Living, thinking and looking are the three axes of this book and the three blocks in which are grouped the essays it brings together. They are also three fundamental axes in the work - both fiction and essay - by Siri Hustvedt, three thematic nuclei on which he has thought and written almost obsessively: his own life experience and family roots, enigmatic brain mechanisms and visual impacts of the plastic arts. The guiding thread that connects all the texts collected here - written between 2006 and 2011 - is, according to the author herself, "the persistent curiosity to know what it means to be human." In the first block, "Living", he investigates in memory, emotion and imagination, reflects on the Scandinavian origin of his family, the figures of his parents and his personal experience of migraine, among other subjects. In the second block, "Thinking", addresses issues related to philosophy, neuroscience, psychoanalysis, reading and writing, ie the territories of the brain. And the third part, "Mirar", focuses on the plastic arts, trying to unravel the mystery of the masterpieces, the way we look at them and the emotions they transmit to us. For this he reflects on very different artists and far from time, from the teacher of the Sienese school Duccio di Buoninsegna or Goya and his use of violence to the transgressors proposed by Louise Bourgeois, Kiki Smith, Gerhardt Richter, Annette Messager or Margaret Bowland , passing by the asceticism of still lifes of Morandi or the evocative power of the old photographs. The book confirms that Siri Hustvedt is one of the great voices of contemporary American writing not only in the field of fiction but also in that of essay. The author lavishes intelligence, sagacity and a commendable will to bring subjects such as art, neuroscience, psychology, philosophy and literature to any restless reader. "It reveals an unusually deep knowledge of topics ranging from art to neuroscience. (...) Like a good poem, Living, Thinking, Looking combines the abstract and the concrete, illuminating dark corners of experience and feelings "(Abigail Meisel, The New York Times Book Review). "There is no one who writes about art today with Hustvedt's ability to approach the elusive mystery of a great picture" (Calvin Tomkins). "It brings both knowledge and the view from within the artist to the reflection on memory, language and personal identity. (...) Hustvedt has the ability to write with exemplary clarity on topics that are complex input "(Hilary Mantel). "In part critical literary, partly philosophical and scientific research, partly memoir, this book appeals to serious readers who enjoy elegant prose and incisive reflections" (Library Journal). "His essays are always insightful, scholarly and frankly unique" (Publishers Weekly). "As an essayist, he probably has no rival" (The Scotland Herald). "Siri Hustvedt, one of our best novelists, has long been a brilliant explorer of the brain and the mind" (Oliver Sacks).