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Hare Brain, Tortoise Mind: How Intelligence Increases When You Think Less

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This book is an excellent, clearly-written presentation about how we really think, learn and know. Claxton challenges our cultural assumption that real thinking involves effort, strain, and our verbal self. Claxton shows that we unconsciously register patterns, and the patterns guide our action. I've read enough psychology to agree that most patterns never reach verbal consciousness, but our verbal self is great at "filling in the details" after the fact. For years I've regarded "logical, rational" thought as a comforting myth. I'm a mathematician, so I know a little about logic, and in my opinion it's just hindsight. In my experience as a student and a teacher, I know we use our well-trained intuition to solve a problem, then we look back and say, "My, wasn't that logical?" Well, it wasn't.Claxton's book is filled with psychological studies that prove that we are conscious of very little of our real thought processes. It's inspired me to trust my unconscious to learn its own way, from experience, without letting my conscious mind interfere.

The author takes gutsy stands. He considers the "Left brain Right brain" concept obsolete. According to his research, the mind's skill set is a lot more fluid than that. Everything the left brain can do, the right brain can do to, and vice versa.
His theory focuses on two main thinking modes:
1) intellect (d-mode); and
2) intuition (undermind).
He believes that optimal cognition is reached through a balance between these two modes of thinking. One is not better than the other. Thinking modes can be used in effective sequences.
He indicates that many challenging problem solving situations can be tackled through four stages of thinking:
1) Preparation in D-Mode,
2) Incubation in intuitive mode,
3) Illumination in intuitive mode, and
4) Verification in the D-mode.
The above is a good description of the scientific method from a psychological framework. This approach will help you out in both school, and business situations.

In this wide-ranging, scholarly study, Guy Claxton does a superb job of showing the reader how complex consciousness is, and why, in our awareness, things aren't what they seem to be. You might think from the book's title that this is largely a metaphysical or philosophical discussion. That's hardly the case. Claxton presents numerous results from psychology experiments that show, unequivocally, that we are not primarily rational beings, but rationalizing ones. In other words, we invent reasons to justify doing the things that we do, but these ideas are more likely to be intellectual alibis than the real motivations for our behavior.

You may think that you consciously make moment to moment decisions about your life. But Claxton convincingly shows us that the mysterious "undermind," as he calls it, has more to do with who we are and what we do than our conscious, logical, linear mind. The "d-mode", our deliberate thinking style--the one we perfect in our years of schooling-- is the most commonly accepted model of how our minds work. However, the experimental evidence suggests that d-mode thinking has relatively little to do with how we make most of the decisions in our lives. The d-mode actually comes up with plausible reasons that justify our actions, but it isn't the source of those actions. The conscious mind's job is to focus a lot of attention on a particular problem and maintain a coherent sense of ourselves: but these processes all come after the fact of our inner decision-making. In fact, people often seem happier with their decisions in the long run, if they think less about them from the outset. It is in this sense, that "think less" makes one more intelligent.

Contrary to our training, Claxton shows us that in many situations, our slower mind is much more effective at running our lives than our more efficient fast mind. The undermind is especially good in ambiguous situations, where information is undefined and uncertain. In our fast-paced lives, we often demand instant results based on objective, linear data-production systems. But Claxton argues that we would often be better off to slow down and let the subconscious solve our problems more spontaneously. This idea is not just a values-based belief: it is backed by empirical studies such as subliminal research experiments and small-group studies.

HARE BRAIN, TORTOISE MIND will get you to re-evaluate a lot of assumptions you have about yourself. Who is really in charge of your life? Who are you? These are the sorts of questions that this book evokes and once Claxton gets your attention, he doesn't let go. After presenting the empirical evidence Claxton goes onto to explain their significance in religious thought and social history. But the main point throughout is that we need to respect, cultivate, and develop our intuitive, whole-brain thinking processes. And that wisdom, in the largest sense of the word, is a lot more than bits and bytes that flow through our PDAs and laptop computers. Because what makes for really profound thinking isn't only a profusion of data and information: it is also an awareness of the uncertainty and totality of relationships that sustain life in all its forms.

This book is like a bottle of good wine. It just gets better as you keep reading. Claxton encourages us to follow our intuitions and develop ourselves into complete beings rather than logical, numbed, rational robots. Readers who enjoy this book may also appreciate Tor Norretrander's THE USER ILLUSION and Carl Honore's IN PRAISE OF SLOWNESS.

