How Whole Brain Thinking Can Save the Future
Why Left Hemisphere Dominance Has Brought Humanity to the Brink
of Disaster and How We Can Think Our Way to Peace and Healing
Author: James Olson
January 10, 2017 • Philosophy/Neuroscience/Self-Help • TheWholeBrainPath.com
334 pages • $19.95 • Paperback • ISBN: 978-1-57983-0519• Index/Bibliography/Illustrations
Media Contact: Eileen Duhné
415.459.2573 eduhne@comcast.net
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“The author’s multidisciplinary approach harnesses neuroscience, philosophy, and careful observation . . . Olson’s tone and style is clear, concise, and accessible across academic realms and areas of interest. Audiences will have much to ponder and apply as they better understand the functions of their own brains—and how those elements affect their perceptions of the world. . . [Olson’s book] offers a thoughtful message of hope that transcends today’s polarizing culture.” —Foreword Reviews
“A fascinating and important read. Olson provides an essential missing piece to understanding ourselves and each other, and charts a path to a more holistic governance of peace.”
—Anodea Judith, PhD, bestselling author of Eastern Body, Western Mind
“As a gay man who has worked for decades running a comprehensive human services agency focused on youth and families, I found Olson’s original treatment of sexual orientation to be plausible and very insightful. I believe his book will serve as a helpful guide for the gay community.”
—Dr. George Belitsos, Founder and CEO Emeritus of Youth & Shelter Services
The Split-Brain’s Remarkable Effect on Consciousness and Culture
Our brains have numerous functioning parts, all of which serve us at any one moment. But decades of research reveal the existence of two basic brain “operating systems”—two fundamental ways in which the whole brain processes incoming information. Because of the phenomenon of brain dominance, most of us tend to favor the input of either our “dualistic” left brain (which focuses on parts instead of wholes) or our holistic right hemisphere. This means that typically only half of our innate intelligence informs our thinking—and since the left-brain operating system dominates most males, our culture has itself become left-brain dominant.
How Whole Brain Thinking Can Save the Future explores this left-brain bias in our civilization, revealing it to be the root cause for centuries of war, racism, and political polarization—and eons of misunderstanding between the sexes. While most of our technological and scientific progress is driven by left-brain thinking, the great advances to come will require that we consciously harness both sides of our brain to greatly improve our cognition. Award-winning author James Olson goes on to explain how we can achieve greater internal harmony between the two operating systems of the brain—both as individuals and as a culture—thus showing us how and why thinking with our whole brains will lead us to peace and to the ultimate healing of our relationships and our world.
James Olson is an independent philosopher whose studies have included art, religion, psychology, philosophy, and neuroscience. He has attended Oklahoma State University, the University of Vienna, Oklahoma University, the University of Missouri at Kansas City, and the Kansas City Art Institute. Following the unifying guidelines of philosophy and drawing on his broad education, Olson has made it his mission to help bring the planet’s masculine (dualistic left brain) and holistic right-brain feminine energies into greater harmony, through his advocacy of whole-brain thinking.
Key features of this book:
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Up-to-date introduction to brain hemispheres—a crucial subject for self-understanding
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Ends confusion with focus on the whole brain rather than merely its parts or “modules”
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Most in-depth study ever of the negative social impact of left-brain dominance
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Explains why left-brain males misunderstand the typical female’s holistic right-brain orientation
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Compares the hemispheres to contrasting computer operating systems; shows how to harmonize
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Clarifies the types of “brain dominance”: right brain, left brain, “hybrid,” and “team”
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Original theory of how brain dominance shapes sexual orientation, including LGBT
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Author’s previous book on neuroscience, The Whole Brain Path to Peace, won numerous national prizes