Mindhacker: 60 Tips, Tricks, and Games to Take Your Mind to the Next Level [Paperback]

Ron Hale-Evans (Author), Marty Hale-Evans (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 6, 2011

Compelling tips and tricks to improve your mental skills

Don't you wish you were just a little smarter? Ron and Marty Hale-Evans can help with a vast array of witty, practical techniques that tune your brain to peak performance. Founded in current research, Mindhacker features 60 tips, tricks, and games to develop your mental potential. This accessible compilation helps improve memory, accelerate learning, manage time, spark creativity, hone math and logic skills, communicate better, think more clearly, and keep your mind strong and flexible.

Hacks include:

• Remember to Remember
• Build a Memory Dungeon 
• Mix Up Your Facts
• Space Your Repetitions
• Recall Long-Ago Events  
• Establish Your Canon 
• Write in Your Books 
• Read at Speed 
• Learn by Teaching 
• Play the Learning Game 
• Pretend You’re a Grad Student
• Study Kid Stuff 
• Polyspecialize
• Integrate Your Interests
• Sift Your Ideas
• Ask the Hive Mind
• Write Magnificent Notes
• Keep a Mental Datebook
• Tell Time Who’s Boss
• Meet MET
• Get Control of Yourself
• Locate Lost Items
• Huffman-Code Your Life
• Knock Off Work
• Manifest Yourself
• Woo the Muse of the Odd
• Seek Bad Examples
• Turn a Job into a Game
• Scrumble for Glory
• Salvage a Vintage Hack
• Mine the Future
• Dare to Do No Permanent Damage
• Make Happy Mistakes
• Don’t Know What You’re Doing
• Ratchet
• Roll the Mental Dice
• Abduct Your Conclusions
• Think Clearly about Simple Errors
• Notate Personally
• Notate Wisely
• Engineer Your Results
• Enter the Third Dimension
• Enter the Fourth Dimension
• Spell It Out
• Read Lips
• Emote Precisely
• Streamline Your Shorthand
• Communicate Multimodally
• Mediate Your Environment
• Acquire a Taste
• Try Something New Daily
• Metabehave Yourself
• Train Your Fluid Intelligence
• Think, Try, Learn
• Take the One-Question IQ Test
• Cultivate Beginner’s Mind
• Take a Semantic Pause
• Retreat and Reboot
• Get Used to Losing
• Trust Your Intelligence (and Everyone Else’s)

Visit the Mentat Wiki at www.ludism.org/mentat/Mindhacker for more information on tuning your brain to peak performance.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"What I enjoyed most was that the book generally managed to avoid the overblown language and hype of most "hack" books and instead focused on practical applications and realistic assessments of how effective a particular strategy might be. Even without the hype, I found the book motivating and it encouraged me to explore subjects that were new to me and consider ideas for self-education, self-improvement, and creativity."
—Michael Corayer, MichaelCorayer.com

"Many of the hacks here take advantage of the fact that the way you see your mind and your world are often radically related, if not often the same thing. What I mean is that a lot of these are not just mental exercises, but tricks for productivity, ways to communicate better, hacks for breaking bad habits, tips for time management, and creative ways to be more creative. It's not just about the hacks though. Mindhacker is also stocked with other (re)sources: Relevant URLs, books, and articles are listed on every page, along with the stories of the hacks' origins, and the book's website has even more, including pieces of code as well as complete programs."
—Roy Christopher, RoyChristopher.com

"The examples mentioned are just a couple that I found immediately useful, but this book seems like one I will return to again and again. Areas that may not seem as pressing to me today may well become very important to me tomorrow, and Mindhacker may be my best hope yet in fighting off senility."
—Greg Barbrick, BlogCritics

"There's a real embarrassment of riches in this book, all of which are well-researched and scientifically rigorous, which reflects Ron’s psychology background. This is a book that seems tailor-made for browsing. "Mindhacker" is extensively cross-referenced. When you pick this book up, you'll find yourself zooming around the pages, bouncing from hack to hack to hack. I was already a fan of the previous book, "Mind Performance Hacks," and this is certainly a worthy sequel, in spirit if not in fact. It will definitely become part of my personal canon, and if you're really serious about stretching your mind, it should be part of yours, too."
—David Delony, Walyou.com

"Mindhacker really is a good match to Grey Matters readers, as it is all about improving your mind, and having fun while doing so. It's approachable, educational, fun, and neither intimidating nor condescending in tone. I highly recommend Mindhacker. If you haven't already picked up "Mind Performance Hacks," do your mind a favor and pick them up together."
—Scott Cram, Grey Matters blog

From the Back Cover

Hack your mental OS and make your brain work better than ever

They say the mind is a computer, right? Boost its performance with this collection of mind-blowing ideas to improve your memory, creativity, logic skills, communication, and more. Put these tips to work, and you'll find your mind processes information more efficiently than you ever thought possible.

Be more creative and productive by

• wooing the muse of the odd

• making happy mistakes

• mining the future

Manage your time with

• a mental datebook

• MET (Mission Elapsed Time)

• a different type of clock

Master math and logic with

• your own personal notations

• the use of abduction

• a trip to the fourth dimension

Improve your memory by

• building a memory dungeon

• mixing up your facts

• spacing your repetitions

Enhance your learning ability when you

• identify your personal sacred books

• learn by teaching

• study kid stuff

...and 45 more!

