Book No. 51 – How To Think Like Leonardo da Vinci

The year is almost finished and I raced to cram one more book onto the year’s list. How To Think Like Leonardo da Vinci by Michael Gelb. I had wanted to read this book after reading Brian Johnson summary of it in his Philosophers Notes series.  If you want to step up your self development game and get your mind right but aren’t sure where to begin I strongly suggest you check Philosopher’s Notes out. For me they were a perfect overview of 100 hundred self development and business books that helped me decide what I wanted to get into further. The best ideas of the book are in the first half. While some of the exercising can get a little “New Age” ish they are all more or less excellent had helping you gain insight to the way you think and more importantly how to become more aware of your surroundings in all aspects of life.  My favorite exercise was the “100 hundred questions”. In this exercise you free write a list of 100 hundred questions and then look back at the repeating themes. The other gem of the book is a section on mind mapping. Mind mapping is a visual way to take notes, brain storm, and empty your ideas onto the page with out being bound by expressing your self in a linear way. The technique is by no means new, but when I started using it to take notes a year or go a so I found it was much better way to get ideas down as they flow with out letting the paper get in the way. I have tried mind mapping with both computer software and jsut with pen and pencil on a large piece of paper. I love working my ideas and notes out on paper however I hate not being able to search then in the computer. A Program I  found online called mindnode allows you to mind map in the computer, maybe not as free as on paper but it is a sacrifice worth making for search ability.  There are other interesting chapters in the book but those were by far the most valuable to me. It’s a simple read and a good selection to add to your list.

Thats all I have to say.

Peter Weis

Other books I have read this past year

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