A DIY mentality and a small concern about the future of civilisation have led me to research all kinds of things. After a while the impression is gotten that I absolutely need to know how to do everything! Well Jackie French does and she is the bomb! Robert Heinlein said something once about specialisation being for insects. A man needs to know a great many things. However, how does one remember everything that one has read? How does make the most out of reading? And how does one manage to study for a degree without disturbingly unbalanced levels of stress?
The answer: Tony Buzan.
What a flippin’ revelation! Buzan comes through early in his book ‘Use Your Head’ with some big calls. He says things like he’s gonna show you how to unleash your mind, give you a ‘Swiss army knife for your brain’, show you the way to greater memory and make studying any subject a breeze. Sounds pretty good, but, come on…
However, after reading the book I am sold on all he has to say. He is a legend. He is the guy who created MindMaps, a concept most people are familiar with. Like Mollison and Holmgren (co-creators of Permaculture [capital P?]) were doing around the same time, Buzan drew inspiration from patterns found in nature to come up with solutions to human problems. Buzan had trouble studying and began to enquire about how to use his brain better. He found that unlike our preferred method of transmitting information linearly with books and words, our brains do not operate that way. Our brains are more complex, non-linear, integrative and associative things. So Tony created Mind Maps to match studying to the way our brains work. A Mind Maps inherent characteristic is a complex branching pattern that efficiently and effectively links, orders and presents information for the purpose of remembering; the brain cells in our brains, the mycelia of fungi and the internet (most likely the entire universe as well) house and access vast amounts of information in similar ways.
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| Visual representation of systems sharing nature of the internet |
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| Dark matter (majority of universe is made up of this apparently) on the left and myclelia of mushrooms on the right
After some minor experimentation with mind mapping for some exams I found it to be very helpful. It is especially relevant to studying systems and permaculture type stuff because of its integrative and visual aspects. Complex ideas and theories can be simplified and presented in a way that is pleasing to the eye. Also, studying is actually fun with mind maps, with all the drawing and the colour and you get to kind of create your own mini work of art; and each one is different. I reckon everyone with a brain should know about Tony Buzan and his Mind Maps and study techniques, get on to it and spread the word!
Here are a few of the first Mind Maps I have done
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