This is perhaps one of de Bono's most subtle and exquisitely crafted books. In it, he lays out his theory of how the mind works -mechanically, that is. His theory, interestingly has preceded the actual findings by, among others, biologists, other neurologists and medical scientists. And after the fact, has proven to be more or less correct.



What is most striking about de Bono's theories is that he does not (as many other scientists do) make lavish claims about the brain's computing powers and abilities, but in fact makes just the opposite claim: that the human brain is a rather crude, clumsy, passive and slow mechanical device as measured by normal computing standards. And further, that it is precisely because of this lack of precision, speed -- and its own passivity -- that makes the human brain good at what it does best: self organization. Once processing begins, the mind has a life of its own.



The key component of mind is of course memory. In fact, following de Bono's lead, it is not too strong to suggest that memory is all there is to mind and consciousness. Everything else in the brain is just mechanics: special and often fleeting arrangements, configurations, modules and sub-modules and functional components of memory formed mostly as byproducts of the mind's activity and processing.



But it is how memory actually is arranged to do its work that is novel and key to understanding the mechanics of the brain. Most often, memory operates "passively" rather than actively. As things happen to it, it reacts by taking on new forms and reorganizing itself into new functions. Taking on new shapes, forms and functions IS the brains way of reacting. "Taking on new shapes and forms" becomes "braining processing." For it is precisely in these forms and shapes that the weight of mind (as memory functions and activity) is carried; functions that when taken together become the sum toll of mind.



As usual, de Bono has his own heuristics for driving his mechanical points home. Pneumatics, filling and draining of bathtubs, pistons and valves all play a role and make up his repertoire of mechanical heuristics for explaining the minds way of reacting. Most of them do their jobs well.



One of his best examples is the heuristic of "passive reaction": of water rolling down a hill. As it does so, it can etch out grooves, gullies, ravines and even rivers and oceans: So too can thoughts that ripple through the mind, leaving their tracks and imprints on memory cells. It is these memory traces and tracks that come together as sub-modules, and that can undergo further processing and similar secondary changes, to become larger grooves and gullies that constitute additional and often larger and ever newer functional forms and sub-modules. And so it goes as the mind builds up in connections, complexity and in activity.



de Bono's key point of course is, that there is no deus ex machina, no magic in the brain: It is all rather subtle passive processing. Five Stars

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