A great way to look at books...
In looking at my friend Tom Peter's website, I came across this cool way of noting and reviewing books. It's simple. It's elegant. It gets the message across.
Just take a photo of the spines of a couple of books - maybe that you've read, maybe that you just want to comment on... then make some notes over them, summarising what you think about them.
I was just rereading the course book for Train Your Brain. I wrote it a few years ago as part of the study skills courses that I was conducting at the time; there were several versions that I published between 1998 and 2001. What really struck me was how different my approach is today from when it was then.
Then, I focused on techniques. I taught students how to read faster, apply accelerated learning techniques and use mind mapping to give themselves greater access to the information that they had. Sure, learning skills techniques help students make more of themselves than they might otherwise have done; yet, to me it's only the tip of the iceberg. The real challenge is helping people go beyond their talents to focus on realising their dreams.
This afternoon, I had the honour of spending some time with a young engineering student. We ran through some techniques and strategies - mostly aimed at helping him cram for his upcoming exams. He has talent; he is interesting and very intelligent. What made our time together so much fun for me was the way that we were able to explore how to go beyond the ordinary... not just to read faster, not just to draw a mindmap, and not just how to better answer MCQs. It's going beyond the ordinary and helping people get access to that part of themselves that is uniquely suited and adapted to living the life and fulfilling the purpose that only they have... for me, that is where the real excitement lies.
I'm preparing for a new range of courses and products now... it's going to be fun!
posted by Daniel @ 5:55 pm
1 Comments:
Books are fascinating in that within every book a unique energy has been expressed and written. I often marvel at some of the great writers we have had throughout the centuries and how they affected our everyday lives. What inspired people to write like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; Author of Sherlock Holmes, Mary Shelly; Frankenstein and the wonderful poems that were written by Longfellow and Wordsworth etc. One of the things I notice today, is that poetry is becoming a thing of the past. If you have ever read "The Village Blacksmith" by Henry Wadsworth you get this description of a hardworking man who worked and spent his days around a fire manipulating metal and making horse shoes. Such poetical description inspires us to imagine and think. Poems have a special place in literature and yet how many do we know of today? Are poetry books being written and is poetry 'cool' in our modern world? Libraries are fascinating places and I often wonder what the Library of Alexandria would have been liked which Julius Caser burnt to the ground in Egypt? What information was within this Library and have we lost significant and important information as a result? Books give us an insight into our past and like Sherlock Holmes as a basic understanding we can explore London during the late 19th Century. We can also begin to understand why Dr Jeckell and Mr Hyde was written. This was the result of the author, Robert Louis Stevenson undergoing the crippling symptoms of Tuberculous where he would break out in voilent episodes while penning this book. Also why John F Kennedy wrote "Profiles in Courage" while lying in his sick bed recovering from back surgery. Books are a tool to allow for expression of thought and views. What you say is very true that books are wonderful pieces of information.
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