Customer Reviews

Make the Most of Your Mind (A Fireside book)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is a must for everyone from school children to the business person. It will help you :-

Realize how much you already know
Improve information retention
Improve the recalling of that information
Read more efficiently
Learn more efficiently

I came across Tony Buzan's work in 1990, when I had just started studying for a degree whilst working full time. It was not until I read this book that I actually learnt how to learn quicker, more efficiently and be able to access that knowledge easier.

Throughout this book you are given examples, explanations and tests that you can use to prove to yourself within minutes that what you have just been told works. In fact, not only are you told at the start how incredible your brain is and how much you already know, but this book then helps you proves it !!

Each chapter could be a book in its own right, however the aim of this book, quite rightly, is to give you 80% of the benefit for 20% of the effort.

Four stars only as this is more of the 'popularisation' of the right brain/left brain stuff and, if you haven't come across that before then there's something of interest. However, most of the topics are covered without detail and so the the book is more a primer for Tony's other works than something you can read and utilise.
If you have some of the other generic intros to 'brain power' then you don't need this one. If you need a starting point then this should open many a synaptic vista...enjoy

Clear, easy to read and understand. This book is not only practical, it can also change lives of those who take the lessons seriously. Applications from this book have made me effective in teaching a graduate school elective called Integrative Systems for Intuitive Natural and Creative Technologies (In.St.I.N.C.T.). The subject is very well recieved and is offered in three of the top business schools in the Philippines. Thanks to people like Buzan, we can become more confident, creative and meaningful in our lives & work. An excellent all occasion gift...

I must preface this review with two key points:

1 - this is the only book of this subject I have read, so my review lacks relativity

2 - my review and subsequent 5 star rating is based on the memory section only. I read this book only with the intention of improving my memory and thus I did not put forth much emphasis on the other elements of the book.

With that out of the way, I can attest first hand that this book's promise to improve your memory is an understatement. I applied the principals in this book and within hours was able to accomplish memory outcomes that I figured were only available to savants. That statement might sound ridiculous and possibly even comical, but it is verifiably true!

Relating to my first disclaimer, it is quite possible there are a number of memory books that offer the same easy procedures of increased memory. I would bet on it in fact, as these procedures seem too simple and the results too great to merely be limited to one book. However on a singular view, this book delivers exactly what I was hoping for in terms of improving memory and does not stop there.

As a result of the memory principals in this book, I was able to improve my retention at a remarkable pace. Within an hour of using the principals, I was able to retain 24 to 25 out of 25 items in forward and reverse order. Essentially if you are shown 25 random items (or pictures of them, or told of them) and then asked to recite them, how many would you anticipate remembering? Try it out. Open a magazine and scan through the first 25 pages reading only the first word, and then try to write down as many of those words as you can remember. The average person recites less than 10. After reading this book, and with a little practice, I was retaining 24 to 25 every time and also being able to retain them in any order (pick any of the pages and cite the words forward and backward from that page).

Over time (a year) I improved this skill to over 100. This may seem like an incredible statement, but I assure you that not only is it accurate, but with the techniques in this book and a lot of practice, nearly anyone can obtain this skill set; I am wholly convinced of that. I am now also able to count into an entire deck of cards using only what I leaned in this book. I am able to be given a long list of grocery items and without writing them down, remember well over 50 without missing a single one. Sound too implausible? I would have thought so too and so writing this now gives me immense pleasure.

I do not assert that I am above anyone's intelligence as a result of being aware of this skill set. Please do not mistake my statements of retention as conceit, because I really do believe that anyone reading this very review is quite capable of the same with this book and a little persistence.

If improving your memory is your goal, I recommend this book fully.

For people who want to learn how to maximize their gray matter, this book is the place to start. it's clear, concise and teeming with food for thought. I read it twice. The book is even better the second time around. It's like a good movie you never grow tired of watching. You'll come away with an enormous appreciation for the brain's compacity and inspiration to put this center of thought to better use.

This book was the main reason I got 'A's in science GCSE's and A levels in the 1970s, when they were hard :-) Good to see it's still in print. Study this book, using the techniques it recommends, and then apply them to your school studies.

Fairly decent book. Goes over several topics- speed reading, memory building, basic biology of memory, and so forth.
Doesn't go very much in depth on any particular subject.

I purchase the book "Make the Most of Your Mind" in April of 2011. In the small amount of time that I have own the book there has been benefits. It is well written and very simple to understand. The mind is explained clearly and the exercises that are available can give comforts with learning and creativity. I would suggest this author to any customer of amazon with interest in accelerated learning. Intelligence is a skill that Tony Buzan found ways to build.

This is a book that works. I benefit from Tony Buzan's wisdom every day. Each time I ready, study, or prepare to speak, Buzan's instructions guide me into greater productivity. There are dozens of self-help books and memory improvement guides. None match the simplicity and power of this one. Buy this book and avoid the rest.

I read a lot of books on the mind etc. and this book is one that I highly recomend.