8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Thinking about Thinking, September 17, 2005
Is genius level thinking only for the exceptionally gifted? Can we learn to think more effectively? If we understand our mind we
according to Joel Miller can apply our minds to understanding our minds. This is the ultimate power, the power of the mind to achieve high levels of mind consciousness. He challenges us by saying "you may be far better off, if you develop your own "right way"". Thinking is like fingerprints in that each of us is unique.
He highlights three skills:
1) Adaptability
2) Adept Manager of Information (Being the Architect of your own Information Management systems).
3) Creativity
We are powerful because of our ability to grow and adapt.
He talks about Yin and Yang phases of thinking that are natural and important (self-expressive, expansive... and then narrowing, self-correcting) like business cycles. It is the mind's way of learning from its experiences and errors. It we keep practicing we natuarally get better and better so stay out of the way. It is normal to learn.
He encourages us to learn by observing and understanding the thinking of people that we want to emulate. Do not demand things from the mind too quickly. Observe and respect the positive role of errors in our thinking.
Identify yourself as the empowered learner, see yourself as capable and adapting, as the one in charge.
Some helpful hints, monitor your progress, know your unique style, brainstorm, use the support of others, read for new perspectives. Use Analogies, timelines, prototypes, experiments, explore historical context, combine theory and practice.
Ten Tips from the Scientists
1)Make a lot of guesses, take a position, bold guesses from practice.Learn to love your mistakes.
2) Question the legitimacy of the problem... ie are you barking up the wrong tree. Are you sure you know what the problem is.
3) Question your assumptions, be aware of the them, write them down.
4) Try to do the impossible!
5) Respect your subconscious. Sleep on it.
6) Believe in the power of peer review
7) Cope with setbacks by taking a break, talking to a friend, using fresh approach. Don't be afraid to time-box solutions.
8) Love the hard work, don't wait for a Eureka Experience
9) Record interactions and side effects.
10) Don't be afraid to reinvent the wheel.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Review of Mind Magic by Elizabeth Saenger, Ph.D., November 15, 2004
In Mind Magic, Dr. Miller provides a framework for understanding how you can think better by becoming aware of how you think. This awareness includes becoming sensitive to specific styles of thinking that are neither right nor wrong, but will help you find the ways you personally learn best so you can use them when you need to acquire knowledge, solve a problem, or just understand yourself.
Dr. Miller also shows you how you can identify and overcome barriers in your thinking.
Within the book, Dr. Miller groups dozens of ideas together in manageable parcels so you can see the forest through the trees. He also brings together vivid vignettes and occasional descriptions of relevant research to help you make the most of your mind.
I once attended a seminar at the University of California at Berkeley on Piaget, one of the profound thinkers whose research influenced Dr. Miller and Mind Magic. I had just completed a Ph.D. at Harvard, but, as I told another psychologist at the end of class, "I didn't understand a word of this seminar. Did you?" She laughed and said, "Don't worry. I didn't understand anything either for the first two years."
Now, thanks to Dr. Miller, you can skip the Harvard Ph.D. and the years at Berkeley and read, in plain, simple English, how to apply the fruits of elegant theory and research to everything from tennis to your personal relationships to complex financial decisions.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Learn more intelligently, November 6, 2004
I liked this book because Dr. Miller has succeeded at the important task of building a bridge between learning theory and the real world. Jean Piaget, Seymour Papert, Marvin Minsky and others revolutionized ideas about learning and cognition - on par with Freud's revolutionary ideas about the subconscious. Unfortunately their insights have never really been translated for all the learners and teachers (and who isn't one) who could do their jobs better - indeed live better - with better understanding of the workings of human intelligence.
Our pervasive computers are such an easy but false metaphor for mind that today more than ever we need people like Dr. Miller who can open our eyes to the way our own minds really work - and suggest how we can use them better. This book spends most of its time on the practical applications of some very elegant theoretical and experimental results - without bogging the reader down in science, but with clever explanations accompanied by very clear paths back into the scientific literature for the interested reader to follow. What is most appealing is the practical presentation making the information usable. This is like having an Olympic coach with us on our morning jog instead of watching the Olympics on television. If you are a learner, a teacher, or a parent then read this book and approach learning with more understanding of the subtle, elegant and powerful processes involved.
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