Toni KrasnicRecensioni

This was another Kindle purchase. It is really aimed at imparting study skills for college but I read it for information on mind mapping. There are some helpful tips on reviewing and learning materials and life long learning. Not a real 'page turner' but well organized and helpful for what it is.

I received 'How to Study with Mind Maps: The Concise Learning Method for Students and Lifelong Learners' by Toni Krasnic in exchange for a honest review.

I've taken along time to post a review for this book. Not due to the book being confusing or even long (just something else out of my control). It is well written and the CLM concept is fantastic. It is not a shortcut method. Any person following the 5Ps will certain learn any material and learn it well. Think of a way to organize new information into your mind so it can digest into they way your mind work and can handle and use it. It takes some times for someone to use it efficiently. I found that some of the ideas that CLM suggest, I already used it unconsciously to learn, however, never gave much thought to. Others are new to me, but cannot do without now.

Do not just read this book. Apply the techniques. You will see the results. In this age of information overload, you will do yourself a favor by having a way to process all this information and making it into useful knowledge for yourself.

*Note - I was given a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.*

That being said, I feel lucky to have seen this on a list of books for review, as well as get this book. It is very usable and I have even used it enhancing several mind maps while reading the book. I have read some of the book twice, and it helps to refine and catch new items. This is a book that I would put down as a must purchase for many parents of students and students who are having some trouble with learning and studying. Mind maps are a great tool, but knowing how to optimize their use for studying is the value of this book. The five phases and four steps are strong learning methodology pieces Then applying and combining them with mind maps make this a great tool.

In my life - there are four areas where there is learning involved: as a coach, as a student, as a parent, and at work where I am trying to help a group of people learn to do their jobs better. The best part of this book is that it is truly meant for all of these scenarios, as it covers the entire spectrum.

Lastly, I want to thank the author for addressing a large gap in the education system: teaching people how to study.

I found this book to be incredibly helpful. I only wish it had been published back when I was a student. While reviewing the material, I realized I intuitively used some of Professor Krasnic's methods in college. For example, I always previewed the material in my book and notes, prior to attending a lecture. I believe the Concise Learning Method (CLM) could have given me the skills to graduate at the very top of my class. In my opinion, coming close is not good enough. If I had this method of learning at the time, it may have given me the extra edge to graduate magna cum laude.

The Concise Learning Method uses visuals that the student creates. This helps him or her to transfer the information from short-term memory into long-term memory. This study method gives learners' the ability to understand complex material and remember it. It involves recording the information in mind maps, and utilizing the five phases of learning with the repetitive four steps of: key concepts, meaningful organization and connections, critical thinking and key questions, applied to each phase. It engages the student in teaching themselves. It helps guides the learner to thinking flexibly, critically and formulating the key questions to ask . When you put it all together, it provides a flexible and systematic approach to learning. The only thing I would add, is advising students to tutor classmatesif they can. I found that no matter how well I thought I understood the subject material, I found I gained a better understanding through answering questions for other students, and helping them to master the material at hand.

I really cannot stress enough how good and useful Professor Krasnic's book is. If it was up to me, it would be a required first semester course for any high school or college student.

BUY IT! and APPLY IT! It is well worth it.

Bob Rodgers

I appreciated Mr. Krasnic's HTSWMM as an introduction to the concept of mind mapping. I'll admit that the early going seemed a little nebulous, but the use of examples at the back of the book made the difference. My background is as an engineer and as a pastor of a medium-sized church. I'm looking at putting the visual element into practice in managing group efforts. Not only will it help me to stay on top of all that's happening, but it will help me show others where their part fits in. I'm also putting the book on the must-read stack for my high-schooler.

I received this book from librarything.com.

I am an avid user of mind maps and was very happy to win this book. But after reading it, I don't think I have learned anything.

The book is a self-help guide for students and adult learners. Mr Krasnic's purpose is to promote his "Concise Learning Method" (CLM), which is a five-step program intended to maximize the retention of learned material.

