The Alphabet Versus the GoddessThe Alphabet Versus the Goddess
the Conflict Between Word and Image
Title rated 3.6 out of 5 stars, based on 31 ratings(31 ratings)
Book, 1998
Current format, Book, 1998, , Available .Book, 1998
Current format, Book, 1998, , Available . Offered in 0 more formatsDemonstrates how alphabetic literacy caused the development of the brain's left half over the right, which affected the role and power of women
Forging provocative connections among many fields, the author of Art and Physics demonstrates how alphabetic literacy caused the development of the brain's left half over the right, which affected the role and power of women. Tour.
Proposes, rather than argues closely, that the shift from apprehending the world from images to writing--especially alphabetic--contributed largely to the suppression of goddess worship and the decline in the status of women in society. Shlain is a neurosurgeon, and begins by explaining how reading and looking at pictures or listening to speech use different parts of the brain and indeed can influence the development of children's brains. Then, rejecting the linear, sequentialist, reductionist thinking he associates with both writing and masculine values, he offers a long series of essentially independent essays, each evoking an example of his thesis. They range from the first writing of the Egyptians and Mesopotamians through classical and medieval times to the Reformation and eventually the rise of television, with glances at China and Japan. Some of the material has appeared in The Utne Reader Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.
Forging provocative connections among many fields, the author of Art and Physics demonstrates how alphabetic literacy caused the development of the brain's left half over the right, which affected the role and power of women. Tour.
Proposes, rather than argues closely, that the shift from apprehending the world from images to writing--especially alphabetic--contributed largely to the suppression of goddess worship and the decline in the status of women in society. Shlain is a neurosurgeon, and begins by explaining how reading and looking at pictures or listening to speech use different parts of the brain and indeed can influence the development of children's brains. Then, rejecting the linear, sequentialist, reductionist thinking he associates with both writing and masculine values, he offers a long series of essentially independent essays, each evoking an example of his thesis. They range from the first writing of the Egyptians and Mesopotamians through classical and medieval times to the Reformation and eventually the rise of television, with glances at China and Japan. Some of the material has appeared in The Utne Reader Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.
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