Review of Daniel Pink
Billy Bennett, someone who knows what he's talking, 02/02/2008

The first book I can honestly say I read from cover to cover since “Catcher in the Rye,” freshman year in high school was Daniel Pink’s “A Whole New Mind.” Daniel Pink capitalizes on six senses in his title fitting book. The six senses Pink chooses to explain design, story, symphony, empathy, play, and meaning have aided in the global movement from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age. The movement is focused on the balance of the Left and Right Hemispheres of the human brain. Daniel Pink explains the six senses not only in a way which captures a reader, but provides facts and techniques which can be used in everyday life. Pink starts “A Whole New Mind,” by depicting his first time getting an MRI. Pink describes his visit to the MRI in great detail, which is a format he will follow for every personal account he tells. Pink provides personal stories with the six senses allowing the reader to picture and relate with. The first of the six senses listed by Pink is design. Pink argues that a consumer no longer purchases a product on use only, but with looks in mind. Pink furthering his focus on the left and right hemispheres states that when people by for looks and need they are using both hemispheres of their brain. The second sense of focus is story. Pink feels that story telling is the way we remember and communicate. Pink feels that most heroic stories are told the same way with the same underlining blueprint. Pink provides two examples in sales, where stories are being vitalized to increase profit. The following sense is symphony. Pink simply puts symphony as a way of making friendships with every race and creed. Symphony provides for a networking between yourself and others results in bonds and multitasking skills. Another sense is empathy. Empathy defined by Pink is “the ability to imagine you in someone else’s position and to intuit what that person is feeling.” Pink explains his daily routine to explain empathy. Pink also explains facts, which are interesting such as people with damage to their right hemisphere cannot recognize emotions on other’s faces as well others. Play is a sense, which the Army uses according to Pink. Pink states that the United States Army provided funding for a Colonel to create a war based video game, which would simulate likely experiences. The game is given out for free, and is played by thousands. I actually looked for it on the army website. Pink also personifies the sense of play at “laugh parties.” People go to these “laugh parties,” and just laugh it is used by corporations to boost workers moral. The final sense is meaning. Pink calls a person’s search for meaning as the 4th Great Awakening. Pink provides the quote, “Meaning is the central aspect of our work and our lives-People have enough to live but nothing to live for, they have the means but no meaning,” by Frankl.

In the Mind of Daniel Pink
A reviewer, A reviewer, 02/01/2008

How many people are talented musicians, creative designers, or famous artists? Sadly, not too many of us can put ourselves into even one of those categories. Well, Daniel Pink disagrees. Pink explains in his book A Whole New Mind that we all have those qualities in us embedded in the right side of our brain. Pink explains that our society is shifting from an analytical and statistical world to a world full of creativity and innovations. The standards that we have set for ourselves such as the SATs, or ACTs all measure the ability of our left brain to cram data. Pink uses his 6 senses of right brain thinking to help us unleash our ability to create works of art and design. Those 6 senses are what he calls his high touch/ high concept aptitudes. So what makes the right brain so much better than the left brain? The answer is nothing! Pink does not ask people to resort to right brain thinking and ditch our familiar left brain ways, but instead to combine both styles to think holistically. Pink believes that this will enhance our abilities to succeed in the future. Design- In a world where we have so many different products and so many different styles, consumers are not looking for just utility but beyond that into the realms of design. Design is what we use to express our inner style. Products are distinguished by its beauty, the designer, and brand. Story- Story is how we humans communicate. Pink explains that ever since the caveman era, humans have been using story as a form of communication. Pink uses our lives for an example each of us when we get old will look back and recount the highlights of our life to our sons, grandsons, or even strangers. We learn things from stories that we could never get out of a left brain oriented school. Symphony- People who think with their left brain are adept at putting things together one piece at a time kind of like each individual Lego whereas, right brain thinkers will see the castle at the end when all the pieces are put into place. Empathy- Empathy is the ability to see you in another person’s shoes. Myth would say that women are generally more empathetic than men by nature mainly because women are better listeners well pink denounces that theory and claims empathy to be evident solely within the individual. Play- Pink suggests that play is important in all of our lives, yes, play not work. Pink wants each and every one of us to devote a portion of our lives to go back to that time when we wolfed down our lunches and rushed outside for recess. During those 30 minutes, we screamed our heads off in the playground and rolled around in the sandbox. Pink suggests we should bring back those times and incorporate it into our stressful lives. Meaning- Last but not least is meaning. Meaning is hardwired inside our brains and we are constantly seeking a sense of purpose of existence in this world. Many people turn to religion as a form of purpose while others seek happiness and money. Pink acknowledges that in our society people no longer care for food, water, and shelter, but instead focus on luxury, wants, and frills to satisfy our happiness. Pink Sums up his three reasons for us to change as Abundance, Asia, and Automation. Abundance- If you take a look around where you live, you are probably surrounded by malls, shopping centers, outlets, and supermarkets. Products these days are all geared to appeal to our sense of style and flavor. Consumers refuse to settle for utility, but demand beauty and those intrinsic qualities that make cutting the grass or washing the dishes enjoyable. Asia- China and India two of the most populated places on this planet are creeping up on American jobs. Yes that’s right, Pink explains where companies find cheap labor is where jobs will all go. Those routine jobs or jobs requiring less creativity will be taken by Indian college graduates fresh out of college accepting half the pay a domestic employee earns. Automations- The reason machines will eventually take over the planet. No, nothing like what Will Smith went through in I Robot, but very similar. Machines don’t require food or energy to run. Jobs that can be repeated with a simple algorithm will be replaced by machines to reduce costs. The difference between machines and humans is that machines can’t think creatively or use empathy whereas humans who use the right side of their brain can. I clearly understand what Daniel Pink is trying to convey in his book A Whole New Mind. Although I do not see it as urgently as he may portray it to be. Using the right side of our brain has always been a shortcoming of most people. I agree that in order to succeed we must harness the power of both sides of our brain and use them to guide us through life. Personally I don’t see how mastering those 6 senses would have any affect on my career at all. Being empathetic and playful is a part of living a healthy life. Seeking meaning and purpose is what humans were born to do. Last but not least showing design and telling good stories are good skills to master, but are useless in fighting large global issues such as terrorism, AIDS, and world hunger.

