Read The Master and His Emissary The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World 9780300148787 Medicine Health Science Books
Read The Master and His Emissary The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World 9780300148787 Medicine Health Science Books
Download As PDF : The Master and His Emissary The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World 9780300148787 Medicine Health Science Books
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, McGilchrist 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.
Read The Master and His Emissary The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World 9780300148787 Medicine Health Science Books
"I give this book 5 stars because it is utterly engrossing, well argued, expansively researched and I could not put it down. There is cutting edge neuroscience, vast historical, artistic, philosophical and literary discussions. An enormous argument based on the neuroscience of the right and left brain hemispheres and their effects on Western history and its development. There are ideas and concepts I learned which I most likely never would have been exposed to.I will conclude this part of my review with a hearty recommendation for reading this book and I say that you open your mind and go on the journey. There is time for thinking about it afterwards.
Though I give this book 5 stars, it does not mean I have no reactions.
McGilchrist is tireless with his argument of the left hemisphere dominating the right to such an extent that you feel exhausted by the end of the book. He makes it clear that he desires a balance of the two hemispheres, yet you can loose that point during his arguments. I do wish he had discussed more the dangers of right hemisphere dominance. Indeed, The Renaissance's open minded worldliness led down some murderous pathways.
Nietzsche is quoted many times to support his arguments of Western Civilization's dominance by left hemisphere rationality and abstract thinking and indeed the critique is very much in line with Nietzsche's views. McGilchrist and Nietzsche both see Western civilization going off the rails because of Plato and only going back on the rails with the Renaissance and then going back off with the Reformation and Enlightenment. Nietzsche's condemnation of other- worldly rationality is given a specific place in the brain-the left hemisphere. Those Platonic Forms and the argument that truth is only found through rationality, McGilchrist says is the left hemisphere's poison which rolls through Western history. A stunning neuroscientific backing of Nietzsche. Yet, Nietzsche's philosophical overview can break down in the cold objective view of hemispheric brain science and actual history. McGilchrist's hammering of the nasty left hemisphere's dominance of history, sounds like McGilchrist's own left hemisphere going off the rails. I think Nietzsche would have told him to calm down a bit, and that is saying a lot, indeed.
McGilchrist's view on religion is fascinating. He understandably leaves out Nietzsche's complete condemnation of all things Christian and wades in. The Protestants are condemned as destroying the Renaissance,(Nietzsche agrees) by bringing back a rational word based left hemisphere religion which assaults the intuitive and metaphorical Catholics. The Catholic church can be comforted that McGilchrist says they are more right hemisphere based than the fundamentalist Protestants who are left hemisphere based, yet will priests find comfort looking out at a flock who are there to buff up their right hemispheres'? The idea that Catholicism is good for brain hemisphere balance is interesting but may not be taken up by the Vatican just yet.
There are more things to say, but as Nietzsche wrote:"Follow you, not me". Read this amazing book and think your own thoughts."
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The Master and His Emissary The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World 9780300148787 Medicine Health Science Books Reviews :
The Master and His Emissary The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World 9780300148787 Medicine Health Science Books Reviews
- Some interesting Content, (especially the theory about attention 0n pages 25-30) but Publisher did a bad job. 534 page paperback with small inner margins makes it hard to read the print near the binding. The notes in the back are about a size 8 font. The spacing between lines is minimal, All these combine to make reading potentially difficult . Also printed on cheap (high acid content) paper, which will yellow eventually. A shameful job by a University press. Interesting books like this deserve much better. This is not rocket science. It shows a real lack of respect for the author, the material, and the readers. The publishing deserves a Zero. If interested author also is on Utube.
- I read the first chapter and was intrigued. By the time I got to the end, I was exhausted and completely turned off. In between, the same basic idea -- about two incompatible ways of looking at the world, which sometimes cooperate with each other and at other times compete for control inside our crania -- is stated at least 2 or 3 or more times on every page, well over a thousand times in all.
Chapter Two alone is a formidable challenge to wade through -- 60 mind-numbing pages of references to neuropsychological studies piled one on top of another, footnoted with more than 500 citations!
