Thinking Like Einstein: Returning To Our Visual Roots With The Emerging Revolution In Computer Information Visualization

Description

Some of the concerns and questions from previous comments are covered in Dr. West's previous book, In the Mind's Eye. Indeed, in this book, he makes several references to his earlier work. If one wants more answers I would definitely recommend reading In the Mind's Eye. Thinking like Einstein is a compilation of 2000 word articles he wrote for a magazine. As I myself have experienced, academia is indeed biased toward the verbal and the rote mathematical. Dr. West points out that such places as Johns Hopkins University has recognized the importance of visual thinking, and had begun testing for it. He does not say that we can make visual thinkers out of verbal thinkers. He merely points out that the increase in everyday computing power has led scientists, engineers and even financial experts to begin to see patterns and improvements that would not have been seen previously. It had also led to greater efficiencies, such as how Boeing now designs aircraft entirely on computers. Others can now see, albeit in a limited way, what only visual thinkers have been able to see in the past. On the other hand, many very brilliant people, such as Einstein, Tesla, Faraday, and Edison were indeed dyslexic. That one is dyslexic does not automatically make one a great visual thinker, and one need not be dyslexic in order to be a great visual thinker. However, in a great percentage of cases, there is indeed a correlation. The very things that wire a brain for visual thinking, often lead to issues with verbal, rote mathematical or social abilities. As a society, we are doing ourselves a great disfavor, if we reject the ability of many due to these limitations. Personally, reading is a chore for me. Sometimes the words even jump around on the page. I have always thought it incredibly inefficient to transfer knowledge and understanding via words alone. The words have to be translated to thoughts, then to visual images. Many who have trouble with this process, can indeed make great contributions to the betterment and advancement of the human race.