Pink Teaches the way to Think “Right”
A reviewer (jdb88@drexel.edu), a college student, 02/01/2008

The mind is an interesting topic that can be divided into two sides of the brain. The idea of “A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future” by author Daniel Pink is that the development of the right side of the brain will be necessary in the future for people hoping to be successful. After reading this book, I have a clearer view of tactics and ideas to maximize the accomplishments of my future. I enjoyed reading it and would recommend it to anyone who wants a competitive edge in the work force of today. Pink describes the right side of the brain as the creative, textual, and idea oriented, while the left side is based on quick facts and sequential thinking. In addition, he highlights that without one side of the brain we would be non functional. He then provides three major reasons why thinking with your creative side will be key in the future economy and workplace. The first reason is abundance of goods which can make the consumers selection be largely increased. He states that this causes design and specialization to be a large part of product sales, and these are both part of right brained thinking. Pink tells that the second reason is the fact that people in Asia are getting trained in mass amounts to take the jobs that are specifically factual thinking based for greatly less pay causing outsourcing. The final reason Pink argues is that automation taking over the world’s common left brained thinking. He states that logically the last two reasons would move us to focus on enhancing our right side brain qualities. In addition, he says that this shift is due to the age that we are changing from the information age to the conceptual age. This conceptual age will be defined by the three points brought up previously overtaking the way the world functions. Pink then goes on to describe six ways to increase the power of your right brain thinking. The six main right brained skills to increase according to Pink are Design, Story, Symphony, Empathy, Play, and Meaning. First, Pinks describes what each categories and what it deals with, and then he provides ways to improve these skills in the later parts of the sections. This was my favorite section of the book it because not only did Pink do a good job describing these categories, he gave ways to increase them for yourself. He describes design as being a skill that allows one to increase the appeal of their product and as an aptitude that would be difficult to outsource or automate do to creativity. With practically everything in the world being having some type of design implemented into it, this ability is crucial to strengthen. The second described by Pink is story. This helps to distinguish one’s goods in the marketplace by giving them a background and gives one the ability to sway opinions and emotions of others to their benefit. Pink describes symphony as the ability to understand metaphors and the ability to understand the way things are related to each other. For Empathy, is the ability to imagine yourself in someone else’s shoes and to see the world as they would see it. For the play section, Pink talks about the importance of having a good time which includes laughing. Humor allows one to put something into context and compare it to a social norm. The final characteristic he describes is meaning because as we enter the conceptual age the main goal of individuals will be to find purpose in life. A “Whole New Mind” is in my opinion an excellent and well written book. Readers will not only get enjoyment from the interesting anecdotes and tests, but they receive insight on how to better their lives. His writing tone remains amicable and simplistic when he’s dealing with topics that most may know nothing about. This along with his assurance that reading it would be beneficial caused me to want to read on. I felt that Pink giving reasons for why right brain thinking should increase before mentioning how to increase it was effective because it gets you hooked. This gave the reader a reason to want to learn about the six senses needed in right brain thinking. His use of external sources and realistic examples made the writing seem more credible as well. In addition, at the end of the six sense oriented chapters Pink provides many affective ways to incorporate his ideas into your own life. This provided readers with understanding and gave them a way to use what they had learned. Some argue that Pink doesn’t give enough credit to the left side of the brain. I feel however that he does not need to due to the fact that everyone already knows how much left brain style thinking has done for society. In addition, he comments that the both sides are needed in unison to work effectively. Overall, this is a great book that I would recommend to everyone I would want to see live a successful life.

