Like him or not, the fact of the matter is that before Tony Buzan published “Use Both Sides of Your Brain” also known as “Use Your Head”, the ideas he presented in that book were not to be found in any other books of that time related to learning skills, at least from what I’ve been able to find out of years of reading and looking through books on learning techniques. I’m not talking about books like Harry Lorayne’s, but those on learning skills in general. Besides, popular mnemonics writers in the last 20th century never discussed scientific ideas of learning, before Tony came along. Some people in this community turn up their noses at Mr. Buzan, and in Joshua Foer’s book Moonwalking With Einstein, the author openly mocks him. Now, I’m all for pointing out flaws in our leaders and heroes, but had it not been for Mr. Buzan, I can almost guarantee you there would not be a World Memory Championships today, and Joshua Foer certainly wouldn’t have been given a million dollar advance for his book. I really think people underestimate the extraordinary contribution Mr. Buzan has made. Sure, he is not perfect, he has his flaws with sometimes overexaggerating ideas, but he is a business man, a promoter. Where did everyone get the idea for starting all these memory clubs from? Take a look at the back of any of Tony Buzan’s books and you will see his advertisements for his brain club. He is the one who popularized it. This community was largely inspired by that man. And no, he did not pay me to say this, it is my own observation.
One very quick observation is that just because he had a brain Club mentioned at the back of his book does not mean he is responsible for the proliferation of memory competitions or clubs.
Great point Celtic, and just because he was the original co-founder of the WMC does not mean he is responsible for the proliferation of it either. But he planted the seeds, and we are harvesting those crops and enjoying those fruits.
Besides the non sequitur, I’m not sure what the point of the post is other than you admire the person and others do not share the same admiration. But, as we know, opinion is like that.
I thank you for your thoughts on this topic Celtic. The point of the post is to point out who the father of this modern community is, because it seems he is not recognized as such by some, probably due to the mocking comments Joshua Foer made about him in his book Moonwalking With Einstein. Good thing I have the evidence (see links below). I found his Brain Club Journal going way back to 1990 where he founded and developed probably the first large memory club, growing to thousands of members over the course of the journal history. Here is the link. Anyone feel free to read through the many issues over the years and see how Mr. Buzan grew and developed the first memory club/Brain club of modern times - with names of members, photos of meetings, etc. - and how those meetings inspired the first WMC and Mind Sports Olympiads. As they say, if you drop a pebble in a pond, it creates ripples. If a historian were to write, fifty years from now, on the origins of the modern resurgence of this art of memory, Mr. Buzan would be considered a key influence, if not the most important influence. http://synapsia.net/journals-past.html http://netbrains.co.uk
I don’t know anything about Joshua’s criticisms of Buzan, or much about Buzan, but I suspect that not many are interested in historical debates, and so most people wouldn’t care very much about Buzan or the criticisms.
So true. If not for Tony Buzan there wouldn’t be any memory championships at all.
Memory techniques wouldn’t be so popularly known and practised if not for his books, his memory club, and the founding of the memory championship mainly. He started it all.
The author of every memory book you read today has directly or indirectly been influenced by Buzan’s work. Billions have benefited from his many and varied books.
The revolutionary “mind maps” wouldn’t exist if not for him nor would the high interest in using the brain efficiently for complete genius.
In short, I salute this man,the grandfather of memory of this century bcoz of whom we’re all here, and Joshua Foer is just an ass who wrote against him because he turned up late for their interview.
One of the first books I read on mnemonis was Moonwalking with einstien by Joshua Foer out of curiosity. The one that he truly mocked was Daniel Tammet.
He does though describe all the memory athletes in a manner that could sound like he was mocking them. The facts that Buzan mentions to Foer are true about the education system in reference to rote memory. Tony Buzan did take brain storming to a whole new level were he was able to invent a way to not cloud the mind, but to use it as a Map. Buzan and a grand master chess player opened the WMC in 1991 with the help of others that are not mentioned in the book.
When I think of Tony Buzan I see W.M.C., Mind Maps and him wanting to improve the education system using mnemonic techniques. I believe people should take into consideration of the work and time he put to help those in wanting to improve there learning abilities.