Devoted to small businesses and those who run them

Yvonne, what an interesting use of mind-mapping. We all seemed to be stretched for time and this provides a practical way to focus our business reading. I am guilty of reading several business books at once and often not completely finishing them. I had planned to finish a few this summer so it seems a perfect opportunity to give Stephen's method a try. When reading for pleasure or when reading a business book that holds my attention I read it from cover to cover in a day or so.

Hi Karen
I think this is a great way to organize the information. As well as mindmapping, I tend to mark relevant pages as I go, and then collate notes.

If it's an easy read, I'll often read it once right through, and then go back a second time to make notes.

Do you mark your business books with highlighters or pen etc.? I do sometimes. I know some people can't bring themselves to do that, but I consider it a working document.

Of course, there are some books that I wouldn't dream of writing on.

You're right Yvonne. That was one of the best explanations of how to use mind mapping that i have seen too. Thanks for presenting it here.

I'm pleased you found it useful, Karen. He's a good communicator, isn't he?

This is a great video, Yvonne. I've been using Freemind software for a while now and find it really helpful in brainstorming and project planning. I also occasionally mindmap a book if I really want to master the concepts.

Very cool! I've always used some form of mind mapping to take notes and study from my textbooks, but I've never applied it to my current business or research reading. I'm not quite sure why since I used it in college almost non-stop. Chemistry is well adapted to pictures and most of the writing is in math or chemical symbols and equations (more pictures).

Mind maps literally look like the web of neurons that make up our memory, and that's why they work so darn well. They are exactly like our minds work.

I'm giving it a try starting now. I breezed through "WordPress for Dummies" and want to go back and mind map the chapters relevant to me. The book covers the software, multi-user version of the software (doesn't apply to me) and WordPress.com (also doesn't apply to me). The book lends itself to the reader only reading the parts that are relevant.

This is a great way to make every book you read that you need to retain information from a reference book rather than a novel.

Thanks for posting the video. It's fantastic,
Sherri