How do you define who is smart and who isn't? For 100-book-strong author Tony Buzan, the formulation of his complex mind maps have made "big strides" towards finding out.
"Smart is the ability to use developed multiple intelligence in the most complicated IQ test. That IQ test is daily life on planet Earth," Buzan told Weekend Review from Kenya.
"We used to think that ‘smart' was being good at words and numbers but we realised that's only two aspects of being smart and there are others that are equally — if not more — important," he said.
These include social intelligence, geometric or spatial intelligence, ethical or spiritual intelligence, physical intelligence and creative intelligence, he continued.
Studying law and philosophy at university, Buzan realised that he was more interested in the functioning of what was producing these subjects: the brain. "It was more fascinating to study the philosophy and law producer than the subjects themselves," he said.
At both school and university, Buzan became aware that he was beginning to fail. To try and solve his failings, he thought taking more notes would help, but the situation just became worse.
Gradually it dawned on him that taking notes in one colour (blue or black) is monochrome, which is monotone.
"Monotone by definition is monotonous. When your brain is bored, it switches off, tunes out, shuts down, goes to sleep. I realised the world was using a note-taking system designed to tune-out, shut down and send it to sleep," he said.
The beginnings of Buzan's now-famous Mind Map system started to form. He removed 10 per cent of his key words, added colour and found that it became memorable and organised and that if he "added lines and codes and symbols, it became connected. Adding images made it memorable and understandable."
"Thus the Mind Map emerged," he said, "what it finally did was … it was as if I'd been driving all my life with the windshield caked in mud and it wiped and everything was clear. I could see clearly."
Having developed the Mind Map only for the purpose of helping his own memory, he then realised it was actually quite useful when applied to problem solving, writing, planning and "everything to do with thinking".
In 1973, the BBC approached Buzan after finding out about the maps, which were being used by a number of his friends, including his brother, who is professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics.
Since then, Buzan has authored and co-authored more than 100 books, working with governments, universities, schools and Fortune 100 companies.
In 1994 Buzan was named by Forbes magazine as one of five top international lecturers, along with Mikhail Gorbachev, Henry Kissinger and Margaret Thatcher. He also founded the World Memory Championships and the World Speed Reading Championships.
"It's an indication that we can all think and that we can all think very well. The brain is a fundamental thinking tool," he said. His books are now increasingly written by request. The Mind Maps themselves have different applications, for example, mind mapping for business, or for children. He has recently been asked to write one on positive thinking.
The maps have also been used effectively by people with dyslexia and businesses with talented individuals they want to mould.
They have been described as "the Swiss army knife of the brain" and are apparently used by more than 250 million people worldwide.
Buzan is also a practising poet — a discipline, he says, that has been "wildly misunderstood. It's been thought of as the weak, emasculated, non-energetic, wimpish thing to do."
It is thought that if you take part in or write poetry as a woman you must be sentimental and emotional, while a man must not really be a man, which is rubbish, he said.
"Poetry is the essence — the royal jelly of thinking," he continued, "because it requires you to condense your thoughts."
In all ancient cultures, poets were leading figures in empires. They were advisers to emperors, thinkers and problem solvers, storytellers and carriers of tribal memories, he continued.
"They had developed the biggest and the best imaginations and they were often the top warriors; which is why the Samurai had to be good poets along with being good artists," he said.
"Poetry is the most muscular [form] of thinking."
Daydreaming is also something that is underrated, according to Buzan. Today's modern world doesn't allow for daydreaming, which is essential for survival and creativity.
"Not only should daydreaming be allowed but it should also be encouraged, increased and guided," he said.
Tony Buzan took part in the third Emirates Airline Festival of Literature, held from March 8 to March 12 at the InterContinental Hotel, Dubai Festival City and Cultural and Scientific Association, Al Mamzar. The festival was held under the patronage of His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and was supported by the Dubai Culture and Arts Authority (Dubai Culture).
