Research Catalog

Title

The master and his emissary : the divided brain and the making of the Western world / Iain McGilchrist.

Author

McGilchrist, Iain

Publication

New Haven : Yale University Press, c2009.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Description

ix, 597 p. : ill.; 24 cm.

Summary

"Why is the brain divided? The difference between right and left hemispheres has been puzzled over for centuries. In this book, 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."--Jacket.

Subject

• Cerebral dominance
• Dominance, Cerebral
• Cerebrum > physiology
• Cultural Evolution
• Social Change > history
• Western World > history

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. [518]-585) and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

Asymmetry and the brain -- What do the two hemispheres 'do'? -- Language, truth, and music -- The nature of the two worlds -- The primacy of the right hemisphere -- The triumph of the left hemisphere -- Imitation and the evolution of culture -- The ancient world -- The Renaissance and Reformation -- The Enlightenment -- Romanticism -- Modernism and postmodernism.

ISBN

9780300148787 (cl : alk. paper)

LCCN

^^2009011977

OCLC

317249497

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library