Iain McGilchrist's book considers both great sources of awe and admiration: the starry heavens above as well as the mental life within. Its author shows not just how our divided mind and brain makes us human, but how this gives us the potential both to understand and to misunderstand the world. In its pages, neuropsychology comes into conversation with philosophy, physics with poetry. 'The Matter with Things is a work of remarkable inspiration and erudition, written with the soul and subtlety of a poet, the precision of a philosopher, and the no nonsense grounding of a true scientist. Read this now to know what sort of creature you are and what sort of place you inhabit.' Professor Charles Foster, Oxford University, author of Being a Human and Being a Beast. He is impeccably rigorous, fearlessly honest, and compellingly readable. McGilchrist's range is as vast as the subject which is everything. No one else could have written this book. We urgently need to attune our ears to this music to re-enchant the world and ourselves, and to confound those who say that there is only noise. For McGilchrist the universe is a constantly evolving symphony a gradual unfolding of an epic story. It is a thrilling exposition of the nature of reality, and a devastating repudiation of the strident, banal orthodoxy that says it is childish and disreputable to believe that the world is alive with wonder and mystery. 'It's very simple: this is one of the most important books ever published.
It is a vision that returns the world to life, and us to a better way of living in it: one we must embrace if we are to survive.
Following the paths of cutting-edge neurology, philosophy and physics, he reveals how each leads us to a similar vision of the world, one that is both profound and beautiful - and happens to be in line with the deepest traditions of human wisdom. And he shows us how to recognise the 'signature' of the left hemisphere in our thinking, so as to avoid making decisions that bring disaster in their wake. He suggests that in order to understand ourselves and the world we need science and intuition, reason and imagination, not just one or two that they are in any case far from being in conflict and that the brain's right hemisphere plays the most important part in each. Who are we? What is the world? How can we understand consciousness, matter, space and time? Is the cosmos without purpose or value? Can we really neglect the sacred and divine? In doing so, he argues that we have become enslaved to an account of things dominated by the brain's left hemisphere, one that blinds us to an awe-inspiring reality that is all around us, had we but eyes to see it. In this landmark new book, Iain McGilchrist addresses some of the oldest and hardest questions humanity faces - ones that, however, have a practical urgency for all of us today.
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