The Inkblots: Hermann Rorschach, His Iconic Test, and the Power of Seeing
Written by Damion Searls
Narrated by Paul Boehmer
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this audiobook
The captivating, untold story of Hermann Rorschach and his famous inkblot test
In 1917, working alone in a remote Swiss asylum, psychiatrist Hermann Rorschach devised an experiment to probe the human mind: a set of ten carefully designed inkblots. For years he had grappled with the theories of Freud and Jung while also absorbing the aesthetic movements of the day, from Futurism to Dadaism. A visual artist himself, Rorschach had come to believe that who we are is less a matter of what we say, as Freud thought, than what we see.
After Rorschach's early death, his test quickly made its way to America, where it took on a life of its own. Co-opted by the military after Pearl Harbor, it was a fixture at the Nuremberg trials and in the jungles of Vietnam. It became an advertising staple, a cliché in Hollywood and journalism, and an inspiration to everyone from Andy Warhol to Jay Z. The test was also given to millions of defendants, job applicants, parents in custody battles, and people suffering from mental illness or simply trying to understand themselves better. And it is still used today.
In this first-ever biography of Rorschach, Damion Searls draws on unpublished letters and diaries and a cache of previously unknown interviews with Rorschach's family, friends, and colleagues to tell the unlikely story of the test's creation, its controversial reinvention, and its remarkable endurance-and what it all reveals about the power of perception. Elegant and original, The Inkblots shines a light on the twentieth century's most visionary synthesis of art and science.
Damion Searls
Damion Searls is a translator from German, Norwegian, French, and Dutch and a writer in English. He has translated many classic modern writers, including Proust, Rilke, Nietzsche, Walser, Ingeborg Bachmann, Alfred Döblin, Jon Fosse, Elfriede Jelinek, and Nescio.
Related to The Inkblots
Related audiobooks
Tuxedo Park: A Wall Street Tycoon and the Secret Palace of Science That Changed the Course of World War II Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hitler's Hangman: The Life of Heydrich Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killin' Generals: The Making of The Dirty Dozen, The Most Iconic WWII Movie of All Time Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPurple Crayons: The Art of Drawing a Life Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAtlas Shrugged Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Collected Works 1917-1924 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSoldaten: On Fighting, Killing, and Dying Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Essential George Bernard Shaw Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Infernal: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Essential Vonnegut Interviews Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Lovecraft Under the Influence: Cosmic Tales of Drugs and Dreams Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWanderlust: An Eccentric Explorer, an Epic Journey, a Lost Age Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5All That Heaven Allows: A Biography of Rock Hudson Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Man Who Invented Motion Pictures: A True Tale of Obsession, Murder, and the Movies Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Denial [Movie Tie-in]: Holocaust History on Trial Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dead Level: A Home Repair Is Homicide Mystery Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Rare Recording of J.B. Rhine Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Last Jews in Berlin Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Draft No. 4: On the Writing Process Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Murder of Professor Schlick: The Rise and Fall of the Vienna Circle Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Guru, the Bagman and the Sceptic: A story of science, sex and psychoanalysis Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBruno Schulz: An Artist, a Murder, and the Hijacking of History Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5In the Garden of the Righteous: The Heroes Who Risked Their Lives to Save Jews During the Holocaust Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Man For All Seasons: George Bernard Shaw In His Time Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIsaac's Army: A Story of Courage and Survival in Nazi-Occupied Poland Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Neuronaut Returns Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5No One Man Should Have All That Power: How Rasputins Manipulate the World Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Mobituaries: Great Lives Worth Reliving Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Truth Worth Telling Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Biography & Memoir For You
The Year of Magical Thinking Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fairy Tale Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Divine Rivals: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hang the Moon: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Bell Jar Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5From Blood and Ash Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5And Then There Were None Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Twisted Love Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Leave the World Behind: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The House in the Cerulean Sea Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sorry I'm Late, I Didn't Want to Come: One Introvert's Year of Saying Yes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Paris Apartment: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Local Woman Missing Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dutch House: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dead Zone Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Overstory Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Child Called It: One Child's Courage to Survive Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ivy League Counterfeiter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5If He Had Been with Me Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How Y'all Doing?: Misadventures and Mischief from a Life Well Lived Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Later Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Good Neighbor: The Life and Work of Fred Rogers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World--and Why Things Are Better Than You Think Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5When No One Is Watching: A Thriller Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nothing to See Here Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Series of Unfortunate Events #1 Multi-Voice, A: The Bad Beginning Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In Five Years: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for The Inkblots
0 ratings0 reviews