The Introvert's Party

Before I begin, I try to do my "parties" on the weekend but because Tuesday is Valentines Day, in the spirit of festivities (not that I am the biggest fan of the Hallmark-iday), I am postponing the party 'til then.

"Artmap" via Roberta Faulhaber

 Anyway, I'm in the middle of Sir Ken Robinson's book The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything, which he talks about in one of his TED speeches (nb: he calls it "The Epiphany" in the speech in case you have no luck searching for that on Amazon).  While a lot of it has been elaboration of concepts shared in his talks and some repeat anecdotes, the main theme of the book is especially intriguing to me.  How did you discover your passion?  How did Matt Groening discover his?  Or Aaron Sorkin?  Mick Fleetwood?

This isn't a book review, since I haven't even finished it, but several chapters discuss the effects of traditional education on our perception of intelligence (how we quantify it, the types and consequential hierarchy that emerged) and assessments of personality types/intelligence and their profound flaws (profound!).  Prefacing his discussion of the Hermann Brain Dominance Instrument, which indicates the most used quadrant of your brain instead of trying to place you in a finite set of personalities, Robinson recalls his own visually-oriented daughter who was struggling through her history lectures (and the bullet point approach to studying).  He suggested that she create a mind map to help her study.

Wait, what? A mind map, a technique created by Tony Buzan.  I am slow to a lot of things and the product of almost year-round traditional schooling for almost 20 years.  The only ways that I was taught to study were:

• index cards
• Venn Diagram
• outlines
• Flow Charts (similar to mind maps but not quite) 
• occasionally song
• holding your cards at a 45 degree angle above your line of sight
• pacing (which is actually how I best memorize lines, but study shouldn't just be rote)

This is a mind map (in case this you're as new to this as I am, which admittedly is sad.  I am very sad).

The life of Marie Curie

Why is this such a revelation to me?  Because I was that kid who listened better in church when I doodled on my bulletin.  I write on unlined paper.  I write diagonally and in many different fonts and styles.  I draw pictures to remind me of a concept.  All of my brainstorming notebooks basically look like pieces of a mind map by way of idea regurgitation but I never thought to absorb information in the same way.

Are you like that?

These are not just lists, they're cartoons, stories, art.  They are a connection of ideas, facts, colors, images, and space.  This is how I think.  This makes sense to me.  I just wish I knew that when I was in school, though I guess in a lot of ways I've been doing this all along.

When Dr. Robinson asked his daughter if the mind map helped her study, she didn't just recount a few facts she had memorized, but rather spent forty minutes regaling him with the events of the Civil War in detail that the visual representation of the lectures had helped her learn. 

So enjoy a few mind maps that I have found to be particularly lovely, some might say chaotic but they are quite soothing to me:

This is exactly how I think!

Mind Maps via Austin Kleon.  Check out more at his blog.  They're awesome.

via blog

And reposted from another blog I love, The Art of Manliness, regarding note taking strategies.  Colors always help.

Mind map by Phillip Chambers

And, from the website Mind Map Inspiration, run by Paul Foreman.

I love maps.  LOVE maps.

via Matthew Cusick

Go check out his other map collages.  Holy crap they are amazing.

I'm always blown away by the work of artists in niche mediums.  I've been trying to do some research on smoke art for my book (ideas welcome) and there are just stunning images online.

If you want more info on mind maps, Tony Buzan's written a bunch of books on them.  He also has a video on youtube but it's a bit cheesy and dated. Personally, I think I get it and Ken Robinson's book is plenty for me.

Happy weekend, Party Goers.  How do you think?  How do you learn?