The Shape of Things Unseen

The Shape of Things Unseen (2025) challenges the myth that imagination is used only in creative endeavours, illustrating how we use our imaginative capacities constantly, whether anticipating, reminiscing, hypothesizing or daydreaming. It draws on the latest cognitive science to show how imaginative thought is embedded in our development, our interactions, and our biological and perceptual processes.

• Psychologists interested in the neuroscience of mental imaging
• Artists interested in uncovering the scientific foundation of their creativity
• Parents hoping to understand their child’s developing imagination

Adam Zeman trained in Medicine at Oxford Medical school. He is now an author, whose works include Consciousness: A User’s Guide, as well as an Honorary Fellow of the Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences at the University of Edinburgh and Honorary Professor of Neurology at the University of Exeter.