Proust Was a Neuroscientist

{{More citations needed|date=February 2022}}

{{short description|Book by Jonah Lehrer}}

{{Infobox book

| name = Proust Was a Neuroscientist

| image = Proust Was a Neuroscientist book cover art.png

| author = Jonah Leher

| isbn = 9780547085906

| pub_date = 2007

}}

{{italic title}}

Proust Was a Neuroscientist is a non-fiction book written by Jonah Lehrer, first published in 2007. In it, Lehrer argues that many 20th and 21st-century discoveries of neuroscience are actually re-discoveries of insights made earlier by various artists, including Gertrude Stein, Walt Whitman, Paul Cézanne, Igor Stravinsky, and, as alluded to in the title, Marcel Proust.{{Cite web|last=Engber|first=Daniel|date=2007-11-26|title=Proust Wasn't a Neuroscientist|url=https://slate.com/technology/2007/11/jonah-lehrer-s-proust-was-a-neuroscientist-overstates-the-case.html|access-date=2022-02-09|website=Slate Magazine|language=en}}

Lehrer became embroiled in controversy following the publication of his third book, Imagine: How Creativity Works (2012), and his work was subject to charges of plagiarism and fabrication.{{Cite news |last=Peralta |first=Eyder |date=2012-07-30 |title=Jonah Lehrer Resigns From 'New Yorker,' Admitting He Made Up Quotes In Book |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2012/07/30/157605459/jonah-lehrer-resigns-from-new-yorker-admitting-he-made-up-quotes |access-date=2025-06-19 |work=NPR |language=en}}{{Cite news |last=Flood |first=Alison |date=2012-08-03 |title=Jonah Lehrer's UK publisher withdraws Imagine over falsified quotes |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/aug/03/jonah-lehrer-imagine-withdrawn-sale |access-date=2025-06-19 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}} Though both Imagine and one of his other books, How We Decide, were pulled from publication, Proust Was a Neuroscientist was found by his publisher to be without significant problems and would remain in print.