A reviewer
Omasan Wyse (omasan.wyse@drexel.edu), student at Drexel University, 01/31/2008

I strongly recommend Daniel H. Pink’s 'A Whole New Mind Why Right-Brainers Would Rule the Future' as the book to read if you are in search of “the future at a glance” because that is certainly what it is. You are bound to learn something new from this entrancing reading experience. The author unmistakably has a point and he proves it. I am a Chemical Engineering major at Drexel University and I doubt if I would have ever picked up this book to read if it wasn’t for my English class which required it. Nonetheless it was an experience I definitely did not regret. What kind of economy does the future hold? How do we succeed? Those are the issues addressed exhaustively in the book. Pink principally discusses the nature of the economy we have now, which is primarily based on left-brained intellectual ability, and then conveys his thoughts on what to expect in the near future. In his opinion, he predicts a market dependent on right-brained creative and inventive abilities. Pink suggests three main factors which he believes are possible threats to the present economy and the causes for the mind switch(from intellectual to creative). They are underlined as Abundance, Automation and Asia. He recognizes the fact that labor is sold for cheap overseas to countries like India, computers are rapidly replacing humans in routine, logical, and sequential tasks and realizes that there are bountiful alternatives for commodities available. He therefore proposes solutions to resolve the defined problems as design, leisure, story, meaning, empathy and symphony which are discussed chapter by chapter in the book. In a nutshell, he suggests engaging in business or work that is not easily reproduced overseas, cannot be done by computers and is in relative demand. He stresses the need and importance to be more creative as that is what the future economy would require. Pink chooses to write 'A Whole New Mind' in a fashion simple but yet in-depth and detailed. He supports his disclosures and suggestions with diagrams, pictures and famous quotes from reputable achievers. Pink consults numerous facts and statistics in his book to convey and bolster his points more clearly without doubt. Despite the concentrated data he still succeeds in keeping the attention of the reader by writing in an interactive, relatively informal manner still highly professional. I give Pink full credit for the diagnosis of the problems. Any architecture or fashion major who reads the book would probably feel on the safe side. His observations almost made me rethink my major and raised some slight concern, but I believe engineering as a problem solving career with no one way out, makes a balanced use of both the left and right parts of the brain. Based on the content of the book, I would give his solutions partial credit though, as I do not believe his six aptitudes solve the problem of Asia. I think Asians are equally as capable of being inventive and creative as Americans and drawing a conclusion that his solutions eliminate Asia I believe is slightly biased. Asians also have a right-brain, they can be innovative, so this fact does not prevent work from being transferred overseas. Despite the slight blunder, in my opinion, 'A Whole New Mind' in general is an informative, educative and factual book which proves itself. It is very worth reading.

Must Read To Succeed
Sonny Sheth, a college student, 01/31/2008

Daniel Pink’s book, A Whole New Mind: Why Right- Brainers Will Rule The World, is a must read for anyone who wants to optimize their minds. A bit extreme at times, but it definitely gets across a worthwhile message that message being, to simply use you entire mind. Pink starts by explaining how the human brain works. The right side controls you creative impulses, while the right side controls your rational thought. In our time, rational thought is highly valued. However, Pink believes that our emphasis on “left- directed” thinking is misplaced. Due to outside forces, left directed thinking is losing its importance and creativity should be used in unity with our rationality to optimize success. Pink then goes on to describe six senses he believes each person should possess to become successful at using their entire brain. These senses are design, story, symphony, empathy, play, and meaning. Pink then goes on to explain them in great detail. I found this book to be an eye opener. We all know everything that is said in the book but very few people actually put it together. To succeed in a world that is turning to automation and outsourcing, the only thing that keeps us ahead is our humanity, creativity, and impulse.