McGilchrist’s appreciation of ambiguity and paradox only enhances the clarity and vitality of his thought. McGilchrist is the most generous and talented of writers: his fluid account, brilliantly and beautifully argued-and meticulously researched-brings us along with him, step by step, until we too can discern the horizons of a reconfigured world. Then he climbs his three-fold cord to a place from which one can survey the ultimate mysteries-the relationship of mind to matter, the concept of life, the contested role of purpose in the universe, and the nature of the sacred. The author first offers intertwined analyses of brain function, cognition, and the structure of knowledge. 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. … The Matter with Things is a book for the ages.’ Professor Oliver SchultheissĬhair for Experimental Psychology, Motivation, and Affective Neuroscience, Friedrich-Alexander University, Erlangen

I am trying to pass on to them the insights I have gained from your work at every turn. It opened ways of seeing and thinking about issues that go far beyond what’s covered in The Master and his Emissary, although they still build on it and anchor a lot of the arguments in neuropsychology …Your work permeates my thinking and grounds it in a way of feeling and being in the world that is authentic and true and helpful when it comes to positioning myself vis-à-vis my fellow human beings in a very humane manner … It has changed my style of talking to and relating to my students, too. Thank you for this book, from the bottom of my heart. I use them to take notes and add comments of my own, engaging in a kind of asynchronous dialogue with you.

A good thing, too, that the book has such wide margins. There are too many thoughts, insights and often startling perspectives in it …There’s no idle talk it’s so chock full of ideas that as a reader I simply need the time to digest every word and sentence. ‘This is not a book that can be read quickly.

The matter of things iain mcgilchrist