The author never lets up for even a moment, hammering away at it single-mindedly, browbeating the reader's frontal lobes into submission, until the idea is forced to carry so much weight that it sinks in a sea of cherry-picked data -- he never even mentions the "default mode network" hypothesis! -- and portentous quotations. Archenemy #1 (Descartes), then Hegel, Schlegel, Heidegger, Wittgenstein, Shklovsky, Kleist, Goethe, Nietzsche, and a host of other arbitrarily selected bit players (mostly Teutonic) are dragged on and off stage as needed to prop up the Argument and thicken the ideological plot against the human race, which appears doomed, until the final 10 pages when, like a deus ex machina, the Oriental mind suddenly appears out of the wings, offering us the hope of Salvation.
Some of it is interesting, and maybe even true, at least as a metaphor, but McGilchrist just doesn't know when to quit, and soon your eyes begin to glaze over and you start to skim the page, then skip whole pages, and finally both hemispheres just nod off into a stupor. - I give this book 5 stars because it is utterly engrossing, well argued, expansively researched and I could not put it down. There is cutting edge neuroscience, vast historical, artistic, philosophical and literary discussions. An enormous argument based on the neuroscience of the right and left brain hemispheres and their effects on Western history and its development. There are ideas and concepts I learned which I most likely never would have been exposed to.I will conclude this part of my review with a hearty recommendation for reading this book and I say that you open your mind and go on the journey. There is time for thinking about it afterwards.
Though I give this book 5 stars, it does not mean I have no reactions.
McGilchrist is tireless with his argument of the left hemisphere dominating the right to such an extent that you feel exhausted by the end of the book. He makes it clear that he desires a balance of the two hemispheres, yet you can loose that point during his arguments. I do wish he had discussed more the dangers of right hemisphere dominance. Indeed, The Renaissance's open minded worldliness led down some murderous pathways.
Nietzsche is quoted many times to support his arguments of Western Civilization's dominance by left hemisphere rationality and abstract thinking and indeed the critique is very much in line with Nietzsche's views. McGilchrist and Nietzsche both see Western civilization going off the rails because of Plato and only going back on the rails with the Renaissance and then going back off with the Reformation and Enlightenment. Nietzsche's condemnation of other- worldly rationality is given a specific place in the brain-the left hemisphere. Those Platonic Forms and the argument that truth is only found through rationality, McGilchrist says is the left hemisphere's poison which rolls through Western history. A stunning neuroscientific backing of Nietzsche. Yet, Nietzsche's philosophical overview can break down in the cold objective view of hemispheric brain science and actual history. McGilchrist's hammering of the nasty left hemisphere's dominance of history, sounds like McGilchrist's own left hemisphere going off the rails. I think Nietzsche would have told him to calm down a bit, and that is saying a lot, indeed.
McGilchrist's view on religion is fascinating. He understandably leaves out Nietzsche's complete condemnation of all things Christian and wades in. The Protestants are condemned as destroying the Renaissance,(Nietzsche agrees) by bringing back a rational word based left hemisphere religion which assaults the intuitive and metaphorical Catholics. The Catholic church can be comforted that McGilchrist says they are more right hemisphere based than the fundamentalist Protestants who are left hemisphere based, yet will priests find comfort looking out at a flock who are there to buff up their right hemispheres'? The idea that Catholicism is good for brain hemisphere balance is interesting but may not be taken up by the Vatican just yet.
There are more things to say, but as Nietzsche wrote"Follow you, not me". Read this amazing book and think your own thoughts. - Few books have stuck with me to the extent that this book has. I keep reading and re-reading passages, trying to absorb it in layers rather than in one fell swoop. It's dense going but so utterly fascinating that I took it with me on a recent trip to Morocco. Long flight but it kept me engaged even though I was exhausted en route. I read the book a while ago and am glad to see they've made a documentary about Iain McGilchrist based on the concepts laid out in this book. You'll never see yourself, your world or history in the same way.
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