“The Organized Mind”
In the Information Age, data overload can be downright suffocating. Each day, average Americans are bombarded by the equivalent of 174 newspapers of data; five times as much information as we processed daily in the mid-eighties. The book by neuroscientist Daniel J. Levitan (This is Your Brain on Music) schools readers on cutting-edge brain science that can help them hold the reins even under the constant onslaught of information. By combining fascinating facts with practical pointers, The Organized Mind keeps your attention even as it teaches you to manage your life-and remember when to pick up the kids.
“information overload.”
It reminds us of tweets, texts, emails, the endless stream of interesting articles on Facebook, those viral videos we can’t help but click on, the numerous phone photos and videos we take, Secret posts, fleeting Snapchat photos and more.
But actually the cognitive flood can be even simpler than that. By one calculation, we’ve created more information in the last 10 years than in all of human history before that.
All of this is more information than the brain is configured to handle. The conscious mind can pay attention to three, maybe four, things at once.
Considering that Americans took in five times as much information every day in 2011 as they did in 1986, we have to make a conscious effort to beat back the flood. Here are Levitin’s top 10 tips for thinking straight, overcoming procrastination and putting in less time but getting more done. Source: Forbes Contributor Laura Shin
The information age is drowning us
with an unprecedented deluge of data. At the same time, we’re expected
to make more—and faster—decisions about our lives than ever before. No
wonder, then, that the average American reports frequently losing car
keys or reading glasses, missing appointments, and feeling worn out by
the effort required just to keep up.
But somehow some people become quite accomplished at managing information flow. In The Organized Mind,
Daniel J. Levitin, PhD, uses the latest brain science to demonstrate
how those people excel—and how readers can use their methods to regain a
sense of mastery over the way they organize their homes, workplaces,
and time.
With lively, entertaining chapters
on everything from the kitchen junk drawer to health care to executive
office workflow, Levitin reveals how new research into the cognitive
neuroscience of attention and memory can be applied to the challenges of
our daily lives. This Is Your Brain on Music showed how to better play and appreciate music through an understanding of how the brain works. The Organized Mind shows how to navigate the churning flood of information in the twenty-first century with the same neuroscientific perspective.
Meet The Author: The Praise
DANIEL J. LEVITIN, PhD, is
the James McGill Professor of psychology and behavioral neuroscience at
McGill University—where he also teaches in the graduate school of
business—and dean of the College of Arts and Humanities at the Minerva
Schools at KGI. The author of two New York Times bestselling books, This Is Your Brain on Music and The World in Six Songs, he splits his time between Montreal and Orinda, California.
DJL holds the
Bell Chair in the Psychology of Electronic Communication. Before
becoming a neuroscientist, he worked as a session musician, sound
engineer and record producer. He has written extensively both in
scientific journals and music trade magazines such as Grammy and Billboard.
“Lost your keys or glasses? Blame your brain.”
Critics of every expansion of information access (writing,
printing press, TV, Internet, social media) warn that the information
expansion has gone too far and will make us stupid.
While disagreeing,
Levitin admits that brains evolved to focus on one thing at a time and
filter out distractions, but this “attentional system” is outdated when
confronted with today’s avalanche of input. Memory is also unreliable;
worse, we often refuse to believe it. Most Americans, President George
W. Bush included, remember watching TV on 9/11 and seeing two planes
striking the WTC towers 20 minutes apart.
This is a false
memory, however; videos of the first plane didn’t appear until the
following day. Levitin fills a third of his book with insights derived
from neuroscience. In the remainder, he delivers advice for organizing
your life by “shifting the burden from neurons to the outside world.” He
provides imaginative suggestions involving filing systems, labels and
multiple computers, as well as tactics to determine the usefulness
(i.e., truth) of the excess of information in today’s media.A prolific
genre of books covers this subject, but Levitin holds his own, and his
examination of brain function stands out.
— Kirkus Reviews
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