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The Master and His Emissary

The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World

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The Master and His Emissary

By: Iain McGilchrist
Narrated by: Dennis Kleinman
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About this listen

In a book of unprecedented scope Iain McGilchrist presents a fascinating exploration of the differences between the brain’s left and right hemispheres and how those differences have affected society, history and culture.

McGilchrist draws on a vast body of recent research in neuroscience and psychology to reveal that the difference is profound: the left hemisphere is detail oriented, while the right has greater breadth, flexibility and generosity.

McGilchrist then takes the listener 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.

©2010 Iain McGilchrist (P)2019 Tantor Neuroscience & Neuropsychology Psychology Psychology & Mental Health Science Thought-Provoking Human Brain
All stars
Most relevant
Despite only understanding ~60% of this book, I ‘grasped’ the main ideas. I think I’ll need to do a write-up of what I got out of it for my own personal development.
Iain writes clearly and links concepts together with ease. Some of the historical art and philosophy sections seemed a bit lost on me, but were overall insightful. The ideas he presents touch on every aspect of human experience. This illuminates many areas of conflict within my our thought-life, society, and nature itself, increasing empathy and understanding along the way. Strap yourself in and get started with this great book!

Took me 6 months to get through, incredible, life changing.

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Exceptional information delivered in an excellent manner. A very dense book though - I would recommend spaced sessions to absorb the information properly.

One of my all time favorites

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you'll have to study the book to get the most out of it. I haven't but I might relisten again.

jam packed with information

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One of my favourites - be warned this book is very dense and very long but some how it didn't feel like a struggle to finish it. I have a good background in the science / medical aspects of which there is a lot in this book. But there is also an extensive discussion on the nature of the hemisphere differences in the history of the artistic and scientific revolutions in Europe. I found this very educational. However, the author has a more sympathetic view to a more traditional theistic world view and seems to overstate the advantages and gloss over the problems associated with more 'traditional' societies.

Though provoking and extremely well researched.

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Loved this. So much to ponder about what we may be missing when seeing the world, and an invitation to get beyond categories into the aliveness, wholeness and contextuality in life.

Brilliant

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Excellent and rigorously scientific exploration of hemisphere differences.

I rate it less than five stars because it engages in victim-blaming of Galileo, in the way that many Catholics do; 'it was his own fault for having a prickly personality'. Pretty disgusting excusing of threats of torture, for the 'crime' of publicising evidence that went against the Church's dogma.

Also, he fails to properly understand Dawkins, offering a truncated and dismissive recounting of memetic theory, without properly engaging with it - save to decry it as being based on Left- hemisphere reasoning, which isn't really an argument. One gets the feeling that the author has ulterior motives for disagreeing with what he calls 'the Dawkins Delusion' - I suspect McGilchrist is a theist and for some reason chooses to hide this from the reader.

There were other philosophical arguments in the second half of the book which I personally found disagreeable but were less egregious.

A great book in the first half, where it bases its reasoning in science, but weaker in the second, where the author goes into history and philosophy. Always remember to think for yourself and question where the author might be coming from.

Fascinating book - some flawed philosophy

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This is a very important and insightful book. The reading starts off hard to bear, heavy, monotonous and lacking proper spaces, but does lighten up a bit and move toward more natural intonation as it goes on. The content is definitely worth the perseverance.

Worth the effort.

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Dear Iain, I have spent 2024 obsessed with your work and would not dare critique it. To use a yoga metaphor, it is samadhi in full lotus, and I struggle clumsily to touch one knee with the opposite toe. I do wish you had read it to audio yourself, as when you discuss your work, it comes alive. It was once the fashion to read audiobooks in a flat, expressionless monotone, while now the best audiobooks are read with a poetic heart. Please choose your reader carefully when bringing The Matter With Things to audio. Kenneth Branagh? Love you madly...CPA

To Iain

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A very dense work but full of insights. It will require many ‘readings’ to get the full benefit and be just as interesting and enjoyable each time

Difficult but well worth it

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Our brain’s two hemispheres have evolved in to play separate and simultaneously interconnected experiences. Our current Western appreciation of beauty has given way to an appreciation of power. Similarly our overriding concern with materialism sees self worth equated with income. Dr Gilchrist explains the role of the right hemisphere (once the Master) and the left (the emissary) using both neuroscience and the culture of the West to sound a warning that an increasing overtake by the left hemisphere could in the fragmentation and isolation as we move away from valuing the need for a spiritual and creative purpose. It’s long but definitely worth the effort. I have gone back to teaching myself classical guitar.

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