The Right Mind: Making Sense of the Hemispheres

by Robert Ornstein

In this “accessible and provocative” book, (Kirkus Reviews), the author of The Psychology of Consciousness cuts through the confusion around the right brain-left brain theory. Black-and-white photographs and illustrations.

Genres: Science, Psychology, Nonfiction

200 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Psychologist Robert Ornstein's wide-ranging and multidisciplinary work has won him awards from more than a dozen organizations, including the American Psychological Association and UNESCO. His pioneering research on the bilateral specialization of the brain has done much to advance our understanding of how we think.

He received his bachelor's degree in psychology from City University of New York in 1964 and his Ph.D. in psychology from Stanford University in 1968. His doctoral thesis won the American Institutes for Research Creative Talent Award and was published immediately as a book, On the Experience of Time.

Since then he has written or co-written more than twenty other books on the nature of the human mind and brain and their relationship to thought, health and individual and social consciousness, which have sold over six million copies and been translated into a dozen other languages. His textbooks have been used in more than 20,000 university classes.

Dr. Ornstein has taught at the University of California Medical Center and Stanford University, and he has lectured at more than 200 colleges and universities in the U.S. and overseas. He is the president and founder of the Institute for the Study of Human Knowledge (ISHK), an educational nonprofit dedicated to bringing important discoveries concerning human nature to the general public.

Among his many honors and awards are the UNESCO award for Best Contribution to Psychology and the American Psychological Foundation Media Award "for increasing the public understanding of psychology."

Reviews

[Scott Furtwengler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ornstein explores the misconceptions and the research regarding the different functions and the interaction between the two hemispheres. A fascinating read for those interested in genetics, environment, and development and their effects on behavior.

[Migg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting subject but at times repetitive.

[IgnatiusI · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dated material.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Expansive read. A study of the two hemispheres of the brain... My recollection largely through an understanding of the types of things that can go wrong.

[Noel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ornstein, a psychologist, writes knowledgeably on a fascinating subject, the right-brain, left-brain divide. The authors style is a bit confusing and anecdotal at times but it is a good read.