A Whole New Mind- Moving from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age Description:

A Whole New Mind: Moving from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age review:
5 stars (Exciting Mindset) - A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink is an extraordinary book. Finally we are admitting that intelligence, performance, and yes--even success--can be achieved by those who appear to be more creative than academic. Pink goes to great lengths to explain his position relative to the kind of successful worker Americans must become in order to avoid being unemployed. Even better, Pink includes sections called Portfolios where the reader is given suggestions for ways to strengthen his/her "whole new mind."
4 stars (Food for thought) - Where the big issues are concerned -- how to revitalize the U.S. economy in the age of outsourcing, why isn't our educational system working and how do we go about fixing it, etc. -- I've always felt that it was more important to raise the right questions than to come up with quick answers. By that standard, this book is a winner. I think most of us would agree that the world of work (on the personal as well as the national level) has changed radically in the last 20 years. It's not a major logical leap to conclude that, rather than choosing to cultivate the skills and abilities that led to success in the "information age," we should broaden our range. It's possible to argue with the author's list of "six senses," but they're suggestions rather than prescriptions. (Nor are they touchy-feely nonsense removed from the practical world: the concept of "story," for example, is something that every spin doctor understands.) His personal anecdote about the drawing class has immense implications: we view the world (physical and mental) through a fog of preconceptions, and the ability to see what is REALLY there is crucial. I felt that the book wasn't as coherent and focused as his earlier one, but it's thought-provoking and stimulating -- and a good read, too.
4 stars (Richer life ahead) - So what are we mortals, especially those of us in the Western Hemisphere, supposed to do in a world where computers are fast approaching humans in intelligence, all manufacturing work is moving to China, any white collar work that does not require face to face interaction is being taken on by India, and the marketplace is flooded with cheap, quality goods? Such is the question that this book seeks to address. While other, better selling authors (i.e. Friedman) are raking millions telling us the obvious (gee, those Indians are really smart, better watch out for them, and the Chinese are after your manufacturing job, etc.) Dan Pink takes a different, more practical and constructive angle on the subject, showing us instead what is left to do that can't (for now at least) be done by machines or overseas, and this involves the long neglected right hemisphere, the one right inside our skull. And you know Pink is on to something when you look at things ranging from US labor department projections showing the highest increase in professions dealing with creativity and interpersonal communications; travel agents turning into vacation consultants; and your engineer cousin or next door neighbor turned graphic designer. The evidence is everywhere that things are moving in a new direction.



Design, Story, Symphony, Empathy, Play, Meaning. In a nutshell these are the key right brain abilities that Pink considers will make the difference between success and failure into the 21st century. The bulk of the book explores these from a very practical perspective, but even better than that, it gives you pointers and actual tools for you to begin developing these on your own. While more subdued in tone than the overly enthusiastic "Free Agent Nation", this book nonetheless follows the same theme on self-actualization taking on a growing role in our lives over merely materialistic concerns. And here is the main take away from the book, because while it hooks you on your materialistic concerns over how to remain competitive, it actually takes you beyond it. Because even if you don't manage to prosper and get wealthy based on these abilities (and unless you get some left-hemisphere ones you probably won't, unless you're an artistic genius), if you think about it what Pink describes are the very qualities that distinguish us from machines, that make us fully and uniquely human. So by developing them you tap into your humanity, setting you on your way to a happier, richer life, and there's no better payoff than that.