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Jul 09, 2008

Kelly rated it:

Daniel Pink’s A Whole New Mind makes many excellent points. Unfortunately, it suffers from an awkward and unconvincing metaphorical framework.

Chapter 1: Right Brain Rising

Pink starts out explaining about the brain’s left and right hemispheres, and how each side is responsible for different cognitive activities - the left hemisphere tends to be responsible for sequential logic, analysis, and language; the right hemisphere for holistic reasoning, pattern recognition, emotio More...

3 comments like (9 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Joel rated it:

Pink's proposal is a touch idealistic, but the vision he paints is promising. Basically, since automation and outsourcing to Asia can now accomplish lots of left-brain heavy jobs (computer coding, etc.) and since affordability of so many products has freed up some of our time and energy, Pink suggests that future jobs (and happiness) will depend more on those who master six critical senses managed by the right side (the creative side) of the brain: design, play, story, symphony, empathy, and mea More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Aug 05, 2008

Edy rated it:

Buku ini bercerita tentang adanya pergeseran dari pemikiran otak kiri (Directed Left Thinking) yang teoritis dan analitis ke arah pemikiran otak kanan (Directed Right Thinking). Pergeseran tersebut didorong oleh adanya masa kelimpahmewahan, otomatisasi dan serbuan negara dengan tenaga kerja murah. Ketika selera orang semakin meningkat sedangkan komputerisasi dan tenaga kerja murah dari asia membanjir, membuat warga negara maju harus berpikir tentang eksistensi mereka di dunia tenaga kerja.
More...

3 comments like (3 people liked it)

May 25, 2008

T.J. rated it:

I hate this book and want to set it on fire.

No, seriously. Daniel Pink takes a bunch of self-evident ideas, hammers them togethers with some feel-good rationale, and writes a pampered, whiny how-to of middle class comfort telling us to use our right brains to stay competitive and maintain our middle class relevance.

His examples are trite and his sources appalling--looking at the selections at your local suburban Target is not the way of justifying your belief in a cult More...

8 comments like (15 people liked it)

Jan 09, 2008

Rick rated it:

Besides having an author name seemingly borrowed from “Reservoir Dogs,” there is much to like in this popular business/pop psychology book. It posits a movement from an era when “Left-Brained” Knowledge Work was at a premium to one in which “Right-Brained High-Concept and High Touch” Work will be the demand opportunity. Computers and a global workforce have reduced the at home demand for knowledge work—computers do it massively faster and smart, English-speaking workers in West Asia and Africa d More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jan 14, 2008

Michael rated it:

If you are a right-brain creative type, this book will make you feel like your parents were wrong and you are highly employable, after all. "An art degree?! What are you gonna do with an art degree??!! You might as well be an English major!!" Well friends, according to Dan Pink, with an art degree you are poised to pretty much rule the world. Of course, it does require a good right brain/left brain balance and this book tells you how, and why, to find that balance. It's an interestin More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Apr 22, 2009

Lauren rated it:

If you are already the type to work through your ideas by sketching, dreaming, and creating, this book isn't likely to tell you anything you don't already know. You may, however, come away feeling a little smug towards the persistent chorus of voices that cast doubts on the aspirations of those drawn towards the arts and liberal arts studies.
That is, until you realize that Pink's assertion that "right-brainers will rule the future" isn't really substantiated in this book. Pink More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 22, 2011

Joanne rated it:

I’m a “right-brainer”. In the language of Myers-Brigg’s typology, I am an extreme INFP, an introverted feeling type (heart vs. head), with strong leanings towards intuition (vs. sensing), and perceiving (vs. judgment). As an “intuitive”, I make all sorts of connections, linking ideas, and often jumping from one thought to another. Trying to keep up with me in conversation, people sometimes say that I am “all over the place.” This typology has not always served me well in my career, particul More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jun 06, 2008

Sally rated it:

Although it goes against my principles to give 5 stars to a self-help book, I make an exception for this gem. It's fascinating and revealing, and full of hope for the future (there's a rare commodity). My book club really loved it--all of us.

Pink (yes, that's his name) outlines his vision for the next generation of world business trends in our "flat" world where automation, asia, and abundance have created new requirements for success--requirements that for the most part More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Apr 27, 2008

Brandy rated it:

Pink has a fundamentally decent, and possibly true, point--that in order to succeed, today's workers need to be more creative than ever before, because all of the logic-driven drone-work will be done by, well, drones--but his point gets buried in this pop-psych, new-agey rhetoric. His advice on what sorts of traits will be necessary seem obvious to me--they boil down to play nice with others, make connections between people and ideas, and have fun--but he did lose me at the end where he advocat More...

