The Organized Mind

The Organized Mind

The Organized Mind: Thinking Straight in the Age of Information Overload is a bestselling popular science book written by the McGill University neuroscientist Daniel J. Levitin , PhD, and first published by Dutton Penguin in the United States and Canada in 2014. [1] It Levitin’s 3rd consecutive bestseller, debuting at # 2 on the New York Times Best Seller List ,[1] # 1 on the Canadian bestseller lists, [3] # 1 on Amazon, and # 5 on The London Times bestseller list.

In The Organized Mind , Levitin Demonstrates the Information of the Age of Drugs, and uses the latest brain science to explain how to brainstorm this flood of information. Levitin then demonstrates how they are using their homes, workplaces, and time. It answers three fundamental questions: Why does the brain pay attention to some things and others? Why do we remember some things? And how can we use this knowledge to better organize and workplaces, our time, social world, and decision making? [4]

The book is divided in three parts. The first part focuses on attention . Levitin explains why attention is the most essential mental resource for any organism and describes how the brain’s attentional system works. The attentional awareness system is one of the most important ways in the world.

Additionally, Levitin reveals that the phrase “paying attention” is scientifically true. Multitasking comes at an actual metabolic cost: switching back and forth between tasks burns a lot more oxygenated glucose (the fuel the brain runs on) than focusing on one task, and can lead to mental exhaustion.

The second and third parts of the book show how to use their attention and memory systems for better organization, from the classroom to the boardroom, from home lives to interactions with friends, doctors, and business associates.

On publication, the book received praise from a wide array of people form Including US Secretary of State (and Secretary of the Treasury ) George P. Shultz ; Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal (ret.), Nobel Prize-winning neuroscientist Stanley Prusiner , and head writer for The Big Bang Theory , Eric Kaplan .

References

  1. Jump up^ http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-525-95418-7
  2. Jump up^ https://www.nytimes.com/best-sellers-books/retrieved August 31, 2014
  3. Jump up^ https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/bestsellers/bestsellers-hardcover-non-fiction-may-25-2013/article4226576/retrieved August 31, 2014
  4. Jump up^ https://online.wsj.com/articles/book-review-the-organized-mind-by-daniel-j-levitin-1408137852