The main thing I gained up from A Whole New Mind is a better sense of how the way people think influences the way things are done in the world, and a better understanding of the differences between right and left-brain characteristics. Pink does a nice job of explaining his ideas on the shift (at least in the U.S.) from a “left-directed”, utility based, to a right-directed, significance based, society/economy.
I appreciated the way he broke it down to the six main senses (design, story, symphony, empathy, play, and meaning) that are becoming increasingly necessary to be successful in what is evolving into a more “right-directed.” That made the information he presented more manageable for me. The real examples supporting his arguments and the practical ideas for building/improving these senses allowed me to make connections from my life to the text.
I think this book validates a lot of things teachers do daily – from building meaningful relationships with our students, to encouraging creativity and critical thinking, to valuing emotion and intuition and helping students learn how to best express these.
It is interesting that many people do the things mentioned in the book. I wonder how this all looks in other countries as far as the R-L brained characteristics.
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