3 comments like (2 people liked it)

Mar 21, 2008

Seth rated it:

I read Daniel Pink’s A Whole New Mind on my flight from Dallas to Chicago this morning. It turned out to be a shockingly quick read. While I was put off for several chapters by his apparent need to ingratiate himself to left-brain directed skeptics (myself included), I was gratified to find that he did have a clear line of reasoning, rich in examples of why right-brain directed folks will be in greater comparative demand in the coming years. Much like Thomas Friedman, but much, much quicker to g More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 09, 2009

Scott rated it:

My first 5 star read of the year! This book was great! It contrasts Left brain thinking which has been the key to leadership in the past with Right brain thinking which the author believes will be the leading mode of leadership in the future. Terms that describe left brain: sequential, text, details, categories. Terms that describe the right brain: simultaneous, context, big picture, relationships. Pink believes that the typical organization of the past has rewarded left brain thinking and miss- More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 07, 2010

Kevin rated it:

Another arrow in the quiver of anyone looking to defend a liberal arts education against the hordes of consultants and left-brained analysts who haven't yet come around to the reality that Asia, Abundance, and Automation have created new markets for ideas that are high-touch and high-concept, based on synthesis and less on analysis. Describes how right-brained (rather, whole-brained) people are now taking over what Pink calls the current Conceptual Age in which we now find ourselves.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 10, 2008

Purple rated it:

Daniel Pink was the keynote speaker at the ALA conference last June. There was so much positive feedback from the event that I put this book on my list of books to read. So glad I did. As many others have noticed, Pink offers a positive way of looking at the future in a time when things don't look so great. As always, there will be opportunity for those who adapt to the times.

Pink's way of bringing seemingly disparate things together is helpful/hopeful and decidely right brained. Pi More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 27, 2007

Max rated it:

Pink offers an alternative to the doom-and-gloom of the Thos. Friedman "We [Americans] Are Going To Die/Be Obsolete Because We Don't Have Any Engineers" school of the future, by pointing out that even if we *had* engineers, we still wouldn't be able to compete dollar-for-dollar with equivalently trained engineers from India, China, etc. So, for Pink, the future lies in content creation and integration - a point Friedman makes too in The World is Flat, only Pink makes it much more eloq More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 16, 2011

Dwight rated it:

While I'm sympathetic to the opinion that folks with creativity provide valuable services and will continue to be in demand, anybody with half a left brain can see that most of the arguments advanced herein are faulty or poorly supported. Most of the evidence offered is anecdotal. When the author does us the (occasional) service of providing a reference, it is usually a weak source, a secondary source, or a source completely unrelated to the fact/quote stated. There may be a decent idea in he More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 31, 2008

Ryan rated it:

Our faculty read this book over the summer and it's been really applicable to what it is that we do in our classrooms. Pink argues that the age of "left brain" dominance is over... and that the future belongs to a "different kind of person with a different kind of mind: designers, inventors, teachers, storytellers - creative and emphatic "right brain" thinkers." Pink argues that there are 6 Senses that we need to develop and draw upon:Design, Story, Symphony, Empa More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 02, 2007

Griggette rated it:

A must-read for anyone in college/recently graduated, as well as educators and professionals. Though Pink's title suggests that vegetable-dyed yarn makers and pan flute players will rule the future, he actually recommends that everyone, left- or right-brain dominate, embrace both hemispheres of their gray matter. His writing style is easy to read and his portfolio suggestions at the end of every chapter make it an interactive reading experience. A good read for anyone with an entrepreneurial More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 16, 2009

Steven rated it:

I was disappointed with this book. I must confess I did not finish it. I'm writing a review for the first 60%. I did learn some things. It has been a while since my psychology classes and I enjoyed the brain review. However, it degrades into a cheerleading book without much support. I lost interest at the point where he talks about the CEO who hires poets instead of MBA holders. I need a bit more support to the argument than I asked some rich guy. Are there any studies comparing the success More...

