A Whole New Mind

Whatever Daniel Pink is selling, I'm not buying. Of course I was biased from the start...I detest required readings. And I don't think the Right brainers were ever out of fashion. Who else but a right brain genius would come up with computers in the first place? Or television? Or the internet? It took a lot of creative thinking to come up with all of that.

In Daniel's first chapter the only thing that kept running through my mind was..."is he name dropping?" Seriously, it was all "Havard so and so, Cal-Tech whosit, neuroscientist blah, blah, blah." I understand Pink is trying to support his thesis with knowledgable sources, but every other paragraph is filled with a new name. Don't get me wrong, I agree with many of his premises, but much of what he says seems, well, obvious. Obviously you can't make decisions without both sides of the brain...

And that brings me to another of Daniel's ideas...computers will take over medical diagnosis. Excuse me? Seriously? I guess since we are now relying on computers to make our romantic matches the next logical step is deciding what is wrong with us physically.
I can see the hpochondriacs of the world loving this. They will be taking every new drug that comes on the market. I prefer a face to face doctor. I tend to minimize pains and need a doctor to tell me to take things seriously.

And let me just bring up the idea of outsourcing...I get extremely frustrated when I try to describe a problem to a customer service rep. and can't make him/her understand me. And why do they have to give them "American" sounding names? Let's be honest, we know we aren't talking to a Jake or John. Let them use their own names. (ok i know that was totally off topic...but Daniel did mention outsourcing as a reason Right brainers will inherit the earth.)

Now chapter 3 has some interesting facts and ideas. A few I would like to share with my husband...MFAs are important! HA! He is under the misguided notion that an MFA will get you nowhere...guess his business behind is wrong, wrong, wrong! Oh, and I love the idea of an aptitude test based on New Yorker cartoons! I would kick butt on that test. The New Yorker is my favorite magazine of all time. The cartoons found in its pages are some of the best in the world.

Ok...back to the book...It is well written, has some great humor, but didn't deliver any Ah Hah! moments for me. And the whole Target senario...please...I shop target weekly and have never been that impressed with their stock. Give me Macy's anyday.