The Master and His Emissary The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World Iain McGilchrist

According to psychiatrist Iain McGilchrist, pop psychology has given us a wrong—and dangerous—impression of the brain’s two hemispheres. In The Master and His Emissary, McGilchrist rebuts the popular misconception that the brain’s left hemisphere is dominant because it’s responsible for logical thinking and problem-solving, while the right hemisphere is used only for creative endeavors. Against this myth, McGilchrist argues that the right hemisphere is more important than the left hemisphere, and failure to recognize this fact threatens to rob our lives of meaning and happiness.In this guide, we’ll examine the differences between the brain’s hemispheres, the reasons McGilchrist thinks the right hemisphere belongs in control, and the historical eras that he says illustrate power imbalances between the hemispheres. We’ll also examine McGilchrist’s predictions about a world dominated by the left hemisphere and his reasons for thinking this world would diminish our happiness. Throughout the guide, we’ll consider counterarguments from other experts in fields like history, philosophy, and literary criticism, and we’ll discuss updates since the book’s publication.