Book: Unleashing Genius
Author: Dilip Mukerjea
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Westland
Number of Pages: 512
My first attempt at a book review and I was staring at a daunting 500 plus pages, though the vibrant colours of the cover and pages were very appealing. And seeing that it was filled with colour illustrations, jokes and cartoons and a very generous font size, I dived right in.
The footnote on the cover intrigued me – “A book on Learning Miracles for children of all ages.” The note along with the attractive presentation of the book had me wondering who the target audience for this book was – kids, parents, teachers? After going through the entire book I am not sure I can narrow it down to one group. It’s definitely for anyone who has an open mind and is willing to put some effort into exercising their brains and improving their memory and creativity. The author is obviously someone who has spent many years researching the underlying concepts and his mastery over the subject allows him to present to the readers in a simple and effortless way.
The fundamental premise is that if you don’t know what you can’t do, there is no limit to what you can achieve. This is something we see so often in young kids but as we grow up we start to limit ourselves just because we think we can’t achieve something. Trying and failing becomes a less attractive option.
The core aim of the book is dig deep into how the brain works and then apply various techniques and mental exercises to push it to work better and faster. Sometimes the pages full of colours and illustrations make it fun and easy to read but occasionally it gets a bit tiring to the eye also. The author fills the gaps with ample jokes and puzzles to keep the reader entertained.
The first chapter is slightly tedious. It details how the brain functions, what are neural cells and what they do, etc. While the author is building a base for the various techniques, the reader can be tempted to skip a few pages ahead and get to the more fun stuff.
Next is about memory and the numerous exercises and techniques that enhance memory power. In today’s information-overload world I sometimes wonder how we are able to stuff our heads with so many things, with most of the information rendered useless in a matter of minutes as we substitute it with new information. This chapter is designed to let you know that the brain can all hold that and so much more. Some of the activities like the linking and pegs were enjoyable.
Then we move on to reading. This chapter sort of pulls together all previous learning to show that proper reading dynamics is half the battle won. Reading should be easy, quick and also facilitate comprehension. The concepts here are quite useful in today’s world where we are constantly trying to speed-read, scan for relevant information, process quickly and ensure the read was useful. Each one of us daily knowingly and unknowingly scan so many sources of information – newspapers, websites, hoardings, notice boards – trying to speed-read, comprehend and remember simultaneously.
Next the book covers creativity and how it emerges from the union of left and right brain functions. And the last 150 or so pages are filled with jokes and ‘braintertainment’ and finally action points regarding strategies to build the learning momentum.
So overall a very pleasant read and enjoyable book that is very relevant to today’s child and adult. It’s not a book you need to read end to end at one go. Actually it’s difficult to cover more than a few pages and exercises in one go. It’s good to even just open up any section and just work through it. A book worth experiencing but slightly tough on the wallet! Thanks BlogaAdda for giving me the opportunity to experience this book.
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my three angels 