The Organized Mind

June 23, 2014
Levitin (This Is Your Brain on Music), professor of psychology and behavioral neuroscience at McGill University, examines the way our brains have evolved (and not) to meet the challenges of the Information Age. While our brains evolved to take on the daunting challenges of life in the Stone Age, they now have many redundant, maladaptive, and not quite finished features that clash with the huge demands placed on our attention by the modern world. Levitin reviews the way our thinking is distorted by these distractions, beginning with a tour through the neurology of attention; the origin of these distractions, from written language to the smartphone; and the powers of the wandering mind, the state in which humans think the most creatively. He offers advice on how to reorganize attention and make better decisions. Each chapter also takes practical detours through information theory, probability, and other human strategies for coping with contemporary problems. Levitin’s fascinating tour of the mind helps us better understand the ways we process and structure our experiences. Agent: The Wylie Agency.

July 1, 2014
Lost your keys or glasses? Blame your brain, writes Levitin (Psychology and Music/McGill Univ.; The World in Six Songs: How the Musical Brain Created Human Nature, 2008, etc.) in this ingenious combination of neuroscience and self-help.Levitin, who served as a studio musician and sound engineer before becoming a neuroscientist, stresses that evolution does not design things but, over millions of years, settles on systems that get the job done. The brain worked well enough for our Stone Age ancestors and has barely changed since then, during which it has been forced to absorb vastly more knowledge than ever before in human history. Critics of every expansion of information access (writing, printing press, TV, Internet, social media) warn that the information expansion has gone too far and will make us stupid. While disagreeing, Levitin admits that brains evolved to focus on one thing at a time and filter out distractions, but this "attentional system" is outdated when confronted with today's avalanche of input. Memory is also unreliable; worse, we often refuse to believe it. Most Americans, President George W. Bush included, remember watching TV on 9/11 and seeing two planes striking the World Trade Center towers 20 minutes apart. This is a false memory, however; videos of the first plane didn't appear until the following day. Levitin fills a third of his book with insights derived from neuroscience. In the remainder, he delivers advice for organizing your life by shifting the burden from neurons to the outside world. He provides imaginative suggestions involving filing systems, labels and multiple computers, as well as tactics to determine the usefulness (i.e., truth) of the excess of information in today's media.A prolific genre of books covers this subject, but Levitin holds his own, and his examination of brain function stands out.

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August 1, 2014

Advances in computer technology and the rise of the Internet have led to an onslaught of information confronting us each day. Drawing upon the results of psychological research, Levitin (James McGill Professor of Psychology and Behavioral Neuroscience, McGill Univ.; This Is Your Brain on Music) explains how the mental processes of attention, working memory, and categorization limit the amount of information that we can take in and remember. By employing practical strategies that work in concert with these mental processes, we can become more organized, make more informed decisions, and increase our efficiency at work, at home, and in our social lives. Levitin illuminates his points with vivid real-world examples such as company management structures, probabilities involved in medical diagnoses and treatments, and organizational strategies used by celebrities, CEOs, and their assistants. Owing to frequent references to current web applications and public figures, however, this book may soon become outdated. VERDICT By learning about how the mind processes information, readers with an interest in the brain will come away with insight into how they can better organize their lengthy to-do lists, overflowing junk drawers, and cluttered schedules. [See Prepub Alert, 2/3/14.]--Katherine G. Akers, Univ. of Michigan Libs., Ann Arbor

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 1, 2014

Admit it, you loved Levitin's This Is Your Brain on Music and The World in Six Songs, and you weren't alone; both were New York Times best sellers. The McGill University neuroscientist is back with a book we could all use. Surveying the welter of information often sinking us today, even as we're pushed to make ever faster decisions, he points out that some folks aren't so overwhelmed that they continually lose their car keys--or their minds. Levitin draws on the latest studies to come up with best practices for mastering the overload and regaining control of one's home, workplace, and sanity. Bravo!

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.