The Right Brain

By Thomas Blakeslee

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0425081613
• ISBN13: 9780425081617
• Release Date: January 1983
• Publisher: Berkley Books
• Length: 276 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.

Customer Reviews

An exciting new understanding of consciousness

A very clearly written presentation of Roger Sperry's Nobel-prizewinning experiments with split-brain patients. These patients were thought to be perfectly normal even though the two halves of their brain were surgically separated (to stop seizures.) Sperry showed that independent thinking and knowledge was going on in the two halves of their brain. The fact that they appeared normal except under the special conditions of the experiment has amazing implications about the way normal people integrate non-verbal thinking into their consciousness. Blakeslee's later book "Beyond the Conscious Mind" develops this idea further but, alas, it is out of print and selling for upwards of $150 in the used market.

A great addition to cognitive theory

"The Right Brain" is a book which explores fully the capacity, function and potential of that hemisphere in our daily lives. It is generally well known that the left hemisphere is the logical and verbal one. The right hemisphere, the creative and intuitive one is much less known and hasn't been studied to the extent of the left hemisphere. This book changes all that.It proposes many ideas that suggest that the right brain is much more central to our very being than previously suggested. It also proposes for society to take steps in educating specifically the right brain. I agree with this as most of education is very left-brained and clinical, quantitative, dry and in opposition to creativity.Those who aren't very interested in the details of the science won't get as much out of the book because a large chunk is devoted to experimental evidence, tables, charts and the like. It's however written very well and there are plenty of illustrations which for a book about the right brain not to make full use of would be a tad hypocritical!This book will make you understand the mechanics of your creative capacity more and will make you appreciate the non-verbal. The studies, especially those of damaged brains and spli-brain patients are also fascinating.

Enlightens and Informs

In the first chapter we're told that "our understanding of our own mind is as erroneous as the ancients' idea of the earth as a flat surface." It was in the 1960s that the breakthrough came as Dr. Roger Sperry and his students, Michael Gazzaniga and Jerre Levy began to gain an understanding of the distinct functions of the two hemispheres of the brain. Chapter 3 tells us "most creative work requires a healthy cooperation between intuition (right brain) and logical thought (left brain). Under the topic of cognitive style, the author says people's personalities and abilities are strongly influenced by their mental habits. Education has traditionally been biased toward left brain processing. A strong case is made for the use of both hemispheres. Reading this book is a good step in reaching that goal.