In the Mind: Creative Visual Thinkers, Gifted Dyslexics and the Rise of Visual Technologies

Now in its fifteenth printing, In the Mind’s Eye has been recognized as a classic in its field. The book still stands alone as a uniquely compelling argument for the great importance of visual thinking and visual technologies as well as the high creative potential of many individuals with dyslexia or other learning difficulties.

In this second edition, Thomas G. West reviews a number of recent developments that support and extend the perspectives and expectations originally set forth in the first edition. In addition to the original eleven portraits of famous individuals with learning difficulties (including Albert Einstein and Thomas Edison), he has added brief profiles of two dyslexic scientists known for their ability to generate, in quite different fields, powerful but unexpected innovations and discoveries: William J. Dreyer, a Caltech professor who used his highly visual imagination to see things in molecular biology and immunology well before others; and John R. (Jack) Horner, who flunked out of the University of Montana seven times (requiring letters of support for readmission) but is now known as one of the three most important paleontologists in the world.

Recognized as among the "best of the best" by the American Library Association in their broad psychology and neuroscience category, this title belongs on the bookshelves of all educators and anyone with an interest in visual thinking, visual technologies, and highly creative people with learning difficulties.

Now in its fifteenth printing, In the Mind's Eye has been recognized as a classic in its field. The book still stands alone as a uniquely compelling argument for the great importance of visual thinking and visual technologies as well as the high creative potential of many individuals with dyslexia or other learning difficulties.

In this second edition, Thomas G. West reviews a number of recent developments that support and extend the perspectives and expectations originally set forth in the first edition. In addition to the original eleven portraits of famous individuals with learning difficulties (including Albert Einstein and Thomas Edison), he has added brief profiles of two dyslexic scientists known for their ability to generate, in quite different fields, powerful but unexpected innovations and discoveries: William J. Dreyer, a Caltech professor who used his highly visual imagination to see things in molecular biology and immunology well before others; and John R. (Jack) Horner, who flunked out of the University of Montana seven times (requiring letters of support for readmission) but is now known as one of the three most important paleontologists in the world.

Recognized as among the "best of the best" by the American Library Association in their broad psychology and neuroscience category, this title belongs on the bookshelves of all educators and anyone with an interest in visual thinking, visual technologies, and highly creative people with learning difficulties.

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING:

"Every once in a while a book comes along that turns one's thinking upside down. In the Mind's Eye is just such a book." -Roeper Review

"Dyslexiaand other learning differences are commonly seen as disabilities, but they must also be seen as distinctive abilities, different (and often superior) modes of perceiving and understanding the world. As Thomas West shows, some of our greatest minds, from Einstein and Edison to Churchill and da Vinci, have been visual thinkers who today might be labeled 'learning disabled.' In the Mind's Eye makes a powerful case that the dyslexic-visual mind may be full of creative human potential, and is as crucial a part of our cognitive heritage as any other."
—Oliver Sacks, MD, Professor of Neurology and Psychiatry, Columbia University Medical Center, Columbia University Artist and author of many books, including Musicophilia, Awakenings, and The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat

"Unfortunately, I did not discover this wonderful book before I wrote Thinking in Pictures several years ago. I recommend it to teachers, parents and education policymakers. West profiles people with dyslexia who are visual thinkers, and his conclusions on the link between visual thinking and creativity are similar to mine."
—Temple Grandin, associate professor at Colorado State University, author of the memoir Thinking in Pictures (dealing with her life with autism) and the best-selling Animals in Translation.

"Thomas West brings to life the fascinating capacities and syndromes that arise from our visual-spatial imagination. His book proves beyond doubt that we are not all points on a single bell curve of intelligence."
—Howard Gardner, the John H. and Elisabeth A. Hobbs Professor of Cognition and Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and author of many books, including Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences and Intelligence Reframed: Multiple Intelligences for the 21st Century

Thomas G. West is a writer, lecturer and consultant based in Washington, DC. In connection with In the Mind's Eye, he has been invited to provide over 200 presentations, interviews and documentary segments for computer, business, education, art, design, scientific and medical groups in the U.S. and fourteen countries overseas.