The Right Mind: Making Sense of the Hemispheres (Paperback)

by Robert Ornstein (Author) "It's been all around us for years; it is a cliche in general advice to managers, bankers, and artists; it's in cartoons..." (more)
Key Phrases: right hemisphere damage, left hemisphere, split brain patients, Norman Rockwell, Hughlings Jackson, New York (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
"I began this book with a pretty firm prejudice," says Robert Ornstein of his survey of the two halves of the human brain. "I believed that after two decades of research we'd find ... that there might be little to distinguish the two sides." Instead, he concluded that "the division of the mind is profound," with deep roots in evolution, embryonic development, and society. It is profound, but not simplistic: Ornstein shows how the right hemisphere is neither a chimpanzee-like moron nor a mystical genius. It provides the context, the big picture, while the left hemisphere keeps track of the details. Doris Lessing says, "I have always admired Robert Ornstein's ability to explain difficult scientific ideas to ordinary people"; Paul Ehrlich calls The Right Mind "the most innovative, fascinating work yet to appear on the role of the two hemispheres of the brain."

From Library Journal
The author of 25 books, including the best-selling The Psychology of Consciousness (LJ 5/1/73), Ornstein here sums up what we know about the brain today.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Harvest Books (September 5, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0156006278
• ISBN-13: 978-0156006279
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #855,915 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating and fun, July 7, 1999

By A Customer

Ornstein's early writings on right brain/left brain differences led to a veritable explosion of research and writing on the subject. In this book he's written an excellent summary of the current state of our understanding: although it's clear that the halves of the brain have different areas of specialization, he emphasizes strongly that they need to work together to enable us to function fully as human beings. He's bemused (and sometimes annoyed) at the popular tendency to romanticize the right brain as the seat of creativity and denigrate the left brain as an unimaginative literalist; the facts show that both halves are involved in such complex human activities as listening to music and understanding jokes. His summary of the 19th-century debates on brain functioning was very useful and informative. And his conclusion that psychology needs to pay more attention to the various ways human beings have pursued spiritual development over the millennia is, I think, a very timely reminder: psychology has tended to dismiss this behavior as "superstition," but, as other writers have pointed out (e.g., Epstein's "Thoughts Without a Thinker"), it has as much to do with developing the full power of your mind as with addressing something "out there." Ornstein writes clearly and humorously, and the book packs an amazing amount of knowledge into its rather brief length.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the right mind is the right book to read on the subject, March 24, 2000

By A Customer

This book is not simply a sterile collection of ideas about the right and left hemispheres of the brain. It is a superbly-paced, well thought out text, one that leads the reader not only to an understanding of how the halves of the brain may work, but to an idea of how the skills possessed within these parts of the brain might work together to produce the 'right' mind for a given situation. I loved the last sentence of this book-it puts it all together in a way that is just right. I strongly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the subject.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating account of latest research on brain hemispheres, November 8, 1997

By	Jerome Burne (London, UK) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Right Mind: Making Sense of the Hemispheres (Hardcover)

Partly as a result of Ornstein's earlier book on the divided brain 25 years ago, the terms left and right brain have become part of of daily vocabularly. Even adverts talk about developing the right brain. Not surprisingly there are a lot of confusions on the topic as well. That's why Ornstein's return to the topic should be welcomed by anyone with an interest in the brain and how the mind works. He shows how the simple idea that people are either left or right brained is simply wrong but that the two work together in fascinating ways that we are only just beginning to understand. For a fine example of entertaining yet easy to understand science writing, turn to his section describing what is involved in understanding a joke and the different way patients who have lost the use of parts of their left or right brain respond to jokes. Other topics like dreams and schizophrenia also can be seen in a new light when seen from this interaction between the hemispheres. This is a lot shorter than Steve Pinker's latest work on the Mind and a lot more entertaininly written and contains many more fresh insights Jerome Burne, (London-based journalist specializing in psychology)