Customer Reviews

Mind Gym

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

 

 

From when you first open this book, it's clear it was written by a team of British writers-- dry humor, irony, and funny spellings for words we know (labour, for example.) Don't let that distract you though. This entire book series is exactly what it says on the cover: A series of exercises gathered from many decades of psychological research and business self-help experts in methods to improve your way of life.

In practice, this means it's much lighter reading than your average self-help book, and the advice is straight to the point.

Reading a typical chapter, however, does mean you're going to have to do some written or mental exercises to understand the best courses of action for you to take (bring a pen and paper). Between this and the relatively disjoint nature of the chapters, it's not a book you can read straight through. But then again, it never claims to be so. They even recommend which chapters you should read and skip, depending on what you hope to gain from this book.

This specific book is the third in the series, and it's dedicated to honing your self-confidence and people-handling skills. After a quick test, you discover there are four "training programmes": get what you want, be liked, be respected, and ride the storm. Each of these programs will have you skipping around through scattered chapters in the book, a little at a time, gathering some nicely distilled concentrated advice for each of a number of subjects ranging from assertiveness to conflict resolution to creativity exercises.

Like the other books in the series, it makes for excellent self-help reading in small chapter-size doses, without ever getting too involved. My only real criticism is the difficulty in reading the whole thing straight through-- with advice this valuable you want it all at once, but it stops being easy to read once you try to wade straight through it.

The MindGym was originally design for 90 minutes MIND EXCERSICES to improve your thinking and the way you see life.You have a lot of these excersises in the books.

So you can take one chapters and jump to a different one at will, or just read the section that appeal to you most. I believe the book is very useful to improve your thinking and very much well worth the time and anergy to implement in your daily life. Wake YOur Mind uP!

It is a UK book and has also arrived in Asia.

The materials are based on a lot of famous research materials on behaviour psychology, and there is nothing really striking new about it.

But the team of writers (and excersise designers) have made it as simple as possible without missing the ingredients.

I love this book and have recommended to a lot of friends...

this is a light reading for all who wants a little "refreshment" for the mind. lots of mental exercises to help you become happier, more efficient, motivated and creative. Of course to achieve the results, one need to practise but this book gives many practical tips and advice.

The book is a self-help Gym, but from the point of view of professional development: how our mental habits influence our performance, the way we communicate with others with more focus on typical work situations, etc. The topics cover a wide range of subjects like optimism, stress management (good and bad stress levels), conflict, communication, influence, creativity, arguing with yourself, time management, etc. There is some theory to accompany the exercises (brief explanations of studies performed on the specific topics), but without going into details.

This is a very easy reading and the organization is visually appealing; interesting information is highlighted in an outside box, etc. At the beginning of the book there is a questionnaire:

Design your own programme:
I wish that... (Rank all below statements as 1-Largely true, 2-Nice to have, 3-Yes please, great, 4-Fantastic, 5-Give my right arm)

* When I want someone to do something differently, they willingly agree
* I could turn the most heated argument into a constructive conversation
* I could put my worries away
* I was an original thinker

Based on your answers you can design your "workout" sesion, which means you go directly to the chapters & exercises that will help you improve in the desired areas.

I have ranked it 3 stars, since the material was not new to me, but for anyone that wants to read a good summary + training exercises, this a good book.

Amusing, a few helpful hints on visualization. The exercises on the web are worth trying but I expected a more comprehensive guide. Very easy reading.

This book is chock full of small, practical techniques for thinking in difficult situations. The author gives a guide or pathway through the techniques based on your own situation.

I just couldn't motivate myself to finish this book. It's sort of like a bad date. You just want it over asap. That's my feeling with this book. I donated it to the public library.

It's remarkable how the MindGym has captured so many of the key challenges we deal with in life in such a pithy, insightful and practical way -- and with such a cheeky, fun style. Full of research backing it all up and great examples.