A Whole New Mind

Graham Crackers Can Blog

A Whole New Mind

The human brain one side completely useless, the other side an intelligent, complex, and superior.  This is what was thought of the brain for a very long time. Studies in 1950 show that this theory could be wrong.
That the the useless right hemisphere of your brain is just as important as the once thought superior left hemisphere.

Studies of the right and left brain show that the left brain is analytic, while the right brain is creative. The left brain handles language, science, logic and more.  The forgotten right brain handles emotions, creativity, and more.  The author of A Whole New Mind, Daniel Pink, explains in the paragraph "Right Brain Rising"  that the right hemisphere is just as important as the left hemisphere.

Imagine having a stroke and only be able to use one hemisphere of your brain. This happened to neuroscienctist Jill Bolte Taylor, during her stroke she could only use the right hemisphere of her brain. Making Doctor Taylor look at the world through a different perspective. She was not able to to speak because she lost use of the left side of her brain.

"Creativity is intelligence having fun."
                                        -Albert Einstein
“Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.”
                                                   -Albert Einstein      
                                                                                                                           
 

GrahamCrackers can Blog

How can the human mind work at its most efficient, prime, and outstanding state?  According to the author of Discovering and Exploring Habits of Mind, Arthur L. Costa and Bena Kallick, there are certain habits that can help accomplish that.

• Persisting- According to the text people who persist “Have a repertoire and employ a range of alternative approaches.”  The authors also say, “If one strategy doesn't work, they know how to back and try another.”
• Thinking Flexibly- In the text one of the important features to thinking flexibly is, “Trusting their subconscious to continue creative and productive work of on it.”

One observation I made about this passage was that persisting and thinking flexibly contradict, in persisting Discovering and Exploring Habits of Mind says that you must stick to the problem try different techniques to solve the problem, yet in thinking flexibly you need to move on and let your subconscious take care of the problem.  I believe there is a breaking point where people should stop persisting and come back to the problem later.Having these traits among others need to be balance and work in harmony in order to have the best possible mind

 Another problem in the actual text was every entry started with good problems, this seemed very redundant.


Another book that I read, I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak had a main character with these qualities. The main character, Ed, was an average guy, he had to dig deep and use these habits of the mind to solve other peoples problems along with his own.