Reader Respone #7-games...educational?

I just read the "Play" chapter of A Whole New Mind. The part that struck me the most was the video games. Pink praises video games in saying that they are great and everyone should try them. He says to go get a demo and play it and you will get hooked and not regret it. The he goes on to state, "At the very least, you'll begin to understand the powerful new grammar, narrative pattern, and thinking style those games are teaching"
When I first read all this about video games I jumped to the conclusion that video games are leisure activities guys do that seem pointless to many girls. Reading about the military game that was made for the soldiers to help them do training and learn aspects of the army made me think about other games. The more I read into the chapter and Pink talked about how these games are allowing people to learn new things in a whole different way, I got thinking...
I actually agree with him. He made me do a 180 turn on my opinions just in that one chapter. I mean every time I watch my boyfriend sit down and play video games I think about how worthless that seems to me (he is still playing them at the age of 23, almost 24). However, the more I thought about it they actually require to him to think and learn a lot. For example, his favorite game is an ATV game where you race four wheelers. Seems simple enough. When I try it though all I do is fall off and break the four wheeler. He has learned how to run the four wheeler, what gears work, and what not to do. Something I have not done because I have not taken the time to. I mean learning about a four wheeler isn't something your going to use everyday but he understands them way more than I do and that is because of some help from the video game. The video game allowed him to learn more about gears, and riding, which is something he really enjoys. If the game allowed for him to learn so much about something he loves, then go for it.
Also I babysat a little boy this sumer who was four years old. His mother gave him homework to do such as spelling, or letters. He never wanted to sit down and do them. However, he enjoyed playing video games. His mother got him a Leapster, which is a child's video game. You can buy educational programs or games that teach kids about different aspects of life. Once he got this he didn't mind doing his homework at all. The video game became a way of teaching him without him even knowing it. If this is a form of education that children are willing to do, I say good.
Who would have ever known if you really thought about it video games can actually be helpful in learning many new things for many ages.

No computers??? how?

I have come to really really appreciate having my own computer at school. All this talk about technology and how far it's come. I couldn't imagine going to college without a computer.
This past week I did not have my computer because it was getting repaired. Wow, you would think I lost my arm. It was such a pain to not have a computer sitting right there on my desk. I had to go to the library to use a computer and many times one wasn't available so I just had to sit and wait. What a waste of time. I wrote a paper, which would have taken me two hours if I were home on my computer but instead it took me four in the library. I couldn't check my email or be on IM. I can honestly say I felt disconnected from the world. I never realized how much not having a personal computer would affect me.
Really though our parents went to school without a computer. They passed, and they managed. So, why is it just in a generation we feel as though we can't live without them. Hell of a question.

Reader Respone #6 - Design Design

I have now finished the first three of the six senses. The first three include design, story, and symphony. All of them are interesting however I found design to be the most interesting.
I like the way the design chapter is presented. First and foremost though, Pink says that no longer is function enough but you also need design.
As quoted:
"It's not longer sufficient to create a product, a service, an experience, or a lifestyle that's merely functional. Today it's economically crucial and personally rewarding to create something that is also beautiful, whimsical, or emotionally engaging."
I completely agree with this statement. I don't know if it's just because I'm a girl, but these days it seems to be all about design. Our tissue boxes are even designed. I am completely suckered into these designs. If you have choice between a plain box and a decorative box of tissues I would pick the decorative one. Also there is such an emphasize on designer clothes, shoes etc. Even if you are not typically into that sort of thing, you are somehow suckered into what everyone else has to have. Somehow the design gets people to buy whatever it is.
The examples he uses for design prove his point over and over again. The examples about the fonts and the fact that I could pick them out in a quick manner shocked me. I would have never thought about the fonts even being designed on our computers. The other one that really caught is shown through this quote by Ohga saying, "At Sony, we assume that all products of our competitors have basically the same technology,price, performance, and features. Design is the only that that differentiated one product from another in the marketplace". Everything from cellphones, cars, clothes, etc. are all made with design as the main focus. As consumers we buy what it is we find appealing to us and the marketplace is using that in all there products to sell.

intrigued

I have never read a book by Pink before. Reading this book makes me think I should if he has any other books. I really enjoy his style of writing. The more I read the more I get pulled into what he has to say. Many points he brings up are common good examples I would have never thought of, but are easy to relate to. He doesn't use big words people can't understand. He seems very down to earth and someone you can relate to very easily. He even shows a drawing of himself that no one would be proud of. Good for him he has no shame in show casing his artistic abilities. The way he splits up the chapters and explains everything with such detail really helps the reader fully understand his points. I just find the book interesting and the author as a whole even more intriguing. It is by far my favorite book we have read so far in the class.

