THE STEPS TO POWER BROWSING A BOOK VI

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STEP VI: USE YOUR MIND MAP AS A SPEECH!

Your Mind Map is the raw material for your speech about your book. Get an audience and tell them what you have excavated in the preceding thirty minutes.

Do not bury your face in the Mind Map; dip into it to refer to points and then look at your audience whilst delivering your speech. This is great practice for building fluency, memory, and confidence.

NOTE: You have been given thirty minutes for the Power Browsing exercise, plus whatever time you need to deliver your speech.

The first five steps will need less time as you and your brain get used to the process, and as your vocabulary and general knowledge grow. Remember, this is not reading as we have done earlier, but browsing.

Your objective is to get a feel for the book.

The Mind Map done in Step VI can be inserted in the book, for future reference, at which time you could power browse again, and keep adding to your Mind Map.

Later, when you have time to read your book in depth, your Mind Map will be of immense value as it will have prepared you for what is to come.

[Excerpted from 'Unleashing Genius with the World's Most Powerful Learning Systems', by Dilip Mukerjea. All the images in this post are the intellectual property of Dilip Mukerjea.]

THE STEPS TO POWER BROWSING A BOOK V

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STEP V: MIND MAP THE BOOK

You now have an additional ten minutes to Mind Map everything that you have ‘caught’ in the first four steps.

Remember, the objective is not to get 100% of the book; it is to get as much as possible in the time available, so that you can speak intelligently about what you have researched.

[To be continued in the Next Post. Excerpted from 'Unleashing Genius with the World's Most Powerful Learning Systems', by Dilip Mukerjea. All the images in this post are the intellectual property of Dilip Mukerjea.]

THE STEPS TO POWER BROWSING A BOOK IV

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STEP IV: REVIEW

The first three steps should have taken a maximum of twelve-and-a-half minutes.

Now you have seven-and-a-half minutes to review all the bookmarked (paper-stripped) sections of the book. This time, speed-read the sections that interested you earlier, noting down key points wherever necessary. Your linear and Mind Map notes should have grown by now.

That’s it! 20 minutes total! But . . .

[To be continued in the Next Post. Excerpted from 'Unleashing Genius with the World's Most Powerful Learning Systems', by Dilip Mukerjea. All the images in this post are the intelectual property of Dilip Mukerjea.]

THE STEPS TO POWER BROWSING A BOOK III

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STEP III: INVIEW


Now dive into your book, page by page, from beginning to end. In this exercise, you should use your hand as a guide, tracing a path down the page like a dolphin in the water, or a skier racing downhill. (you can use a pointer such as a pencil, but it will slow you down; you will lose time putting down your pointer every time you turn a page).

Note: Practise rapid page-turning by pressing down with your thumb and lifting the top right-hand corner of the page; NO saliva transfusions via lick-lick-stick-stick motions in trying to turn the page!

Zig-zag down the pages, maintaining a speed of about one to five seconds a page.

Look out for trigger words and phrases, topic sentences, names, dates, imagery, text in bold or caps, anything that is prominent.

If you come across anything that looks fascinating, immediately bookmark it with one of your strips of paper, or with a Post-it sticker; do not linger in this area, because your objective is to go through the entire book in the little time that you have available.

You will return to the bookmarked pages later. Meanwhile, note down in linear and Mind Map forms, anything you find important. Allow maximum ten minutes for this step of the process.

[To be continued in the Next Post. Excerpted from 'Unleasing Genius with the World's Most Powerful Learning Systems', by Dilip Mukerjea. All the images in this post are the intellectual property of Dilip Mukerjea.]

THE STEPS TO POWER BROWSING A BOOK II

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STEP II: PREVIEW

Open the book. Scan through the table of contents; it will give you the themes for each chapter, and serve as raw material for what may serve as key topics on the main branches of a Mind Map.

Check the copyright date and print edition to see how current the publication is; it might be out of date. This is very important if your book is for study or research purposes because you might have come across a book that was written decades ago that may no longer be relevant. You would need something upto-date. In the case of a novel, this is not so crucial.

Check the end section of the book. Many authors summarise beautifully, with bullet points, Mind Maps, or something as effective. You may just find what you are looking for, and save yourself the trouble of wading through the entire book.

Check the opening section of the book; it will give you information on the writer’s style, and clues as to how the information will unfold. Flip through the book and notice the page design, whether there are any images, symbols, text that is in italics, bold, in capitals, material in boxes, whatever pops out into your consciousness.

Read the chapter headings and any headlines. This should take about two minutes.

[To be continued in the Next Post. Excerpted from 'Unleashing Genius with the World's Most Powerful Learning Systems', by Dilip Mukerjea. All the images in this post are the intellectual property of Dilip Mukerjea.]

THE STEPS TO POWER BROWSING A BOOK

In his book, 'Unleashing Genius with the World's Most Powerful Learning Systems', Dilip Mukerjea introduces the 'The Steps to Power Browsing a Book'.

Here he goes:

You can go through a book by browsing at high speed, in a particular manner, so that you get lots of information in very little time. Tony Buzan calls this exercise ‘Power Browsing’ because it can be done fast. Other authors use a similar approach but use their own terms for the same exercise.

I have modified it to suit individual and group learning needs. The good news is that it can be done by anyone!

Later, we will combine it with speed reading, Mind Mapping, and memory techniques, so
that you have the magic formula for 'Power Study'.

PRELIMINARIES:

(1) Select a quiet, well-lit place to read. Wear comfortable clothing. Have lots of drinking water handy. If you wish, play some soft Baroque or New Age music (NO rock, rap, or other rowdy stuff!).

(2) Tear off several strips of paper for use as bookmarks.

(3) Have a drawing block, coloured markers, highlighters, and Post-it Notes available.

(4) State your purpose for doing this exercise! Your objective is to finish the book in the little time that you have available.

PROCESS:

STEP I: OURVIEW

Without opening the book, survey it from all sides. Check out the front and back covers, and the spine. Contrary to the warning: “Don’t judge a book by its cover,” I suggest you do, at least partially.

The outside of the book can give you a great deal of information, as for example, from the title, sub-title, the author’s name, the blurbs, testimonials, and outlines. The cover design, with or without any imagery, will also give you some important feedback. Use this opportunity to check how much you can predict about the contents of the book. This should take no more than thirty seconds; at the most, a minute.

[To be continued in the Next Post. All the images in this post are the intellectual property of Dilip Mukerjea.]