The Mind Map Book (Mind Set)

This is a decent book with some good thoughts and ideas on learning ... hence any student would do well to read this. However, it is also very much a hard sell on the mind mapping doctrine and at times becomes a hard sell for other 'Buzan' products. Eg ... The book says you need a mind mapping pad (bought from Buzan's company) and special mind map pens (again, Buzan's company). However I found plain A4 paper and tesco's value pens worked just as well.

In short, there is some good stuff here and hence it is worth getting but accept that the is written to sell mind mapping.

This book tells you everything you need to know about what Mind Maps are, why they are so effective on such a wide range of applications, and how to create them. It's full of colourful examples too.

Why is this a must-have? Because mind maps are such an invaluable tool in the arsenal of anyone who has ever needed to write an article/essay/book, plan a project, learn something and actually remember it later, develop ideas, etc, etc. They work so well because they mirror how your brain actually works, which is also explained in the book, and encourage whole-brain thinking to maximise the results of your brain power.

Since learning Mind Mapping, I have become much more productive with work and personal projects, cut down on procastination when writing, and seen improvements in ideas generation. And, had I known about Mind Maps when at school, I'm sure I could have remembered everything beyond the exam period too. I will definitely be teaching my kids how to Mind Map once they are old enough!

Note: Once you get started, you may decide you want to do your Mind Maps on your computer, so be sure to check out imindmap, which is endorsed by Tony Buzan.