Reddit reviews Mind Hacks: Tips & Tools for Using Your Brain

Of course I'm fighting the urge to say "I noticed it! My brain is AWESOME!" It's the same urge that makes you want to squint extra-hard at the eye chart just in case they say "You saw the impossibly-small letters! You have SUPER-vision!" Or maybe that's just me.

I had read about this but it looked nothing like what I pictured. So I noticed that someone was added to the group, and noticed that they left, but while counting passes (14) I didn't notice that the black human-ish shape was different from the other black human-ish shapes.

A really fun book on this kind of thing is Mind Hacks

Get High Now (without drugs) by James Nestor

Mind Hacks: Tips & Tricks for Using Your Brain by Tom Stafford and Matt Webb

Something like "Mind Hacks"? Or Mensa Mighty Mind Boosters?

If you like this kind of stuff, go get the Mind Hacks books from O'Reilly.

I got my speed reading trick from "Mind Hacks: Tips & Tools for Using Your Brain".

I can't remember where I first heard it, so I use it liberaly. I think it was from a book on brain plasticity, but I know there are specific books about it and how to hack your brain so that it is with less frequency the scumbag brain meme.
http://www.amazon.com/Mind-Hacks-Tools-Using-Brain/dp/0596007795/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1324358518&sr=8-3

and

http://www.amazon.com/Mind-Performance-Hacks-Tools-Overclocking/dp/0596101538/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1324358518&sr=8-1

I haven't read any of these ones yet, but if you are interested in one with great citations that I think is one of the best collections of what could be called brain hacks: 'Your Brain At Work.' by David Rock.
http://www.amazon.com/Your-Brain-Work-Strategies-Distraction/dp/0061771295/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1324358628&sr=1-1
I can say nothing but good things about this book.

I bought this book (http://www.amazon.com/Mind-Hacks-Tools-Using-Brain/dp/0596007795) in 2005, and this LPT would fit in with the simpler "mind hacks"

> “Do YOU take the effort to try and understand the reasons why people disagree with you and regularly use critical thinking to refine your own opinions, even entertaining ideas you strongly disagree on in your gut in order to evaluate if part of them connects to your existing knowledge?”

I’m fairly confident I do a better job of that than most average people (not saying I’m perfect at it, and its some I try to keep in my mind on a daily basis and something I try to practice in a daily basis).

I have an entire bookshelf at home that has all sorts of “brain” and psychology books on it (again, not saying that to brag, because I’m definitely not perfect at it). I just try to build up a wide enough variety of resources so any time I’m struggling with something I can use the resources I have to brainstorm innovative or alternative approaches or different understandings of an issue.

Books like:

• Mind Hacks: Tips & Tools for Using Your Brain https://www.amazon.com/dp/0596007795/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_GV4pDb7B8X8YB
  
  
• What Makes Your Brain Happy and Why You Should Do the Opposite https://www.amazon.com/dp/1616144831/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_a14pDbWT2RD5V
  
  
• The Little Blue Reasoning Book: 50 Powerful Principles for Clear and Effective Thinking https://www.amazon.com/dp/1897393601/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_814pDb5B9J61X
  
  (theres alot more but to be honest I’m already in bed and its been a long day and I’m to lazy to get up and skim across my bookshelf).
  
  > “Listening to people we disagree with is HARD. “
  
  Its not hard if the person is respectful and can back up their different opinion or preference with good legit factual evidence and common sense reasoning. Its one thing to say:
  
  
• “I prefer 4x4 vehicles,.. but thats because I live up a country road that the County doesnt plow and I also do construction as a side job, so having a 4x4 often helps me get to remote job sites”.
  
  Thats a completely logical and purpose-driven choice that makes sense.
  
  But if a person says:...
  
  
• “4x4 are just supierior vehicles and only libtard morons drive anything else!!”
  
  I’m not going to waste my time “trying to understand” that persons point of view. Sorry, I’m just not. Its not worth my time.
  
  > “ something as trivial as if you prefer dogs or cats or neither.”
  
  I generaly try to completely avoid those conversations. People can have different preferences. That typically doesnt effect me. So I dont care. Whether someone prefers chocolate ice cream or sunny days over rainy days,.. is entirely irrelevant to me.
  
  > “Maybe it's just plain time to retire the idea of "us vs them" and recognize that there's just "us" in a wide range of configurations.”
  
  Totally agree. Although I’m not sure thats an issue of “not understanding each other”. Thats certainly 1 aspect of it,.. but I can help other people without understanding them. (Hell, I can help complete strangers without even knowing a single thing about them).
  
  Societies problems these days have a lot more to do with narrowmindedness, selfishness and laziness. “Whats in it for me?” is heard a lot more often than “What can I do to help?”