For those open to the message, profound

Some books tell you things you knew but hadn't quite put together or been able to articulate. That's not all this book is, but it's not less either.

Particularly heartening in a book that's so wide ranging is where he talks on subjects that I do really know. Many books fail at this point by demonstrating they haven't quite understood the issue. In this case, when writing about music, McGilchrist knocks it out of the park.

The narrator is uncanny at times - has a great overall voice but quite a few times pronounces words in a strange way that pulls you out of the experience.

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2 people found this helpful

Long but worth the effort

Definitely worth persevering through what is a long book that is somewhat epetitive at times.

Broad context across philosophy neuroscience medicine technology religion and medicine

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2 people found this helpful

an outstanding work

very happy with this purchase, fantastic audio version, research really well presented and clear, highly recommended.

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World-Altering

The best non-fiction book I've ever read, hands down. Will change the way you see the world and yourself.

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3 people found this helpful

Everyone should hear this

A world changing piece of work on the nature of the mind , nothing will be the same again.

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Revolutionary Re-enchantment

If, like me, you despair of reductionism, over-simplification, the disenchantment and commodification of animals and the living world which allows the ruthless exploitation of the planet, this book explains why it is happening. We are half losing our minds, or at least the hemisphere that silently sees reality as a whole. Welcome instead to the machine!

McGilchrist is something of a polymath, a neuropsychiatrist with expertise spanning neuroscience, philosophy, phenomenology, biology, art history, music and literature.

This is therefore a highly intellectual and intelligent book, charting the modern cultural takeover of “left hemisphere” atomistic conceptual thinking, and the suppression of “right hemisphere” holistic perception. The verbose Emissary, has subverted the ineffable vision of the Master. We mistake our map for the territory.

As an aside, this is one of the best explications of the Phenomenology of Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty and others I know.

Clearly narrated (though some pronunciations seemed a little odd at times), this is a book of huge importance for western culture at this time, and the future of our planet.

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23 people found this helpful

Remarkable and important book

I urge you to listen to this book. The ideas and and theories here may give you an idea about a way of being and seeing in the world that will change your life. The central thesis of this work is compelling and novel (at least for me).

It is a long, academic and demanding book. I find that I often lose the thread if I am not fully concentrating, so I am listening to it for the third time now. But I don't mind this, as the book is interesting and well written, and I find the narrator's voice comforting. I have learned something new each time I listen to this book.

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Profound and beautifully written.

Profound and beautifully written. Only the pronunciation of the French and German quotes a minor irritation - hardly material as otherwise an engaging voice.

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Resplendent

Alongside Jeremy Lent’s books, this has further blown my mind and given more confirmation as to why the world is the way it is and by extension (he doesn’t cover this in detail), what we can do reconnect with each other and the natural world (same thing) in order to steer a course away our march toward collective suicide.

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A Fascinating and Novel Explanation for Humanity

There are no shortage of works attempting to explain the great trends in history, art, science, philosophy, language, religion and more yet somehow this book stands apart (in my experience) in providing an analysis related to the two hemispheres of the human brain and how they interact, attempt to control and influence each other.

From the outset, this book asks you to throw out much of what you've heard about the left-brain and right-brain from pop science and the like and the author takes you through the latest research via the newest medical instruments to share a complex story of the different parts of the brain. He also looks at how the interaction between the two create a complex self while the dominance of one over the other leads to a one-sided view of life.

He expertly covers thousands of years of human history through this lens, showing how different eras are marked by such imbalances and subsequent corrections, focusing on language, art, music, religion, philosophy, science and more. Of course, he concludes with a look at today's Western society and the imbalance he sees there.

This is not a self-help book, a How-to guide on living a balanced life or a manual for diagnosing yourself with various mental illnesses and anyone who has a tendency toward the latter may be well advized to avoid it. However, it does provide a unique look at the direction of human history, certain individuals and civilizations therein and offers a fresh perspective that, if you read it all, will leave you thinking of the world in a whole new way. If you bring such ideas to the average dinner party, you're unlikely to be invited back but I'm sure you can find someone on Reddit who'll talk to you about it and develop the ideas further.

In practical terms, you may feel by the end of the book that you come away with ideas of how you might expand your thinking, broaden or narrow your perspective or approach life differently but consider such ideas a more optimistic than realistic aspiration. Still, give it a go, why not?

The reader does an absolutely tremendous job from start to finish, reading with interest, good emphasis where needed, a warmth and accessible tone and he truly makes the work sound that much more engaging. I highly recommend!

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