Can the art/act of writing be explained by studying the brain? “The choice of writing as a living and a way of life is more complex than is likely to show up in a neurologist’s PET scan. Nor, unlike in other artistic fields—music, the visual arts—does literary talent make such a life any easier by appearing early. “No Mozarts in literature,” more than a well-known saying, is a fact. There are not too many Joseph Conrads, either, and Conrad published his first book when he was thirty-eight. Nor, despite all the programs and creative-writing classes, can writing really be taught.”