#12 Nigel McGilchrist: Living with the ancients, the importance of beauty, and the birth of the modern world

As people who have been kind enough to follow the pod know, I seek to converse with adventurous, rebellious (and sometimes courteous) free spirits. Not only does my latest guest, Nigel McGilchrist fit this endeavour, but so does the subject of his new book – a biography of ancient Greek polymath Pythagoras*. Nigel has dedicated his life to understanding and teaching the ancient world having lived in Italy for over thirty years before moving to Greece in 2008. His twenty-volume travel, art and history guide to seventy Greek islands has morphed my visits from what would have been pleasant holidays into Indiana Jones style adventures (buy a volume, go to the island and see for yourself). His book When the Dog Speaks, the Philosopher Listens opened my eyes to how Ionia – a patchwork of landmass in modern day Western Turkey was a melting pot of knowledge in the ancient world from the near and far East to Egypt. To quote Nigel “This is a book not of philosophy, but about how philosophy was born; about what it was like to explore the earliest, and most universal, scientific concepts.”Not only is it a beautiful book (a word I don’t use lightly) but also one that has given me a fresh perspective on the challenges of modernity. I hope you enjoy our conversation.*Many of you would have got nervous twitches from suppressed memories of  GCSE maths. Those classes would have been much more interesting if our teachers had read Nigel’s book.Find out more about Nigel and his work here: https://www.nigelmcgilchrist.com/This podcast was produced by Matt Cooper with music composed by Loverman.