Title : Building Brainpower : Turning Grey Matter into Gold
Author : Dilip Mukerjea
Publisher : Westland
ISBN : 978-93-80032-49-8
Number of Pages : 320
Price [INR] : 750
Genre: Self Development


Review : Some time back, while I was preparing my plan of action for a project, a colleague peered over my diagrammatic representation of the action plan and asked, “Are you into Mind Mapping?”  A “No” from me and an urgent call on his cell phone, killed the conversation in this direction, but my curiosity was sufficiently piqued. I googled about Mind Mapping and got some insights. When Blogadda announced about review of Building BrainPower, I simply grabbed the opportunity.

Seeing a big fat book scared me a bit initially, but a cursory glimpse, I knew that it sure is a goldmine of information and knowledge and a LOT can be learnt and implemented from the strategies and suggestions given in this book, in our daily lives.

The initial chapter gives in depth  insights about our brain, it’s evolution, history and even the biology part of it, which honestly, I just flipped through! (I am a Science graduate!)

And then comes the most interesting part… Mind Mapping. The author explains, in detail all about this wonderful tool. He says that Mind Mapping is a dynamic brain skill that dramatically enhances your capacity for learning and remembering. The thing about this book, is that there are so many diagrams and illustrations that make this so simple to understand and comprehend. The author prods you to create your own Mind Maps of Your Likes and Dislikes, Your Goals, with suggestions and tips, which certainly ensure that you learn all about it practically.

This is how a Mind Map looks like!

What amazed me is that one can use Mind Maps to learn everything. Yes, even the Parts of Speech and for Vocabulary Development too. A 2-page description on Singapore was transformed into a Mind Map and a single diagram has the entire summary of the 2 pages!! It sure will speed up the learning and retention process. Seeing this particular diagram, has given me the inspiration to help Aaryan learn his lessons using this technique. It sure is/will be a boon for students!Subsequent chapters showcase Mind Maps on various topics viz Religions, Languages of the world and then there are Do-It-Yourself exercises.

And the Mind Maps on “Planning a Party”, “Planning a Vacation”, “Plans for Living a Balanced Life”, I am sure concerns all of us and creating these ones will surely help us.

A section on communication is fascinating and the author has saved the best for the last! Yes, the last part is Braintertainment, which has memory exercises, dot problems, general knowledge crosswords and brain quizzes. Here’s one for you, from the book…
Without lifting your pencil from the paper, draw six consecutive straight lines that cross through all the `16 dots. You are not allowed to repeat a line once it has been drawn.

Can you solve it?? Dp share your answers!

The key learnings and take homes from this book:

• .Brainpower is the bridge to the future, it is what transports you from wishful thinking to willful thinking
• Our education focuses on three R’s : Reading, ‘Riting and ‘Rithmetic. If we learn HOW to study and not hust WHAT to study, the Three R’s should be : Revision, Reinforces Retention. And this is done via Mind Mapping.
• Communicate with your brain, constantly, and your genius will emerge.

If you are looking for some some self development reference book on Brain Power which has loads of activities and exercises, diagrams and illustrations, go for “Building Brainpower. A must read for parents!


Rating : 4.5/5

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