Tony Buzan (1942–2019)

Mind Map Mastery is written in a tone of breathless enthusiasm, which is only reasonable, since Buzan spent half a century promoting his idea. I'm a big fan of non-linear information organization*, enough so that I would up entirely reorienting my career around the idea of using social network analysis and graphs to understand research collaborations.

Mind maps are subtly different from other chart-like forms of presentation. A mind map starts with a central concept image, with curvy show more radiating branches going out in all direction. The first level of branches are thick and curvy, but subsequent levels trace graceful arcs. A proper mind map uses lots of colors, single word labels along the branches, and small drawings. Notably, a Mind Map is distinct from a spider chart, the more conventional graph with straight spindly lines connecting bubbles with words in them, and something I use a lot.

This book has some tables of exercises to help build your mind mapping skills. I'm skeptical of the absolute benefits in terms of memory, creativity, and organization that Buzan promises with his tool, and this brief book definitely isn't worth the $12 Amazon is charging for it (I got it for $3), but it's an idea that's interesting enough to make me track down some markers.

*Actually, the best form of data is bulk columnar, but every day Excel exists we stray further from God's Divine Light. show less

The could be a great book. Unfortunately it isn’t - it’s only good. It’s has good ideas and covers the leading memory systems. The problem is that the quality of the print is awful. It is riddled with typos and poor type setting. There are also inconsistencies with the word lists. And frankly some of the word choices as mnemonics seem quite poor - possibly chosen by an underlying who put the book together rather than by a master of memory. The other thing the book omits is discussion show more of a training or practice regime to put some of the ideas into practice. A shame, the first book by Tony Buzan which has (moderately) disappointed me. show less

Tony Buzan may be a master of the mind, but surely he's also a master of economics. You probably get the hang of Mind Maps after chapter 1 and how to use them after chapter 2. Then Buzan keeps on giving examples of fruit Mind Maps, Planning Family Events Mind Maps, Shopping Mind Maps, Ideal Future Mind Maps, Romantic Weekend Mind Minds, and so forth, and so forth.

Perhaps the idea was to publish a booklet in which the basic idea of Mind Maps is discussed. But Buzan is painstakingly trying to show more fill the pages. Although the booklet has about 100 pages, with about same amount of words per page it could have done with a lot less.

Furthermore, the book is presenting the Mind Maps as a revolution in the, for example, electronic toothbrush market. It already starts with the subtitle: 'The ultimate thinking tool that will change your life'. Big words for an organizing tool and the booklet is crammed with such vocabulary. I don't think Mind Maps need this kind of promotion. So to quote Dunx, a fellow LibraryThing member: "...five stars for Mind Maps, but I am rating the book so it only gets [two]." show less

I'm not 100% convinced a star rating serves a book like this well, unless I come back and re-rate it in a week, then a month, and perhaps some time next year.

Upfront, this a one-view method for speed reading. When the author's name has a TM, you know you're being fed a line from a very particular angle.

In principle the book lays down how we get tied into slow reading from childhood - because once we grasp the basics we're left floundering to work out anything more of our own accord - and show more how, if given the right guidance, incentive and motivation we can easily increase our rate considerably. Based on the fastest readers in the world, most people could - potentially - increase their speed tenfold - from 150 - 200 wpm to 1500 - 2000 wpm. The fastest speed readers manage getting toward 4000 wpm, so they're consuming one or more books an hour - and comprehending them, too.

To me, I can see the essentials laid down here, but like any skill it'll warrant practice. Motivation definitely figures heavily. Buzan indicates that most adults lose the motivation to read when they exit the education system and their rate drops down to the one they had when they started school. I hit the first test in this book at 156wpm (with 80% comprehension) and did the final test at 294wpm (with 66% comprehension). In the middle, I seemed to gain speed at a loss to comprehension... which, isn't practical or useful. However, if I continue to use the basic techniques and work at it every day - I hope both speed and comprehension will improve and stabilise.

Buzan suggests a doubling of speed is settling for second best (OK, I might be paraphrasing him a little), but if I can attain 300 - 400wpm with 80% comprehension, I'll be happy. If I read productively for 40 minutes in an hour and read for 8 hours a day - that's 128,000 words, which should cover most basic books, or at least a substantial part of them.

We'll see how I manage and improve over the next month - and I'll come back and adjust my review accordingly.

I suppose that I read the whole book (more of less) in one morning has something positive to say about the principles. show less