The Ā鶹“«Ć½ Book Club had a change of pace in March, moving from the science-fictional visions of the far future that have been our fare in recent months to some excellent popular science with Daisy Fancourtās Art Cure.
The subtitle tells us what weāre in for with this one ā āthe science of how the arts transform our healthā ā and Fancourt, a professor of psychobiology and epidemiology at University College London, certainly makes sure it lives up to its promise. I was fascinated to learn, in this engaging and deeply researched book, about everything from how engaging with the arts can improve our mental health ā whether thatās low mood, depression or severe mental illness ā to how music leads to āsignificantly lower postoperative painā in surgical settings.
Fancourt backs up all her claims with meticulous evidence and citations, drawing the reader into the science with personal stories and great case studies. Take Russell, for example: after a stroke, he found himself spiralling into depression, until he was prescribed an eight-week course of art classes. āI am finding the book an interesting read and the science is understandable,ā wrote book club member Jacqueline Farrand in our . āI also like the way each chapter revolves around one personās experience with art and how it helped them engage with life.ā
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Especially for book club members, Fancourt wrote a deep dive into the biological processes going on in our bodies when we experience the arts and the positive effects they can have on our health. āIf we can maintain regular engagement in the arts over the course of months and years ā participating in the arts or attending cultural performances and events ā we can see widespread longer-term physiological changes,ā she wrote. āIf a drug had the same catalogue of benefits as the arts, weād be telling everyone about it.ā
Art Cure was recently longlisted for the Womenās Prize for Non-Fiction, and book club members have also given it the thumbs up. āIām a neuropsychiatrist and Iām enjoying it ā the science is accurate but accessible, and Iām learning lots about recent research which I can also direct my students to,ā wrote Emma Weisblatt in the online discussion. In particular, readers have liked being told how good reading is for their health! āItās a brilliant book and Iām pleased to have read it,ā wrote Alan Perrett. āI note that one of the arts engagements that are cited as beneficial are reading and book clubs.ā
Perrett didnāt start out a fan, but Fancourt convinced him. āIāve moved from being a complete sceptic ā āarts are nice but donāt really believe that they affect peopleās lives in a significant wayā to absolutely believing that a life without some form of arts engagement is not just impoverished but actually harmful,ā he wrote.
I particularly enjoyed how Fancourt finished each chapter by prescribing a ādaily doseā of the arts for readers, explaining how to apply their benefits in our own lives (and by āthe arts,ā she doesnāt just mean music, theatre or art exhibitions ā she covers everything from crocheting to circus skills). So did Terry James: āI find the writing clear and concise. This is exactly the style I like in a non-fiction book. Singing and dancing improves your health. Yippie.ā
Barbara Howe is taking Fancourt up on some of her recommendations, planning to visit a free local museum and to dig out her āabandoned needlepointā from her sewing kit. āI intend to just do the part I most enjoy and call it relaxation therapy; if I never get around to making cushions out of it, who cares? Both, I hope, are in line with the practical advice she offers of doing a variety of things and doing little bits often, rather than cramming in new, big projects,ā wrote Howe ā who was, by and large, a fan. āOverall I thought the book was interesting, and I like the narratives about specific people (whether they were real or composites), but I was skimming by the end, feeling it was a bit repetitive on the ārah, rah, arts!āā she writes.
Niall Leighton found Art Cure āconvincing about the general benefits of engagement with the artsā ā but felt that āFancourt implies we must become consumers of art, or creators of art that others may consume, as a ādoseā instead of addressing the underlying problems that cause much mental and physical ill-health in the first placeā. Heās hoping for a day āwhen we treat art less as a cure, and more as a source of beauty in its own right; Fancourt is clear that art is for everyone, and this book is a small step towards a position where we see, as William Morris put it, an āart which is to be made by the people and for the people, as a happiness to the maker and the userā.ā Thatās a utopian vision to hope for.
I chatted with Fancourt earlier this month for our Ā鶹“«Ć½ Book Club interview, covering everything from a meeting with Brian Eno to how, āprobably rather rudelyā, she has dubbed screen-based activities the āultra-processed foodsā of the arts world. I ended our interview more convinced by her claims than ever ā and keen to get a little more creative in my own life.
As smart, engaging and thoroughly well researched in person as she was in her book, Fancourt didnāt just sing the praises of reading (and book clubs!), she was also keen to push the health benefits of more active and diverse participation in the arts. So I shall be getting back to more regular piano practice, investigating joining a local choir and hunting out some cheap theatre tickets. Perhaps Iāll even look into a dance class with friends ā not a sentence I thought Iād ever be typing, but I found Art Cure to be a genuine inspiration, and I hope many book club members did too.
