The Organized Mind: Thinking Straight in the Age of Information Overload Paperback – Illustrated, September 1, 2015

The Organized Mind, by Daniel LevitanTruly an insightful book, using what we know today about cognitive neuroscience, to create a manual for how to use our brains.Questions that I would ask Dr. Levitan given the chance:The mind wandering mode is our creative side. The problem, as you wisely point out, is that some of us go into that mode at the most inopportune of times. You advocate the idea of using cards, notes, etc to capture the ideas that come out of these periods of wandering, and when I had them while reading your book, it was fine to stop, capture my ideas, and then come back to the book. (To clarify, 99% of the mind wandering I did while reading your book was based on what I had just read, and how I could incorporate the suggestions and knowledge into my day to day life, and by a matter of course, this meant that it took me much longer to read your book. At first, I thought 'hey, this mind wandering kills my ability to GTD, but then I realized that the whole point of reading your book was to make these mind wandering based connections, and that there was no rush, no time limit, no reason to feel anything but thrilled that the book would lead me down a path of further introspection.The problem is that the same mind wandering occurs during meetings with others at work….someone says something in a meeting, or we have a discussion, and it sparks a mind wandering event, which leads to ideas I feel compelled to capture. I try to type these on my iPad or iPhone, but that becomes distracting, then I moved to the notepad system you advise, and this is most helpful, except that It contradicts the need for me (as a leader in my drug development group) to be ever present, in a zen-like focus on what is being said and discussed. I feel that I can never attain that zen-like focus on the here and now that is needed for success, because my mind wandering takes over with what feel like critical ideas that I should capture. If I were to attain Zen-like focus, then I fear many of my better ideas (which are triggered by the real time interaction I am having in a meeting or in a one-on-one with someone) would avail themselves. In these situations, I worry that the the Zen-like focus I so eagerly wish to attain (but have done so only on rare occasion) will kill the creative side of me, the part that can think of novel ideas, 'outside of the box'. If I were to set aside time to mind wander deliberately, the same ideas would not come, as they are almost always triggered by the real time interaction I am having with others, hearing their ideas, which trigger a remote memory or thought that then turns into an idea or thought I know I will lose if I don't record it immediately.So, this is a long way of asking you how one can reconcile the need for zen-like focus (which we know would lead to a higher level of attentiveness, efficiency and immediate enjoyment of life in the moment), with the potential that for some of us at least, such focus appears to hinder or even squelch the ability to create, innovate and think outside of the standard parameters that often constrain us from finding new solutions.I welcome your thoughts or dialogue on this topic, and, more importantly, thank you for a tour de force work that summarizes and synthesizes what we know about cognitive neuroscience into an accessible users guide to the brain!J. Thomas Megerian, MD, PhDAttending in Behavioral Pediatric NeuropharmacologyChildrens Hospital of Orange County

One thing i feel important to mention about "The Organized Mind", which became prominent in my mind as i was reading, is that the author and his book take a firm and clear stance in an atheistic worldview. The word "evolution" is mentioned in 8 instances just in the introduction and the first chapter. I felt that the author seems to also have struggled with several instances of a "false consensus" effect related to evolution as creation theory as well as the defining of what success in life means. The word "ethic" or "ethical" is not mentioned until chapter 7 which i am led to assume is something avoided because the author does not have a worldview that really holds water related to ethics and morals. On page 280 in Chapter 7, the Daniel talks about how a sense of equity and fairness that is shown to be innately wired into our brains is a product of evolution as well. The book speaks alot of biological programming in humans and our brains, which is somehow proclaimed to be a product of evolution as well. Overall the book is highly insightful and although these things were hard for me to look past, the author is highly skilled and provides a lot of useful insights about thinking and decision theory.

Doctor Levitin writes with a clarity and patience that makes complex neuro science research quite accessible and useful for almost any reader with a purpose to understand how to use recent research to manage our lives in times of endless information overload.He suggests how people can use a simple statistical table to get clarity for whether to do a medical procedure when one has the statistics from research on the likelihood of either needing the procedure, or discussing the risks versus benefits.He speaks to the blend of Science, Intuition and Artful comprehension, citing Mr. Einstein:"The greatest scientists are artists as well" (p. 380).He points to research that confirms " The tentative and intriguing take-home message is that reading high-quality fiction and literary nonfiction, and perhaps listening to music, looking at art, and watching dance, may lead to two desirable outcomes: Increased interpersonal empathy and better executive attentional control" ( p. 368).Dr. Levitin also points to research that looks at longitudinal benefits with "being organized and conscientious are predictive of a number of positive outcomes, even decades later, such as longevity, overall health, and job performance." p. 336.The core theme of the book deals with how we each keep track of an endless amount of information in our daily lives, and he discussed the attributes of 'filing systems' that are physical and local in nature as well as invisibly on 'servers' somewhere in a 'cloud.' But the crowning essence of this incredible narrative is that we each must find a way to 'file' and 'verify' information that is pushed on us daily in the form of infomercials and uncorroborated data, and he shows us how each of us with a bit of effort can filter the information flow to be creative as well as productive. The book could be a terrific go-to resource for families struggling with dysfunctional habits, as well as for families looking to gain an edge in a competitive world.

I was hoping for a very practical guide. There is some practical advice in here but it is buried under a lot of scientific information, however, this may be interesting to some. The chapters are very long and cover several topics at length. It would have benefited from smaller more focused chapters.

Great book with a lot of good information and tips for organizing yourself and your surroundings. Made several highlights so when I read it again I can absorb even more.