(Dr. Simeon Hein is the author of OPENING MINDS and PLANETARY INTELLIGENCE and composer of the CDs EARTH DREAMING and OPENING SKIES.)

There were more than a few times during the reading of this book where I thought "that makes total sense", or "this one idea alone is worth the cost of the book". Mr Claxton answered things that I had thought about but was never able to fully figure out or put into words.

The author talks about thinking less to understand more. I have read about that in other books, like The Breakout Principle, that talked of thinking on something, then letting it go, and the answer will come. Guy Claxton explained it better and now I understand why I constantly get answers to my questions and thoughts when I am doing mindless or simple repetitive tasks like running or driving.

This is an excellent book that answered many of my questions on how the mind works. It also answered questions I did not even realize until after I read about it.

The author is the ultimate teacher, presenting his material in several forms and different ways till you "get it". He filled a gap in my thinking about how we do things, showing me the third leg of the conscious, the cerebellum and now the unconscious in mediating our actions. He showed me how to use my mind to much greater advantage and he cleared up some of my thinking about Joseph Campbell's myths and psychoanalysis. I will now write down the pros and cons of material and back off, content that my "undermind" will sort things out to some extent.

Claxton takes a great idea -- the idea that sometimes our 'intuition' knows more than our conscious mind -- and drives it into the ground through endless repetition. After the first couple chapters nothing new is presented, just more and more (and more!) of the same.

His focus is almost exclusively Freudian, postulating a complete, functioning "undermind" which is inaccessible (or at least veiled) to consciousness. He utilizes many fascinating examples to bring together Einstein's ruminations, Heidegger's meditations, Coleridge's unconscious plagiarism, and literally hundreds more into a more-or-less coherent argument for 'unconscious knowing.' The fact that he lumps both 'flash insight' and 'extended contemplation' into the same category seems a bit strained, but after 200+ pages of wide-ranging testimony one is hard-pressed to reply.

His is a fascinating topic, touching many important areas (like the value of experiential learning over book learning) and the first couple chapters are real eye-openers. After that, unfortunately they tend to become eye-closers from the sheer volume of corroborative evidence.

Hare Brain, Tortoise Mind had a powerful impact on me. The book operates on the reader at two levels, just as Claxton says the mind operates. At the conscious, d-mode level, it presents powerful, experimental evidence for the deep influence in everyday life of the undermind. This is the unconscious mode of knowing through waiting, intuition, and thinking slowly.

At the second level, the book helped reshape and reorganize my understanding of the links between spirituality and "rationality."

Claxton is not a facile popularizer; he builds a profound and original bridge between the worlds of cognitive science and mysticism.

Too often, the life of the spirit and the life of the calculating, conscious mind are treated as two entirely separate realms of experience. Claxton helps the reader integrate these worlds. The effect on me was to create a felt sense of "Yes, that's it."

Read this book and tell your friends and your bookseller about it!

Hare Brain Tortoise Mind has created tremendous interest among those who want to gain a better understanding of human intelligence. According to John Cleese, author Guy Claxton provides "The essential guide to creative thinking" in a book published by The Ecco Press. Almost immediately we are informed that "Roughly speaking, the mind possesses three different processing speeds. The first is faster than thought....Below this, there is another mental register that proceeds more slowly still. It is often less purposeful and clear-cut, more playful, leisurely or dreamy....[the] third type of intelligence is associated with what we call ceativity, or even 'wisdom'."

With delicious wit as well as probing insight, Claxton helps us to understand learning by osmosis; the potential value of intuition and creativity to decision-making and problem-solving; why reason and intuition are sometimes antagonists; the phenomenon of perception without consciousness; the "rudiments" of wisdom; and, how to recognize situations in which there is greater need for the tortoise's "slower ways" than for those of the hare who, in many quests for understanding, either arrives later or not at all.

This is a very informative, highly entertaining book.

This is a terrific book if you have any interest in understanding your fellow humans and yourself. Claxton is a clear enticing writer with a rich source of research and background on his subject. The chapter on attention was particularly useful.

Length:: 0:58 Mins

A great resource for anyone working with creative people or wanting to think differently.
Nigel Collin
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