The Organized Mind

I just finished Daniel Levitin’s The Organized Mind: Thinking Straight in the Age of Information Overload. Disclaimer: I received a review copy gratis via the publisher.

Here's my review.

Levitin's topic is certainly a worthwhile one and he writes in an approachable style. I for one appreciated some of his references and personal stories. What's more, Levitin has done his homework. I'm all for citing the works of others, and Levitin extensively references the work of plenty of prominent researches writers. (More on that below.)

At times, though, the book tends to wander. The Organized Mind doesn't read like a single text. It is part business book, part decision making book à la Thinking, Fast and Slow, part science/neurology book, and part self-help book. Sure, it's well written, but I would read twenty interesting pages on how the brain works only to get back to where he left off before. I was left wondering if less would have been more. That is, would a shorter but more focused book worked better? I suspect that the answer is yes.

There's nothing wrong with The Organized Mind. It's enjoyable enough. I'd stop short of calling it a must-read, though. This goes double if you're caught up on Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Daniel Kahneman, Daniel Gilbert, and Dan Ariely.

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

Cross-posted on Huffington Post.