Customer Reviews

Use Your Head

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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

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.

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!

Well, nice new cover. After 30 years or so, the author has actually started summarising some of his info into mindmaps (the trademarked property of the author's company). However, he doesn't put them at the end of the chapter, just in the centre spine.

OK. So he says you see 1000 slides, and you can recognise them perfectly. Then he confuses the reader by inferring your recall works the same way. Wrong and misleading!

You only use 99% of your potential. Why is this relevant? This positively screams at you that miracles can be obtained from his book and narrow methods. More salespitch!

He does a survey on learning. Did you learn about memory techniques at school? Then, just to help you out, he says NO! at the response part of every question. This really is leading the reader up the garden path. I realise most people are not too keen on their school memories, but I believe the author is blindsiding the reader and insulting all teachers. I guess he also uses this kind of mind control in his seminars.

He says that the greatest invention of all time is note taking (advance in communication of ideas). However, he also goes on to say you should use mind maps instead of linear notes. Mind maps are obviously just awful for communication. They can't even stand on their own! Why doesn't he come clean and just say a mind map is a kind of glorified scratch pad, the sort people have been using for years?

He narrows the reader's mind in his writing in order to sell his other books, and he promotes some very limited and narrow techniques while blocking out some of your already well learned strategies for coping with life. He promotes himself as a guru, and uses mind control throughout. The methods have a cult following. What else can I say?

Apart from that, he writes fairly well

This book is not about learning to learn. All it does is blinker the reader to buy more of the redundant same.

This is a really great book to help you unlock your potential and use your brain more effectively. It shows you various techniques to read faster, have improved memory and order your thoughts, as well as other ideas and concepts. You can go on to read the other books in the series if so inspired, but you have all you need in this one book to make an effective start. A great book, if you take the time to apply and practise the techniques.

Feel free to check out my blog which can be found on my profile page.

This is a book that can change your life!

The book explains to us the great potential of our brain . It also shows us how to make learning easy. It contains hand- on exercises for the readers to do. I like Buzan's way of presenting the materials. It is easy to read though the chapter on MMOST especially the graph under overview is rather incomprehensible.

This book teaches you how to learn effectively, which means learning and recalling what you have learned, applying what you have learned. Many people have undergone training and seminars and are not able to remembered what they have learned not to mention applying it in their daily life.

Have difficulties in your studies or learning new stuff? Get hold of this book and learn mind mapping to make learning a fun!