I was both shocked and delighted to find I was part of a fairly small audience. On this occasion, I chose the latter.īecause I’ve studied Iain McGilchrist’s work so thoroughly and so recently, and because it moved me so deeply, I came to this event with questions. There comes a moment, at seminars such as this, where I have to make the decision to dignify myself and stifle my natural extroversion and curiosity, or whether to throw caution to the wind and make an enthusiastic, inquisitive, nuisance of myself. I studied his work extensively while writing my essay for the BICS contest, and his book The Master and his Emissary is among my top two books of all time (it shares the top spot with The Prophet by Khalil Gibran depending on what mood I’m in.)

You may know that Dr McGilchrist is a personal hero of mine. He is interested in historical evidence - in art, politics, religion and sciences - that show the prevalence of either the right or left hemisphere at different periods, in a variety of societies. He writes, primarily, about the two hemispheres of the human brain, why they are asymmetrical, and what that means about being human. On Saturday, Iain (we’re on first name terms now :P ) hosted a book launch symposium to promote his new book The Matter With Things, and it was an absolute delight!ĭr Iain McGilchrist is a psychiatrist, writer and former Oxford scholar. On Friday night he gave the annual Macmanaway lecture at the Arthur Conan Doyle Centre in Edinburgh. I spent this past weekend with Dr Iain McGilchrist.

Iain mcgilchrist the matter with things