Review
'...shows convincingly that the degeneracy of the West springs from our failure to manage the binary divisions of our brains.'
--David Cox, Evening Standard Books of the Year, 19th November 2009
`A landmark new book ... it tells a story you need to hear, of where we live now.'
--Bryan Appleyard, Sunday Times 'Culture', 29th November 2009
'Few books this year can match this one in breadth of erudition, scope, and ambition ... a highly stimulating read.' --'Best Books of 2009' choice, Barnes & Noble
'A scintillating intelligence.' --The Economist
`This is a very remarkable book...clear, penetrating, lively, thorough and fascinating...splendidly thought-provoking... I couldn't put it down.' --Professor Mary Midgley, The Guardian
'...beautifully written, erudite, fascinating and adventurous...tells us about...rapidly evolving technologies and experimental work in fascinating and lucid detail.'
--Professor AC Grayling, Literary Review
'...beautifully written, erudite, fascinating and adventurous...as if it were an adventure story... Absorbing and fascinating."
--A.C. Grayling, Literary Review, 1st December 2009
`...remarkable... McGilchrist's explanation of such oddities in terms of our divided nature is clear, penetrating, lively, thorough and fascinating.'
--Mary Midgley, Guardian, 2nd January 2010
`...splendidly thought-provoking. And I do have to say that, fat though it is, I couldn't put it down.'
--The London Review Bookshop, London Review of Books, February 2010
`...while the book develops an argument it is also a treasure chest of fascinating detail and memorable quotation.'
--Adam Zeman, Standpoint, 1st March 2010
`Twenty years in the making, this seminal book has been well worth the wait.'
--David Lorimer, Scientific Medical Network, Winter 2010
'McGilchrist is a remarkable person...he writes lucidly...Voices such as McGilchrist are essential.' --Salley Vickers, Daily Telegraph
'McGilchrist writes well, with a direct engaging style...This is a very good book, both informative and erudite.' --Ian Gibbins, Australian Book Review
'McGilchrist...persuasively argues that our society is suffering from an over-dominant left hemisphere losing touch with its natural regulative 'master,' the right.' --Salley Vicker, The Guardian
'McGilchrist, for whom certainty is the greatest of illusions, has produced an absolutely convincing narrative of who we are.' --Nicholas Shakespeare, Daily Telegraph
'This book is a dazzling achievement...Just as a read, it's an immense pleasure.' --Charles Foster, Contemporary Review
--David Cox, Evening Standard Books of the Year, 19th November 2009
`A landmark new book ... it tells a story you need to hear, of where we live now.'
--Bryan Appleyard, Sunday Times 'Culture', 29th November 2009
'Few books this year can match this one in breadth of erudition, scope, and ambition ... a highly stimulating read.' --'Best Books of 2009' choice, Barnes & Noble
'A scintillating intelligence.' --The Economist
`This is a very remarkable book...clear, penetrating, lively, thorough and fascinating...splendidly thought-provoking... I couldn't put it down.' --Professor Mary Midgley, The Guardian
'...beautifully written, erudite, fascinating and adventurous...tells us about...rapidly evolving technologies and experimental work in fascinating and lucid detail.'
--Professor AC Grayling, Literary Review
'...beautifully written, erudite, fascinating and adventurous...as if it were an adventure story... Absorbing and fascinating."
--A.C. Grayling, Literary Review, 1st December 2009
`...remarkable... McGilchrist's explanation of such oddities in terms of our divided nature is clear, penetrating, lively, thorough and fascinating.'
--Mary Midgley, Guardian, 2nd January 2010
`...splendidly thought-provoking. And I do have to say that, fat though it is, I couldn't put it down.'
--The London Review Bookshop, London Review of Books, February 2010
`...while the book develops an argument it is also a treasure chest of fascinating detail and memorable quotation.'
--Adam Zeman, Standpoint, 1st March 2010
`Twenty years in the making, this seminal book has been well worth the wait.'
--David Lorimer, Scientific Medical Network, Winter 2010
'McGilchrist is a remarkable person...he writes lucidly...Voices such as McGilchrist are essential.' --Salley Vickers, Daily Telegraph
'McGilchrist writes well, with a direct engaging style...This is a very good book, both informative and erudite.' --Ian Gibbins, Australian Book Review
'McGilchrist...persuasively argues that our society is suffering from an over-dominant left hemisphere losing touch with its natural regulative 'master,' the right.' --Salley Vicker, The Guardian
'McGilchrist, for whom certainty is the greatest of illusions, has produced an absolutely convincing narrative of who we are.' --Nicholas Shakespeare, Daily Telegraph
'This book is a dazzling achievement...Just as a read, it's an immense pleasure.' --Charles Foster, Contemporary Review
Product Description
Why is the brain divided? The difference between right and left hemispheres has been puzzled over for centuries. In a book of unprecedented scope, Iain McGilchrist draws on a vast body of recent brain research, illustrated with case histories, to reveal that the difference is profound - not just this or that function, but two whole, coherent, but incompatible ways of experiencing the world. The left hemisphere is detail-oriented, prefers mechanisms to living things, and is inclined to self-interest, where the right hemisphere has greater breadth, flexibility and generosity. This division helps explain the origins of music and language, and casts new light on the history of philosophy, as well as on some mental illnesses. In the second part of the book, he takes the reader on a journey through the history of Western culture, illustrating the tension between these two worlds as revealed in the thought and belief of thinkers and artists, from Aeschylus to Magritte. He argues that, despite its inferior grasp of reality, the left hemisphere is increasingly taking precedence in the modern world, with potentially disastrous consequences. This is truly a tour de force that should excite interest in a wide readership.
About the Author
Iain McGilchrist is a former Fellow of All Souls' College, Oxford, where he taught literature, before training in medicine. He has an interest in brain research, and now works privately in London, where he was a Consultant and Clinical Director at the Bethlem Royal and Maudsley Hospital.
