- Hardcover: 224 pages
- Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH); 1 edition (Oct 1997)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0151003246
- ISBN-13: 978-0151003242
- Product Dimensions: 21.6 x 14.7 x 2.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,180,514 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Description
Product Description
Robert Ornstein, whose bestselling "Psychology of Consciousness" sparked a quarter century of debate and sold over two million copies, shows -- in this concise and brilliant book -- that the relationship between right and left is a universal phenomenon: turn one molecule in a lemon to the left and you end up with an orange, animals favor one paw over the other, human speech and birds singing both arise from the left hemisphere.
The right hemisphere has been historically downplayed, even called subhuman and dangerous. But more recently, popularizers have associated the right brain with intuition and creativity. In fact, Ornstein argues, the mysterious and misunderstood right brain sets the context, provides the direction, and makes sense of it all.
A brilliant and illuminating work of an important thinker at the top of his game, "The Right MInd" is short but rich in detail, lighthearted but profound in its conclusions. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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It's been all around us for years; it is a cliche in general advice to managers, bankers, and artists; it's in cartoons. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
It's been all around us for years; it is a cliche in general advice to managers, bankers, and artists; it's in cartoons. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Ornstein's early writings on right brain/left brain differences led to a veritable explosion of research and writing on the subject. In this book he's written an excellent summary of the current state of our understanding: although it's clear that the halves of the brain have different areas of specialization, he emphasizes strongly that they need to work together to enable us to function fully as human beings. He's bemused (and sometimes annoyed) at the popular tendency to romanticize the right brain as the seat of creativity and denigrate the left brain as an unimaginative literalist; the facts show that both halves are involved in such complex human activities as listening to music and understanding jokes. His summary of the 19th-century debates on brain functioning was very useful and informative. And his conclusion that psychology needs to pay more attention to the various ways human beings have pursued spiritual development over the millennia is, I think, a very timely reminder: psychology has tended to dismiss this behavior as "superstition," but, as other writers have pointed out (e.g., Epstein's "Thoughts Without a Thinker"), it has as much to do with developing the full power of your mind as with addressing something "out there." Ornstein writes clearly and humorously, and the book packs an amazing amount of knowledge into its rather brief length.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
11 reviews
24 of 24 people found the following review helpful
Fascinating and fun
7 July 1999
Format:Paperback
Ornstein's early writings on right brain/left brain differences led to a veritable explosion of research and writing on the subject. In this book he's written an excellent summary of the current state of our understanding: although it's clear that the halves of the brain have different areas of specialization, he emphasizes strongly that they need to work together to enable us to function fully as human beings. He's bemused (and sometimes annoyed) at the popular tendency to romanticize the right brain as the seat of creativity and denigrate the left brain as an unimaginative literalist; the facts show that both halves are involved in such complex human activities as listening to music and understanding jokes. His summary of the 19th-century debates on brain functioning was very useful and informative. And his conclusion that psychology needs to pay more attention to the various ways human beings have pursued spiritual development over the millennia is, I think, a very timely reminder: psychology has tended to dismiss this behavior as "superstition," but, as other writers have pointed out (e.g., Epstein's "Thoughts Without a Thinker"), it has as much to do with developing the full power of your mind as with addressing something "out there." Ornstein writes clearly and humorously, and the book packs an amazing amount of knowledge into its rather brief length.
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful
the right mind is the right book to read on the subject
24 Mar 2000
Format:Paperback
This book is not simply a sterile collection of ideas about the right and left hemispheres of the brain. It is a superbly-paced, well thought out text, one that leads the reader not only to an understanding of how the halves of the brain may work, but to an idea of how the skills possessed within these parts of the brain might work together to produce the 'right' mind for a given situation. I loved the last sentence of this book-it puts it all together in a way that is just right. I strongly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the subject.
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Fascinating account of latest research on brain hemispheres
8 Nov 1997
Format:Hardcover
Partly as a result of Ornstein's earlier book on the divided brain 25 years ago, the terms left and right brain have become part of of daily vocabularly. Even adverts talk about developing the right brain. Not surprisingly there are a lot of confusions on the topic as well. That's why Ornstein's return to the topic should be welcomed by anyone with an interest in the brain and how the mind works. He shows how the simple idea that people are either left or right brained is simply wrong but that the two work together in fascinating ways that we are only just beginning to understand. For a fine example of entertaining yet easy to understand science writing, turn to his section describing what is involved in understanding a joke and the different way patients who have lost the use of parts of their left or right brain respond to jokes. Other topics like dreams and schizophrenia also can be seen in a new light when seen from this interaction between the hemispheres. This is a lot shorter than Steve Pinker's latest work on the Mind and a lot more entertaininly written and contains many more fresh insights Jerome Burne, (London-based journalist specializing in psychology)
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