Short view proposal

I had a hard time trying to pick just one idea for the video. I finally came up with one I find fascinating. My mother as well as teachers have said to me how lucky I am to have a computer while going to school. They used to have a typewriter and had to go back through papers and rewrite the while thing if they made a mistake! WHAT!? I, in this day in age, could not imagine that. Thinking about this made me come up with the idea to compare the technology in the lives of people our parents age, only one generation, from the technology of our generation. I will compare the technology itself as well as how it affected the students of each generation in college. That's my proposal if anyone has any feedback let me know!

Reader Response #5

I have finished the first few chapters of A Whole New Mind. I find it to be very interesting and easy to read. I strongly agree with the chapter on Abundance, Asia, and automation.
He explains abundance by explaining about a shopping mall that has everything you could every want. All the big department stores like target, Walmart, and Best Buy. He brings up three good points about this "abundant era". These are how everyone just in the last 30 years now owns a car and a home, self storage (for all of our extras), and all the throw away products or objects we own. There is no doubt that we are people who have everything in abundance; clothes, shoes, cups, etc. We have way to much of so many things we could never use them all, but we continue to buy them. He makes the point that the abundance lessens the L-directed Thinking. Products are more about the color, the designer, beauty, etc. All of which are appealing to the eye. If it doesn't catch your eye you don't buy it. In this sense it make R-directed Thinking more significant. I agree with him completely. Rarely does anyone buy something based of a rational or logical choice it is more based off what catches your eye and you find to be appealing to you.
When he speaks of Asia he is talking about how white collar jobs will become almost non-existent in the U.S. This is because a person in India, Lalit, and other foreign countries have people that will do it for way less money than an American. This leaves these white collared L-directed Thinkers migrating to other countries. This leaves R-directs Thinkers to forge relationships and synthesize the big picture. Being able to have people in a different country replace higher end jobs in the U.S. is becoming a reality and Pink points it out well. There are a lot of people in foreign countries willing to do work for way less than an American, so American jobs are slowly perishing.
The last "A" Pink speaks about is Automation. This brings up the man vs. machine problem. Who can do it better....the man or the machine? He brings up some jobs that may soon be replaced by a computer that are often time L-directed Thinkers. Two are lawyers and physicians. When talking about the lawyers he says there is now an online site that does divorce paper and settles a divorce for only $249. There are also websites that make up forms for clients for way cheaper than the thousands a lawyer charges. This is going to force down the demand of lawyers and they will have to charge less for their work. As for physicians he points out how many people go online to find symptoms and problems instead of going to the doctor. I know I do that all the time, rather than paying for an outrageous trip to the doctor, you type in you symptoms and try to self medicate.
This chapter points out a lot of good indicators showing how R-directed Thinkers will succeed and benefit in the future. It makes me think and keeps me intrigued into the book.

A Whole New Mind

After reading the first chapter of this book I found quite a bit to be interesting. I like how he introducing the book by explaining the functions of each side of the brain. He explains what jobs and interests left brain people and right brain people do. I really enjoyed how he explain the contra lateral movement of body function. For example how the left brain controls the right side actions of the body and vis versa. Pink used real life examples to show this as he asked the reader to do different actions. This allows for the reader to get interested in the book very quickly. The most interesting part I found was the part about the brain and language. Of course that would interest me though, I am a speech major. We haven't taken neurology yet in our major so really it was an insight for me into what that may be like. I never knew that the left hemisphere specializes in text and the right hemisphere specializes in context.
This book holds my attention completely so far. I think out of all the books we have read this one will be the most appealing to me. I am also left handed so who knows how my brain works. I have never been checked to see what side of my brain is used for language. I have always been interested to find out and this book makes me want to find out even more.