Our mind can think faster and function better if we use it in a more effective fashion that utilizes the way it naturally stores and processes information. This is according to Tony Bouzan’s book titled “How to Mind Map, the thinking tool that will change your life.”

An initial look at the book might leave one with a negative first impression, especially if one is used to bulky, dry, complicated, and text based books. However, there is more to this book than initially meets the eye. Actually, after reading the book, one would understand better its format and layout, with all its colorful demonstrations, relatively big size font, double space paragraphs, and relatively low number of words per page. It is as if this book is written in a way that appeals more to the creative side of the human mind than the analytical judgmental side, or what the author calls the linear way of thinking. Maybe this is why the book might leave a lasting positive effect on a person’s understanding of his own human brain and how it functions. It makes one more aware of the mind’s line of thought and how it analyzes and memorizes information. The interesting thing is that the book does this in a very simple and comfortable way.

There is definitely more information in the book that one’s mind will catch on to than the simple text and pictures it contains. As if the book hypnotizes a person and short circuits learning in a fast forward manner to the brain.

Another nice thing about the book is that reading it it feels like the mind is reading and registering the information, without a person’s intervention. I know this sound weird, but I think one has to try to read the book to recognize the feeling. The most important thing is to read the book in an open minded way leaving skepticism and judgment aside until one is entirely done with the book.

 Also, to realize the full benefits of the book, one must try out developing one of these mind maps the book talks about. It might not seem that way until one tries it. It is a fun exercise in itself and feels so natural. It also helps turn otherwise overwhelming amount of information into a simple mind map that is so natural for one to read and use. I tried it personally and used colors as well as graphics in developing my own mind map of a day of “honey do’s” with my wife. Not only did I enjoy the mind map, but I also enjoyed, checking off things off of it as I got them done. Also, it was easy for us to prioritize things that we wanted to do based on urgency, importance, and personal interest. It made the whole exercise a fun one, believe it or not. I felt like a kid with a bunch of colors on a mission to do his masterpiece.

The book talks about how the brain processes and stores information. The brain does not store plain text. It is much more complicated than that. It stores information, interrelationship among these information, as well as attributes of these information. All of this is done using images and colors, not monotone text. This is why the writer of the book advises readers to simulate their brain function when they try to use, access, or store information in the brain. This process is called mind mapping. By simulating the way the brain functions, one becomes more effective at reaching information stored so far into one’s brain, and in processing information towards decision making. It also helps one’s memory and understanding of information.

The idea behind mind maps is relatively simple, and it depends on images, colors, relationships, and attributes of different artifacts related to the subject at hand. There is no one way to draw a mind map, but it helps immensely organize ideas and expanding one’s thinking towards better problem solving.

My next step is to work with my kids to teach them how to do their own mind maps. With kids’ uninhibited creativity, I am looking forward for this exercise to yield some interesting, fun and enriching results for them as well as for myself.

The book was published late 2002 by Harper Collins. It is a brief book despite the fact that it has 128 pages, but many of them contain simple demonstrations and little text. It is a fun book to read on vacation if you are a book worm, or for a quick read over a weekend.