Finished reading: The Matter with Things Our Brains, Our Delusions, and the Unmaking of the World by Iain McGilchrist 📚

Those who have said that this is one of the most important books of the past (n) years are not exaggerating.

@JohnBrady Not only open but actively embracing the idea. In part 3 he takes up the matter of consciousness and supports the idea that the brain “permits” consciousness rather than emitting it mechanically or only transmitting it — that certainly it can shape consciousness (see the effects of mental illness) but that consciousness must be prior to matter in the universe. He’s quite strongly not a materialist.

For people who don’t want to slog through all the science, he provides nice chapter summaries in Part 1 (which is about neurology), and lets you go on to the latter parts about how we know what we know and about the nature of reality. I found the neurology interesting and helpful, but it’s grounds for what he takes up later, not the ultimate point.

@dwalbert Might have to be my big summer read this year. (Although at my pace it will likely take longer than the summer, maybe vol. 1 at least).

@dwalbert @JohnBrady @isaacgreene Both volumes are on my shelf. Chonky. Waiting to be read. I also keep hearing more chatter about them, though, so will probably start them soon!

@JohnBrady @dwalbert This does sound interesting, but man, that's an expensive book!

@mineinmono Some years ago there was a book I really wanted to read but the cheapest copy was $400. I still haven’t read it. I think it was one of those books that the publisher only expects university libraries to buy.

@JohnBrady @mineinmono This one is expensive in part because it’s two volumes (half the paperback price for one book is not outrageous) and in part because it’s well designed: the notes are in the sidebar so you can actually refer to them easily, and most of the sidebar space is therefore left blank for adding your own notes. More paper = more cost but a really good (interactive, in the old fashioned way) reading experience.

But I did just read a review of another book I’d really like to read that’s $150 and decided that it couldn’t be worth the money. Very much a university-library-only book, unfortunately. (The Kindle version was a dollar discount!)

@dwalbert I just looked up the $400 book on Amazon and found that the price has plummeted to about $120! Too bad that I just blew my budget on McGilchrist…

@JohnBrady They have a copy at the university library. Want me to steal it for you? They owe me for a lot of blood, sweat, and tears. ;)

@jabel I’d better wait till my stack gets less teetery. But thanks for the thought!