I realise, having now reached the end of the book, and literally having read every word, and some sections over and over, that I am tired. This second part of the book, has for the most part, been heavy going. I have found myself more and more resorting to quotes, simply because I have run out of energy.

In this final chapter, I have yet to fully understand the section under the subheading ‘The glint in the maiden’s eye’ (p.449), which evidently is a reason for hope that things might not be as bad as they appear when you look closely at the characteristics of a left hemisphere dominated world. But then, right at the end of the book, McGilchrist does say that he is not expecting everything to be clear, and seems to suggest that feeling a sense of clarity, or that ideas have been clarified, might be equated with a failure to see clearly. I suppose he means there is always more to see, and always more unknown than known.

But I did have an ‘Ah Hah’ moment in this chapter. During reading of the second part of the book, I have often felt frustrated by the amount of detail, wondering whether it is really necessary to get across his message. Up until this point, I have thought the reason might have been two-fold, first that having done 20 years research, McGilchrist wanted to include as much of that detail as possible, and second, that he might have felt the detail was necessary as evidence to support and justify his ideas. But now I see that neither of those was the reason, or at least not the primary reason. Right at the end of the book (p.460) he writes:

Overall a picture develops from a mass of small details, not necessarily by summing them all, left hemisphere

fashion, but perhaps by seeing the pattern, as the Dalmatian emerges from the blur of splashes and dots,

right-hemisphere fashion. If I am wrong, the picture I discern in the dots and splashes will simply not be

recognised by others; if there is any truth in it, it may awaken thoughts.

This makes perfect sense to me. I could discern the picture when I first encountered McGilchrist’s book in 2010, and over the years, and particularly with this recent more attentive re-reading, the picture has become clearer, although I know there is still much more that could emerge over time.

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