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Jan 17, 2009

Andrew rated it:

*personal review

Daniel Pink lays out reasoning why adeptness at right-brained tasks will be tomorrow's competitive advantage. It isn't very fair to say it's just right-brained people that will rule the future, because that suggests an absolute shift from left brainers (accountants, finance people, techies) to right brainers. Instead, he advocates and theorizes an additional layer of right brained abilities ON TOP OF excelling at typical left brain activities to become a stand out i More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 13, 2009

Judy rated it:

As a person in a typically "right brain" profession, I REALLY enjoyed this book and the author's assertion that the day has come for those who think creatively rather than logically. He makes a good argument for his proposition that many traditionally "left brain" activities can be done by educated workers in China and India, but that creativity is much harder to outsource. Pink believes that we have entered a new age, and outlines history like this:
1. Agricultural Age More...

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Apr 10, 2008

Garret rated it:

The basic premise of this book is that because many of our left brain functions (logical, linear, etc.) can now be either oustourced or performed by computers, it is the right brain functions (inventiveness, big picture connections, etc.) that are going to be in high demand. It breaks down right brain functions and provides numerous resources to aid in exploring and developing this part of the brain. I found the book to be well researched and skillfully written. Strong reccomendation. More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 08, 2011

Jim rated it:

I assumed from the title that I wouldn't learn much from this book.
Wrong! It is about right brain- left brain thinking, which isn't new,
but it goes beyond the differences to link them to socio-economic trends and insights that are very interesting. And it points the reader in many new directions to explore and think about. It is big picture and practical at the same time.
Having said that, I found that I skimmed a lot of it. Didn't feel the need to further understand how empat More...

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Sep 26, 2011

Anne rated it:

My friend Susan suggested I read this book when I told her about my new approach to teaching left-brain subjects like math. I hypothesized that the reason why students struggle with left-brain subjects is because they are right-brain thinkers. Thus my 10 years in the arts world should help when I teach math -- i.e. try to use metaphors, analogies, pictures, etc rather than the flow-chart, logical approach that brilliant left-brainers are used to.

The problem is that the left-brain subje More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 04, 2011

Sean rated it:

Like your brain, Pink's very readable book has two distinct parts (but the similarity ends there). Part one briefly introduces the different functions of the left and right brain hemispheres, and why, rather than needing to "be right-brained", we need instead to become more wholistic in drawing on both our left (linear, logical, sequential, analytical) and right (artistic, intuitive, big-picture) brains. There's a little bit of the science and he then goes on to discuss three major for More...

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Sep 03, 2011

Rebecca rated it:

This was extremely readable, verging on simplistic. Fine points about what really matters in our lives and times, and Pink delivers on his "whole brain" philosophy in his writing style, marrying aspects of narrative, humor, empathy etc with relatively thorough science. Not sure there's really anything revolutionary, but it's a good enough place as any to start the conversation about building a meaningful career. (This is the first assignment for one of my core library class and is bein More...

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Jul 24, 2011

James rated it:

I read this book because it was referred to in a book about the missional church I read (Hirsch and Ferguson's On the Verge). This book was better than that book.

The front cover bears the subtitle: " Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future." This is actually not Pink's contention at all and is likely something the publisher thought would help sell books. What Pink does say is that the left brain dominant activities like analysis, data crunching, etc., need to be balanced by More...

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Jul 24, 2011

Prateek rated it:

A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future, by Daniel H. Pink is a text which examines why right brainers or people with more creative and artistic abilities are going to rule the future. His argument is that due to Abundace, Asia and Automation, Left-Brained people or people with technical abilities are going to loose their edge in the job market. The only solution for them to remain relevant is to pick up skills which are more artistic and creative to enhance their skill set and More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 21, 2011

Elizabeth rated it:

A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future by Daniel Pink (p. 288)
Thought-leader Daniel Pink is back with a discussion on why right-brained thinking is the keys to success and happiness. The last 50 years of education have been focused on left-brained thinking which covers analysis, memorization and deep knowledge in single areas of expertise. Pink argues that professions and cultures that value primarily left-brained thinking have reached their end and it’s no longer enou More...

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Feb 17, 2011

Kaung Myat rated it:

I don't disagree with Pink's proposition that the world is changing for a conceptual age where there is a greater demand for poets, designers and actors compared to MBA graduates, software engineers and mathematicians. But I doubt that day is still far away. So, there are two hemispheres of the brain. The left brain and the right brain. The left brain is responsible for logic, literalness, analysis, sequence while the right brain handles synthesis, emotional expression, context and the big pictu More...

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