In the Mind's Eye: Visual Thinkers, Gifted People with Dyslexia and Other Learning Difficulties, Computer Images and the Ironies of Creat

I read this book after seeing what other people were reading after reading Dr. Sally Shaywitz's book. The title leads me to believe I wouldn't get much from it, but I was very mistaken. I found myself underlining passages and writing notes in the margins. West details a very compelling argument. His theory is since it appears the people with literary disabilities have superior visual/spatial skills, these skills may often be mutually exclusive. Hence, people with superior literary skills often have poor visual/spatial skills. He postulates that since human society has only been post-literate for hundreds of years compared to pre-literate for thousand of years, people with better visual/spatial skills would have a survival advantage as better hunter/gatherers and avoid other dangers. People with superior literary skills in a pre-literate society would have poor survival skills although they would be needed as say shamans, storytellers or record-keepers. The theory makes sense evolutionarily as it seems to confirm Shaywitz's observation that 1 in 5 people have some reading disability. Which at the time seemed high to me. West goes on to argue that society has been selecting against people with poor literary skills and details the danger this can pose. He argues it appears that society is turning back to needing people with high visual/spatial skills with the advent of cheap highly graphic computers and other visual modes of information communication. West details several famous (Einstein, Churchill, and Edison) and not-so-famous people (Faraday, Tesla and Maxwell) with literary disabilities but superior visual/spatial skills and how their skills were important for their success. I feel that dyslexics, educators, and policy makers should read this book. West makes a very persuasive argument that society should not select for only one skill set because you never know what skills a future society may need. In an aside, the film Gattaca uses West's theory as a basis of the plot even mentioning how Einstein was dyslexic. If you find this book compelling, you will enjoy the film.

I am a spatial thinker who still struggles with language (I am autistic), and this book was amazing to me. It points out that the very same areas that cause difficulty for so many people and cause them to be looked down upon, are somehow tied into the areas of great strength that they may grow up to show. (In other words, having difficulty with language can actually be simply a symptom of having extreme ability in visual or spatial thinking). This book has strong implications for anyone who has ever considered autism, dyslexia, or learning difficulties to be horrible things that must be stamped out. It shows that the apparent "weakness" and "lack of ability" in some areas can really be an aspect of a major (but often unrecognized) area of strength.It speculates that the very skills that cause people to have difficulty in language and arithmetic (and hence in school) are vital and useful skills which have only recently been characterized as deficiencies. It shows that intelligence and creativity are not in fact synonymous with language ability.People who are autistic, dyslexic, or have other "learning difficulties" may be amazed to find themselves somewhere in this book; and people who seek to eradicate autism, dyslexia, and other "learning difficulties" may open their eyes and think twice about what exactly it is that they would be eradicating.

As a dyslexic myself, I find reading somewhat difficult, still at times I could not put this book down. I found it more than thought provoking and often had to stop to reflect on what I had just read. This of course was no fault of the author as his rich content and artful descriptions were a delight. I just wanted to absorb every bit of the information and supporting evidence supplied. The book is a wonderful inspiration to those like myself and conveys some unique insights into the workings of the dyslexic mind. I have as many of West's subjects found success much later in life and find the parallels in the historical figures he describes uncanny. I feel this book is a requirement for anyone doing research into dyslexia and dyslexia related differences.

This book discusses the difference between visual and linquistic thinking, and shows how some of the greatest thinkers had linquistic problems but had hyper-visualization abilities. Great book for the parent of a gifted child who has problems writing, reading or listening.

West describes the subjects of this book as dyslexic. I have developed a special interest in treating adolescents and adults with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADD) and have never read a clearer or more helpful explanation of how differently the ADD person thinks and processes information from the rest of us (the "Earth People", one of my patients calls the non-ADD persons, since he spent all his undiagnosed life feeling as if he were from another planet). So I chose to read ADD wherever West writes "dyslexia". Be that as it may, and whatever the terminology, it is enormously supportive and helpful to my ADD patients when I explain their observations of their differences in West's terms. There is a poster in my waiting room showing a picture of Einstein, with a reference to how poorly he did in elementary school and the caption: "They said he was a nice enough kid, but no rocket scientist..." West discusses Einstein, and Faraday, and Maxwell, and how they thought differently; what a useful way to understand that not all differences from the norm are inferiorities. For the kid or adult who wonders if she is stupid but is certain she doesn't learn the same way as most of those around her; for the parent who is searching for some way to validate an unhappy child; for the teacher who is struggling to understand the pupil who seems to have brilliant flashes interspersed with an almost stuporous inattention and a talent for intrusion and non sequitors; for the mental health worker who is searching for a model with which to understand these most enigmatic clients; for the skills coach who KNOWS these kids and adults are NOT "lazy, stupid, or crazy", and needs some way of showing this to them... for all these sojourners with the ADD person, this book is enormously helpful and stimulating. I use material from it every day, gratefully.