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A Letter to My Readers

Let me tell you the story of how Mind Maps and How to Mind Map came into being.

As a young child I had loved the idea of taking notes and of learning. By the time I was a teenager my thinking was already getting into a mess, and I began to hate anything to do with study, especially note-taking. I began to notice the extraordinary paradox that the more notes I took the worse my studies and memory became. In an effort to improve matters I began to underline key words and ideas in red and to put important things in boxes. Magically, my memory began to improve.

In my first year of university, I was still struggling. It was then that I became fascinated by the Greeks, for I learned that they had developed memory systems that enabled them to recall perfectly hundreds and thousands of facts. The Greek memory systems were based on Imagination and Association, which I noticed to my amusement and concern were absent from my own notes!

I then began to notice that everyone around me was taking the same kind of crowded, one-color and monotonous notes as I was. None of us was using the principles of Imagination and Association—we were all in the same sinking boat!

I suddenly realized that in my head and the collective “global brain,” there was a gigantic log-jam that needed a new note-taking and thinking tool to unblock it.

I set out in search of a thinking tool that would give us the freedom to think and the freedom to think in the way we were designed to think.

I began to study every subject I could, especially psychology. In psychology I discovered that there were two main things important to the brain during learning: Association and Imagination. Similar to the Greeks! By now I was becoming fascinated by my brain and what I realized were its power and potential. The power and potential were both much greater than I had thought. I began to focus on memory, note-taking and creativity, as it seemed that the answer to my quest would lie with them.

I quickly discovered that most of the great thinkers, especially Leonardo da Vinci, used pictures, codes and connecting lines in their notes. They “doodled” and thus made their notes come alive.

During all these explorations, I would often wander in nature, where I found it much easier to think, imagine and dream. It began to dawn on me that, as we are part of nature, our thinking and note-making must relate to nature and must reflect nature; we must mirror the universal laws of nature in our own functioning!

There was only one possible solution to my dilemma. The thinking tool had to apply to the full range of human daily activities, and had to be based on the way the brain naturally wants to work. I needed something that reflected the processes of nature and how our brains naturally work rather than something that put us in a mental strait-jacket by forcing us to work against our natural design. What emerged was a star-like, simple, and beautiful tool that did reflect the natural creativity and radiance of our thinking processes.

The first Mind Map was born!

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) heard about this new discovery and about its remarkable effect on children. As a result they asked me to do a half-an-hour television program on Mind Maps.

At the meeting to discuss the content of the program, I Mind Mapped the brain-storming session. Looking at the growing Mind Map, the Head of BBC Further Education exclaimed: “There’s more than one program here. There are at least ten!” Within a year the “Use Your Head” ten-part television series and accompanying book were launched. The Mind Map had created its own future!

Since then I have devoted my time to lecturing and teaching about the theory and application of Mind Maps. Having struggled through my student days, I was determined that everyone should have the benefit of this liberating thinking tool.

As part of this determination to make Mind Maps accessible to everyone, I have written How to Mind Map. It will introduce you to what a Mind Map is, how Mind Maps work, the many ways in which Mind Maps can help you and how you can use them.

How to Mind Map will guide you through the simple process of building up a Mind Map from the start. You will quickly be inspired by what you can achieve, how creative you can be and how Mind Maps will bring you immediate practical help in your daily life.

Mind Maps wonderfully and dramatically changed my life for the better. I know that they will do the same for you.

Prepare to be amazed—by yourself!