The Alphabet Versus The Goddess: The Conflict Between Word and Image

...the process of reading and writing – fundamentally reconfigured the human brain, and brought about profound changes in history, religion, and gender relations. Making remarkable connections among brain function, myth, and anthropology, Dr. Shlain shows why pre-literate cultures were principally informed by holistic, right-brain modes that venerated the Goddess, feminine values, and images. Writing, particularly alphabets, drove cultures toward linear left-brain thinking. This shift upset the balance between men and women, initiating the decline of the feminine and also ushered in the reign of patriarchy and misogyny. Examining the cultures of the Israelites, Greeks, Christians, and Muslims, he reinterprets many myths and parables in light of his theory. Shlain traces the affect of literacy on the Dark Ages, Mary, Gutenberg, the Reformation and the Witchcraze. Shlain ends with an optimistic appraisal that the proliferation of images in film, TV, graphics and computers is once again reconfiguring the brain by encouraging right hemispheric modes of thought that are encouraging the reemergence of the feminine.

So What Do You Think?

The Alphabet Versus The Goddess: The Conflict Between Word and Image By Dr. Leonard Shlain, MD