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from novice to advanced; the computer will play at the same level.
12. Draw Mind Maps instead of taking
linear notes
There's no use taking in important information if you
can't recall it when you need it. And here traditional schooling methods are archaic. Tens
of thousands of students around the world right now are taking notes. They're writing down
words line by line. Or in some languages, column by column. But the brain doesn't work
that way. It does not store information in neat lines or columns. The brain stores
information on its treelike dendrites. It stores information by pattern and association.
So the more you can work in with the brain's own memory-method, the easier and faster
you'll learn.
So don't take notes, make Mind Maps. And make them with
trees, with pictures, with colors, with symbols, with patterns and associations. Mind
Mapping is a method devised by Tony Buzan. Singapore-based author and Buzan facilitator
Dilip Mukerjea has written and illustrated an excellent introduction to the subject,
entitled Superbrain.
Swedish publisher Ingemar Svantesson has produced Mind
Mapping and Memory. And in the United States the finest book on a similar theme is
Nancy Margulies' Mapping InnerSpace. Margulies has also written a great
accelerated-learning book Yes, You Can Draw! and produced a first-class video to go
with it.
Those books, and some of the Mind Maps in this one,
demonstrate the principles in practice. The main points are simple:
1. Imagine your brain-cells are like trees,
with each one storing related information on its branches.
2. Now try arranging the key points of any topic
on a sheet of white paper in the same treelike format.
3. Start with the central topic - preferably with
a symbol - in the center of the page, then draw branches spreading out from it. If
you're Mind Mapping New York, use the Statue of Liberty as the centerpoint. If it's
Sydney, use the harbor bridge. If it's our chapter on the brain, sketch a two-sided brain.
4. Generally record only one word and/or symbol
for each point you want to recall - one main theme to each branch.
5. Put related points on the same main branches,
each one shooting off like a new sub-branch.
Contents Page Preface
Introduction
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