Left in the Dark

Left in the Dark - A Review by Vincent Cooper

Left in the Dark by Tony Wright and Graham Gynn is one of those books. It’s the kind of book that raises so many questions you could easily spend the rest of your life trying to find the answers. The basic premise is that through the centuries mankind has suffered a divided brain with the left hemisphere being more commanding than the right hemisphere; and this degeneration has been to our detriment as a species. Our ‘fall from Grace’ is a real but neuro-chemical event that continues to this day and one that has cost us our true sanity and confused our perception of the world and our place in it.

In reviewing Left in the Dark I couldn’t help but read through it twice, savoring each and every sentence as food for thought. Rarely have I read as thought-provoking a book as this one and in the time since my first reading I have begun re-examining my areas of interest (East Asian philosophy and spiritualism and the connections to meditative and martial disciplines). My mind has come alive with new possible interpretations of old material and it was because of this book that I switched to a raw food diet as, in large part, the authors argue that our slow inter-generational retardation has been caused in the first place by the change in our diet from a primarily fruit-based one (along with vegetables and nuts) to a meat-based (the hunter gatherers) and finally a crop-based food supply (supplemented with meat from domesticated animals bred for slaughter). (Note: I was on a raw food diet for about 6 months and stopped primarily because it was inconvenient).

The evidence presented is both sweeping and convincing. I am far more qualified to speak of the anthropological evidence presented and this is what most interested me on the first reading but the material related to neuro-science makes complete sense to me and is easy to read and digest for a non-scientist. There is so much to get out of each chapter and each section with each chapter that follow-up work is begging to be done. Hopefully we will see more from Tony Wright (the originator of the theory) in the future.

What is especially refreshing is that Left in the Dark offers possible solutions to the problem it presents. It is not a doom-and-gloom book damning mankind to perpetual left hemisphere dominant delusion and dissatisfaction. Rather, various recent experiments are detailed that suggest the dominance of the left hemisphere may be lessened and the activity of the right hemisphere enhanced, along with pointers that an individual may take immediately to at least make an experience of right hemisphere dominance more likely (such as following a raw food diet). Although this kind of work is still in its infancy, it is clear that some progress at least is being made and for those interested in taking the theory further there are some clear steps outlined.

Overall I rate Left in the Dark as one of the most thought-provoking books that I have read. It will appeal to a wide variety of people for different reasons initially but I am confident that upon completing it, the reader will have had his or her interest in a cross-selection of disciplines piqued. A definite must read!