is a book that could be
read for both pleasure and profit by psychologists, psychiatrists, art critics and philoso-
phers interested in creativity, but above all by the interested non-specialist – the ‘man
on the Clapham omnibus’, as Wheatley himself puts it. I recommend it warmly.
Competing interests
The author declares no conflict of interest.
Received: 29 November 2012 Accepted: 29 November 2012
Published: 3 January 2013
doi:10.1186/1742-4682-10-2
Cite this article as: Agutter: Review of ‘BipolART’ by D. N. Wheatley (Springer, 2012). Theoretical Biology and
Medical Modelling 2013 10:2.© 2013 Agutter; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in
any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.


Review of ‘BipolART’ by D. N. Wheatley (Springer, 2012)

Paul S Agutter

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Agutter Theoretical Biology and Medical Modelling 2013, 10:2http://www.tbiomed.com/content/10/1/2BOOK REVIEW Open AccessReview of ‘BipolART’ by D. N. Wheatley(Springer, 2012)Paul S AgutterCorrespondence:tbiomedjournal@gmail.comTheoretical Medicine and BiologyGroup, 26 Castle Hill, Glossop,Derbyshire SK13 7RR, UKThis delightful book comprises just 121 pages of main text, but in that short compassDenys Wheatley manages not only to convey much about bipolar disorder from thesufferer’s point of view but also to provoke the reader into pondering the nature ofcreativity in art and science. At the same time he contrives to entertain and to pleasethe eye. Wheatley draws in part on his long personal experience of extreme moodswings, making stimulating observations about the value of art (particularly doodling)as therapy, and in part on his profound and wide-ranging scientific knowledge and hislove of great paintings and music. The quality of his art work is well above ‘amateur’standard, and the often abstract forms show the influence of his decades of research inzoology and cell biology, a fascination with geometry, the visual environment, andEurope’s cultural heritage. In addition to the reflective chapters and the analyticalcomments on individual drawings and paintings, the author gives us a fascinatingstage-by-stage guide to the process by which a doodle can grow from insignificantbeginnings into an eye-catching piece of art. He almost tempted me to take up dood-ling, but I doubt whether I could create any end-product to match his.It would have been all too easy for a book of this kind, the personal reflections of a‘manic-depressive’, to degenerate into navel-gazing and self-pity. But not for a singlesentence does ‘BipolART’ commit that literary sin. Once I started to read the book Icouldn’t put it down; only the irresistible urge to linger on individual pictures, relishingtheir beauty and intricacy, retarded my progression from first page to last. There are afew minor editing lapses – typographical errors and grammatical infelicities – but theyimpaired neither my understanding nor my enjoyment. This is a book that could beread for both pleasure and profit by psychologists, psychiatrists, art critics and philoso-phers interested in creativity, but above all by the interested non-specialist – the ‘manon the Clapham omnibus’, as Wheatley himself puts it. I recommend it warmly.Competing interestsThe author declares no conflict of interest.Received: 29 November 2012 Accepted: 29 November 2012Published: 3 January 2013doi:10.1186/1742-4682-10-2Cite this article as: Agutter: Review of ‘BipolART’ by D. N. Wheatley (Springer, 2012). Theoretical Biology andMedical Modelling 2013 10:2.© 2013 Agutter; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative CommonsAttribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction inany medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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Review of ‘BipolART’ by D. N. Wheatley (Springer, 2012)

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