Mr. Krasnic has written several other books on CLM. This one is about how to use Mind Maps as a note taking tool. Unfortunately, the book spends too much time recapitulating the CLM program and exhorting the reader to LEARN!!! than on the actual technicalities of how to use Mind Maps. The book's biggest failing is that it does not explain how Mind Maps might be used sequentially through the months of a college course.

Note taking is vital to learning because it helps the mind integrate visual and aural signals. The act of note taking reinforces the learning. In promoting Mind Mapping as a note taking tool, Mr. Krasnic presupposes that the learner is using a computer in class (Mind Mapping with pen and paper is not quick enough to use in a lecture), or that the learner will come back from a lecture and convert paper notes into a Mind Map format as part of the study process. All well and good if it happens.

Mind Maps are wonderful for organizing concepts but their use can be limited by the complexity of the materials being mapped. Mr. Krasnic presents a case study of a chemistry text but only the early chapters of a basic text. I would like to see him try a chapter on Krebs Cycle or DNA sequencing.

Mind Maps are also limited by printout problems. As Maps grow more complex they become unprintable and so they are difficult to archive, unlike paper notes that can sit on a shelf for centuries.

The book is a quick read, easy to understand but there is little here that is new. Watching a tutorial on how to use Mind Mapping software would give the same technical information and any book on learning will cover the same concepts as CLM. The book might be useful, though, to a student, to suggest an alternate and more fun way to take and organize lecture notes. But I would not pay money for it.½

I was excited to receive this book (I got it from LT Member Giveaways) - my husband and I both work in education, and his current research focus is developing a large-scale concept map for an undergraduate engineering program. Mind maps are wonderful but extremely limited, particularly when it comes to maps of a large scale - often, when presented in the traditional mind map format, there is simply too much information to take in, and the tool becomes more complicated than useful.

So I expected an in-depth treatise on how to use mind maps as educational tools. And maybe that's what this is. But after the tenth misspelled / typoed word, I gave up on this book. It was clearly rushed, the introduction reads like a marketing gimmick, and I expect far better than this from an educational text. My Kindle edition does not have page numbers, but I only made it 9% of the way in before the blatant spelling and grammar mistakes made me distrustful of the content. I don't need to know how to learn "beter" - but apparently the author does.

I have to say I had heard about mind maps a bit, but hadn't actually understand what they were until this spring when I stumbled across them again for a class. (I am currently a graduate student in getting my Masters in Library Science) As someone who struggles daily with the dichotomy between the organizational skills I want to have and the actuality of my hectic life, I love the idea of Mind Maps. After reading this book, I have actually suggested it to some of my classmates for reading. My only hesitation is that everything is very straightforward, and doesn't go as in depth as I would like. That being said, I can understand why the book is written the way it is, and that doesn't hinder my appreciation for it.

I was so excited to receive a review copy of this book (*insert obligatory “I was given a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review* disclaimer). I found out about mind maps about a year ago and fell in love immediately. As somebody who loves making lists and graphs, I’ve found mind maps to be a fun way to organize thoughts in a way that is visually pleasing. I wish this book had been available back when I was in college.
The author introduces the Concise Learning Method (CLM) in easy-to-understand language and explains how CLM can help readers learn in a new, more efficient way. The author ends each chapter with website and book recommendations of additional resources. The appendices arm the reader with a visual map worksheet and case study, which I appreciate. I also enjoyed the cute cartoon drawings.

I first was introduced to the use of Mind Maps in an English class a long time ago and used the a mind map to set up my website and other projects but never for study purposes. This book goes beyond the simple mind map and shows how in step-by-step directions how to use the technique for studying. What is exceptional about this book is that he uses a case study where you make a mind maps on a actual Chemistry chapter and lesson. I really suggest you do not skip this part because it will help you understand the technique better than just reading the steps. I only wish I had known this technique when I studied Chemistry since I made a lot of rote memory cards to learn and pass chemistry. I am not sure it would have helped me memorize the periodic table but maybe if I did not have to do the rote memory on the other topics I would had done better and been more of an engaged, and efficient learner. The book provides a lot of link for further study and I suggest utilizing them as well. Included are links to mind map software which really brings the mind maps to another level. I look forward to using it on many project especially on the book I have been writing that uses a lot of historical information.