Building Brainpower – Turning Grey Matter Into Gold

Book Review 

Building Brainpower – Turning Grey Matter Into Gold
By Dilip Mukerjea
320 exciting pages
Publisher: Westland
Rs.750/-

This extremely interesting book is authored by Dilip Mukerjea, whose work includes The Creative Brain Series and is considered one of the world’s top ten mind mappers.

Beautifully presented, “Building Brainpower” is a pleasure to read. Thought provoking content created the motivation to implement what I read as I turned the pages. Of course I made notes, as I usually do when I read something.  Nicely kick-started with Goethe’s quote “Treat people as if they were what they ought to be, and you help them become what they are capable of being”, the introduction reminds us of how we tend to accept mediocrity when we are capable of much more and impresses upon us the need to build brainpower through mind mapping (Tony Buzan’s brainchild).

As promised, the book certainly brings forth some mental gymnastics, urging us to consciously interact with one another, sharing intellect and learning and striving to reach our infinite capacity for excellence. While we are all aware that our brain has infinite capabilities, it is when we recognize that there are no limitations that we can give wings to our dreams.

Dilip Mukerjea takes us through the evolution of the human brain – and probably because I am a Zoology Major, I found it quite fascinating. For those who would rather visualize it, there is a fabulous mind map of the Evolution of the human brain on page 36. This is followed by a listing of some of the world’s brainiest people.

Knowledge is NOT power. It is potential

Indeed. After a great lead in to the main topic of the book, the author takes us into Mind Mapping.  “Why use mind maps” tells you the various benefits of using a mind map and the tools you need. At this point, you already know it is going to be a lot of fun.

But before you dive right in, the author explains the laws of mind mapping with the hows and why behind each why. Very convincing. He gives a step by step demo of a mind map, with the apt topic –Transportation and gradually builds around it.

The key to building a mind map is recognizing the keywords

There are some exercises that help you do this – much like how we used to build stories around an outline in school. This is followed by some examples of images you can use in mind maps on page 95. The author highlights the importance of vocabulary development  and turbo charging your reading speed and comprehension.

Revision reinforces retention

There are lots of mind map examples related to a variety of topics ranging from our senses, journalists, religions and languages. This is followed by an extremely interesting mind map on Albert Einstein, the genius  and Leonardo Da Vinci.

Part three of the book is about various modes of communication and Part four was a real treat with exercises, crosswords and quizzes, words of wisdom and lots of valuable resources for those who want to dig deeper.

Dilip Mukerjea says “Genius is our birthright.” Imagine what heights we can reach if we started believing it and taking action!

What I liked/loved:

The message is clear. To harness the full potential of your mind, adopt mind mapping to stimulate your brain and accomplish your goals. The book is beautifully written. This book is for all ages.

I’ve always been a fan of mind maps as a sales trainer and  use this technique for practically everything. So it was absolutely thrilling to browse the book, read the book and keep going back to parts of it. And of course I like the quotes, the limericks, the poems and the illustrations. I love the interactive exercises, the thought-provoking mini-questionnaires that make the reader think – and the little  notes interspersed throughout the book. I also enjoyed the great mnemonics throughout the book.

The book was everything I expected it to be – and I am going to be busy with it for quite some time. What can I say? My 14-year old son Vidur loves the book too.

Needless to say, my son and I will be communicating through mind maps for a long time to come.

Thank you very much, Dilip Mukerjea. This book is one I am going to treasure in my library.

And thank you, BlogAdda.