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A hole in the mind

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Pink starts with the inarguable premise that we live in a changing economy. The smokestack industries moved overseas long since, and white-collar jobs are fast following. Countries with low labor costs, compared to the West, have growing pools of highly skilled technical workers. As a result, things like programming, accounting, and circuit design have changed from specialty skills to commodity tasks, just as happened with material goods like toasters, toys, and sneakers. Pink declares that the new differentiators include aesthetics, design, and the human experience. His examples include car manufacture considered as an art form, holistic legal services, and the medical value of doctors' empathy. Although I agree with many of Pink's points, the logical, left-brained underpinnings of his argument just aren't strong enough to support the weight of warm feelings piled onto them. For example, he notes that good product design has value to the product owner. Then, as a counter example, this book's front cover includes a die-cut that leaves little tongues of paper pointed out into the cut's opening. Those tongues catch on things, fray, and even tear into the cover around them. Mr. Pink: good design does not unintentionally self-destruct. Elsewhere, Pink notes the established fact that mothers commonly carry infants in their left arms. Because of a crossover in neural wiring, Pink asserts that this puts the child in contact with the woman's right brain. Well, maybe. It also frees the mother's right hand to stir the pot or do other work at the same time as kid care. Even left-handed mothers often carry their children on the left side, possibly because the heart is on the left and its rhythm tends to soothe the child. But no, Pink has taken the right-brain bit between his teeth and runs with it. As a result, he gently sweeps aside little things like the basic fact that right/left brain duality has always been stronger in men than in women, and that Asian researcher sometimes have trouble reproducing the results at all. It might, in fact, just be an artifact of Western males. I have an engineering degree, but art school training as well. At least one of the algorithms I developed was hard to describe, but physically obvious once my listener experienced it in her own hands - leaving her with the problem of explaining it to others. I understand the importance of the human terms in engineering equations. Unlike Pink, I also know that science and engineering are intuitive practices, and expressions of deep human feeling in themselves. I actually agree with Pink on many points. I just don't agree with his one-sided approach to two-sided problems, with his selectivity about facts friendly to his case, or with his weak logic in making the case that we need more than just logic. -- wiredweird

A whole new way to see the world

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A Whole New Mind is written for those who are looking to increase their abilities and engage their brain. The book offers a holistic approach to changing your life and changing how you see the world and approach problems. Pink makes the argument that we all need to incorporate more empathy and play into our lives because it enables one to relax, enjoy life more and engage the unused capacity of one's intellect. He makes a strong argument that our society pigeon holes us into thinking a certain way and approaching life without the tools we really need to enjoy it and get the most out of it. I can't do justice to his theories here, but the book is full of useful tips and strategies in addition to a call to action in your own life. Another great book I read this week that I strongly recommend because it changed how I think is The Emotional Intelligence Quick Book

A right brain look at economic development	Customer Rating:
This book is an excellent argument for the need for creativiity, decision making and other right brain functions in our current economic system. It points out that left brain functions can be sent overseas or computerized but the right brain functions add the most value. An easy read. We used it for the foundation of an arts leadership class.

Nutritious & Delicious	Customer Rating:
I loved this book. Very interesting. Very insightful. Like eating something nutritious and delicious. [...]

Don't they rule the present?

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This whole right-brain-left-brain thing is soooo left brain. Right brainers have no idea what the issue is about and perhaps it's better that way. But us left brainers have to sort and organize and categorize.... it's obsessive! The truth is that big-picture, extraverted, emotive people already are in the highest ranks of management. Check out our president. They may still be left-brained but far more right-brained than the lowly programmers and IT staffers. This is nothing new; while the techies labor long and hard to learn and problem solve, the right-brainers are smoozing and golfing their way up the corporate ladder. Now as to nurses and graphic artists ruling the world.... problem is these may be right brained jobs but the barriers to entry are low and so will be the salaries. An MFA may be the next MBA but it doesn't pay as well....