How to Tap into Your Own Genius [Paperback]

Thomas Dale Cowan (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 156 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster (Paper) (November 1984)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671530712
• ISBN-13: 978-0671530716
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.2 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,847,133 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars GOOD PRIMER FOR TAPPING LEFT SIDE OF THE BRAIN, May 14, 2008

By 

Elaine Campbell "Desert Dweller" (Rancho Mirage, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: How to Tap into Your Own Genius (Paperback)

As this book's author, Thomas D. Cowan, Ph.D., avers: "The voice of genius speaks to everyone. Unfortunately, most people never hear it." Dr. Cowan categorizes under "Genius" such qualities as "intuition, imagination, inspiration, the inner self, the unconscious, psyche, soul, creativity...".

I love his quote of Robert Frost when he was asked about his source of inspiration for writing poetry. Frost replied that it involved "the delight in remembering something I didn't know I knew."

That's what this book is about. Dr. Cowan has a thorough knowledge of his subject. He served as professor of history at several universities in Memphis, Tennessee, and is very well-read. He points out that "genius doesn't depend on IQ, special talents or advanced education. Each one of us has inborn genius that can empower us to live, work and think in more creative and intelligent ways."

Now, Dr. Cowan offers simple mental techniques and exercises to open up what may be for many an unknown part of themselves, or only faculties that are partially known. For many people whose lives have taken them down numerous rational paths, this book could be valuable in expanding their nature and self-knowledge. It is an honest book. The author obviously cares very much about his subject.

I would add that for those who have been deeply involved in the arts, or the recording of dreams, or even the practices of shamanism, the occult, visionary work, etc., perhaps the exercises presented would be too rudimentary. I think this book would best benefit those who have not yet begun to explore the intuitive side of their nature. In short, it would be a good way to "get going."

Dr. Cowan says it best: "Let's start listening to genius by silencing the voice of reason. We will begin to think in feelings, images, and other nonlinear elements. It's the vital first step in discovering how the world of genius operates."

This brings to mind the following statement of Picasso: "I do not invent things -- I find things!"

Hats off to Dr. Cowan for creating a succinct, clear, forward and tangible teaching of a complex, and in the modern world sadly overlooked, topic to help readers become acquainted with their "first and original nature".