McGilchrist argues that the driving force in cultural history lies not

in institutions or ideas but in the human brain—specifically in the

struggle for supremacy between the right and left hemispheres, which

have fundamentally different ways of apprehending and engaging the

world.

This book argues that the differences lies not, as has been supposed, in

the ‘what’ – which skills each hemisphere possesses – but in the ‘how’,

the way in which each uses them, and to what end. But, like the brain

itself, the relationship between the hemispheres is not symmetrical.

The left hemisphere, though unaware of its dependence, could be thought

of as an ’emissary’ of the right hemisphere, valuable for taking on a

role that the right hemisphere – the ‘Master’ – cannot itself afford to

undertake. However it turns out that the emissary has his own will, and

secretly believes himself to be superior to the Master. And he has the

means to betray him. What he doesn’t realize is that in doing so he

will also betray himself.

the divided brain and the making of the western world