Use Your Head [Paperback]

Tony Buzan (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0563488999 | ISBN-13: 978-0563488996 | Publication Date: May 8, 2003 | Edition: 6th

Are you worried that you're not achieving your full potential? A few years after this classic book on how to improve your brainpower was first published, a fairly average student announced that he intended to try for a place at Cambridge University. His chances were assessed as slim', since his grades were usually unexceptional. But with the help of Use Your Head, he went on to achieve four As at A-level, two starred firsts at Cambridge and a top job with a multi-national company. Since 1974, Use Your Head has been translated into over 27 languages, has been published in five continents and 100 countries, has sold well over a million copies and still the demand increases! Use Your Head will: *Teach you the vital skills of Learning How to Think and Learn. *Increase your creative thinking and problem-solving capacity *Enable you to make the best of your brain *Provide you with both the confidence and the means to fulfil your own mental potential

Editorial Reviews

Review

'Use Your Head - Innovative Learning and Thinking Techniques To Fulfil Your Mental Potential'; '...I knew how to think - how to use my head. I was a C and B student before I knew how to get an A. I did it. Anyone can.'

From the Back Cover

Are you worried that you’re not achieving your full potential?

 

A few years after this classic book on how to improve your brainpower was first published, a fairly average student announced that he intended to try for a place at Cambridge University. His chances were assessed as ‘slim’, since his grades were usually unexceptional. But with the help of Use Your Head, he went on to achieve four As at A-level, two starred firsts at Cambridge and a top job with a multi-national company.

 

Since 1974, Use Your Head has been translated into over 27 languages, has been published in five continents and 100 countries, has sold well over a million copies and still the demand increases!

 

Use Your Head will:

• Teach you the vital skills of Learning How to Think and Learn.
• Increase your creative thinking and problem-solving capacity
• Enable you to make the best of your brain
• Provide you with both the confidence and the means to fulfil your own mental potential

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 168 pages
• Publisher: BBC Books; 6th edition (May 8, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0563488999
• ISBN-13: 978-0563488996
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,982,108 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Tony Buzan is the world-renowned inventor of Mind Maps and the multi-million copy bestselling author of Head First, Head Strong and The Mind Map Book. He appears regularly on television and lectures all over the world. His work has been published in 100 countries and 30 languages.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The Most Misleading Book on the Brain/Learning Ever!, April 13, 2005

By 

D.Rayt "D.Rayt" (UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Use Your Head (Paperback)

I have been interested in study techniques and improving my mind for some time. There are great books out there on reading technique, memory, note taking, communication etc, and the best of them use accurate explanations about how the mind works. This book is most definitely not one of them!

I made some great improvements in my learning abilities after reading books such as "Your Memory, and How to improve it" by Higbee, or "Reading Flexibly" by McWhorter. Then came the Buzan guru promise of being a superlearner, or a powerbrain mind mapper, in order to unleash the alleged 99% of my intelligence that I was not using.

The first chapter gave a story about a student who used mind mapping to get into Cambridge. Fine (but just imagine the countless students that swallowed the hype and failed their exams due to mind mapping)! Then there was an explanation of how he did it; He knew how his brain worked, and he used it properly. OK! However, the following chapter on how the brain works is so innacurate that it can only be described as misinformation. The left/right brain speculation and holographic theory of the mind are so feable they will only be useful as rhetoric for selling more books.

The section on reading takes a step backwards from even the most mediocre texts on reading. He emphasizes speed and clouds issues of comprehension (which are essential for good reading). As you may have heard from some speed readers, they can read at over 1000wpm. So can I, but unlike them, I do not fool myself and claim that my comprehension will increase.

The section on memory is basic 1960s psychology about the forgetting rate, and some very limited information about mnemonics. He does not even mention the method of loci (probably the oldest and most powerful techniques).

The chapter on mind mapping and study (MMOST) leads the reader up the garden path at every turn. Mind mapping as a graphic technique does not even use labeled links between concepts. Concept mapping does, and it leads to meaningful learning. Once again, Buzan opens a trapdoor for us to fall through. The study technique section (MMOST) is standard study technique, (except that the author evangelizes and raises expectation so high that anticlimax is guaranteed).

At the end of the book, the promises to lead the world to a vision of mental literacy are nothing more than sales pitch and cult building. If he did ever manage to teach the world to mind map, he would also be teaching the most innacurate information about the brain known to pseudoscience. He would also be training those people in self-delusion.

Get ANY other book on learning or study techniques, and you will be better off.

ATB
DRayt

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly recommended, January 17, 2005

By 

Yoni Meinrath (Sydney, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Use Your Head (Paperback)

Tony Buzan is smart - in two ways. Firstly, he is a good marketer. But full credit to him. He manages to achieve this while still sharing infinitely valuable tools for 'expanding' your mind. But secondly, he is at the forefront of the study of mnemonics (that's how to remember stuff). Use Your Head, the first in the 'BBC Mind Set' series is simply an overview of all the areas into which you can specialise by purchasing his other titles. I read his 'Use you Mind' title prior to reading this and I kid you not, from being a klutz when it came to remembering lists and faces, after 5 days I was remembering lists over 100 randomly ordered words. I could repeat them backwards, forwards, around the dinner table I got my family to test me by asking me what word number, for example, 86 in the list was and I could recall perfectly. They called me a freak. And the coolest thing about it was that it is simple. Like really simple. I guess that my advantage was that I was passionate about improving my memory and therefore incessantly practiced. But like I said - 5 days it took me! So I am a fan. I'm currently on page 98 of 'Use Your Head' and have already managed to improve my reading speed, today(!), from 250 words per minute to 470 words per minute. I'm now on the section about mind mapping, and have actually got his specialist mind mapping book, called funnily enough, 'The Mind Map Book' sitting on my desk ready to be read and practiced next. I'm already a top student in my studies, but I seriously cannot wait to get back to school to put all of this to use because I feel like my brain is actually working for the first time.
If you have to choose one book in his series, I would suggest 'Use Your Mind' (all about remembering), but that's just me. I promise you that if you approach it with the enthusiasm that I did and are willing to harass your friends and family into testing you, then you will see exactly what I mean. It's groundbreaking. And if you choose to ignore, that's cool, your loss.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Open Your Mind and Learn from the Best, June 9, 2005

By 

Old Nick "Nick" (UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Use Your Head (Radio Collection) (Audio Cassette)

Often villified because he breaks new ground continually, this book encouraged me to attend one of his seminars. I have to admit I found Mind Mapping difficult until then. After the seminar, with just a little practise, I found the technique is unbeatable. How else can you attend seminars/lectures, and come out with complete notes that cover everything you need. This book gives a broad overview of all his techniques and lets you experiment to find the ones you like. Once you have an overview then get the more specific titles, like Mind Mapping etc.

If you are at all interested in improving yourself this book is a must! Be Warned his techniques are not little tricks that can be applied instantly to make a little improvement. They are something you need to learn and practise, but when you do, they will change your life forever!