Visit www.wiley.com/go/mindhacker for code, various programs, and a few surprises

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 408 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (September 6, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1118007522
• ISBN-13: 978-1118007525
• Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 0.8 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #31,880 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing Book, Highly Recommended For Just About Everyone, September 4, 2011

By 

Bradley Bevers "the lucid blog" (Brenham, TX) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mindhacker: 60 Tips, Tricks, and Games to Take Your Mind to the Next Level (Paperback)

With a book that covers as much ground as Mindhacker, its hard to know where to start. The authors have written a book that is chock full of brilliant techniques to save time, money, and brainpower. If you find just one tip you can use out of the 60 that are offered, it will be worth the cost of the book - the information is really that good. I have listed just a few of my favorite chapters below, some of the ones that I will definitely be implementing in my own life.

Hack 2: Build A Memory Dungeon - Ever since I read Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything a few months ago, I have been fascinated with memory palaces and how to use them. One of the problems I have had in implementing this is running out of locations for my memory palaces. This hack solves that problem, and then some. This is a great idea that will give you virtually unlimited memory palace locations that you can visit and memorize from the comfort of your couch. Worth the cost of the book by itself.

Hack 4: Space Your Repetitions - Great idea for using an open source program to memorize anything you want to quickly and easily.

Hack 7: Write in Your Books - This hack teaches 3 easy ways to go beyond writing in the margins and highlighting your books. You will understand and enjoy books more by using these techniques. Really great. Also, Hack 6: Establish Your Canon is an excellent essay on why you should read great books, what they are, and how to define them in your own life.

Hack 8: Read At Speed - The authors have condensed the best advice about speed reading down to four pages . . . great advice that will save you close to a hundred dollars and many, many hours of studying all of the books that focus exclusively on speed reading.

Hack 12: Study Kid Stuff - A great list of resources and websites that will help you relearn quickly all that you have forgotten. Great advice, easy to use, and free.

The Hacks that I have listed above are just the ones I really liked in the first two Chapters on Memory and Learning, and there are 48 more hacks to choose from throughout the book.The other chapters cover information processing, time management, creativity and productivity, math and logic, communication, mental fitness, and clarity. There aren't any clunkers here, a rarity for a book like this - the hacks in the time management and creativity chapters are especially good. Half of the fun in a book like this if finding which of these hacks really work for you.

All in all, this is a brilliant book that delivers on what it promises. Its written by a couple of geeks who have condensed great information into bite size pieces that will help you in many ways. Highly, Highly Recommended.

While I think this one is the best of the bunch, by far, see these also: Mind Hacks: Tips & Tools for Using Your Brain, Mind Performance Hacks: Tips & Tools for Overclocking Your Brain (same authors as Mindhacker), and Lifehacker: The Guide to Working Smarter, Faster, and Better (almost all computer tips, not brain tips, but still very helpful).

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic for those people interested in expanding their minds, October 6, 2011

By 

Michael Frink - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Mindhacker: 60 Tips, Tricks, and Games to Take Your Mind to the Next Level (Paperback)

I'm not one to normally review products, but after reading Mind Performance Hacks, Ron's previous book, I've been waiting for this one to come out. Finally it did, and I got it on my Kindle.

Kindle layout is great, the only problem I have with it is that this is a book that will be begging for you to write things in the margins. I know that you can add notes with the Kindle, but trust me, you will want a paper copy due to the sheer amount you will want to note up this book.

Like his previous book, this one contains some great ideas on how to super charge your thinking process. While it may seem silly, the info on generating random numbers in your head was worth the price of the book to me by itself. The information on memory had some new ideas that I had never heard before, despite owning almost every book on memory on Amazon.

I can also say this, I have read about three books on speed reading, and Ron is able to sum up all the information that I have found in them into one chapter. This chapter is EASILY worth the cost of the entire book.

In short, buy this book. However, I do recommend the paper copy, if anything just to fill it with your own thoughts and ideas. Remember, it is your brain, once you learn the different hacks you can modify them to suit you.

24 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Am I missing something?, November 8, 2011

By 

Jane Rosenthal (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mindhacker: 60 Tips, Tricks, and Games to Take Your Mind to the Next Level (Paperback)

(What's this?)

I don't get this book. I tried, but really I don't get it. I am an educational psychologist who researches memory, learning, and motivation so I thought this book would be good for me to read, but instead I am confused. The book goes through various "hacks" in the areas of Memory, Learning, Information Processing, Time Management, Creativity and Productivity, Math and Logic, Communication, Mental Fitness, and Clarity. Within each of these categories, however, I am not sure what kind of learning they are aiming for. There are suggestions ranging from making a list of top 100 books, writing a manifesto, counting to a zillion on your fingers, and lots of other ideas that I am not sure how they tie into memory and learning. It seems more like how to make something more challenging than it might need to be. There are also complicated ideas for writing computer programs, making your life more like Star Trek, and lots of ideas in that vein. It just didn't do it for me and I didn't understand what the hacks were supposed to accomplish.

There were a few good websites and resources, such as flashcard programs. But, as it is a problem with many books, there is a risk that these websites and online resources will be obsolete or be replaced with better things. Instead I wish the authors had stuck with better ideas well-grounded in psychology and learning theory, rather than their "hacks."

Overall, this seems to be a book of limited use and applicability. A true computer aficionado would probably find it interesting, but for the average person looking for memory tricks the strategies might be more work than it's worth.