The Organized Mind - Module 9

C1 Advanced · Cross Text Multiple Matching · Advanced Expert Student's Resource Book, Pearson Education

You are going to read four reviews of a book about how people organise their lives and possessions. For questions 1–4, choose from the reviews A-D. The reviews may be chosen more than once.

In his book The Organized Mind, Daniel Levitin's somewhat unfocussed discussion aspires to provide a comprehensive account of the way we think about organising everything that we regard as possessions, but I kept losing the thread of the argument. He offers plenty of psychological detail to make us reflect in new and challenging ways about our mental categories, yet frequently dabbles in dispensing practical tips that couldn't be described as either new or challenging. Whilst agreeing with the maxim that everything should have a place and be put back in that place, Levitin expands on that, seeming to approve of devising overly complex organisational systems for a complex world, even describing one in which letters are printed in triplicate to allow filing chronologically, according to topic and by correspondent. I would suggest we can do without most of our paperwork; even love letters become a drag if you hoard every single one.

Daniel Levitin's book The Organized Mind has both its strengths and weaknesses. There are tens of thousands of words on topics that are perfectly interesting in isolation, and yet they do not seem to fit together and you keep wondering where it's all leading. Levitin is strongest when he's making us take stock of why we do what we do. Organising my study is a different problem to organising a library and Levitin forced me to engage with that truth. Where the book falls down, however, is in its desire to suggest intricate ways of organising things to its readers. Levitin's approach to computers illustrates this. He makes the familiar argument that multitasking is a distracting problem, but he goes for a novel solution. He suggests buying several computers, each with a single purpose: one is for work, one for domestic tasks, one for social networking, etc. Whilst he's apologetic about the cost, one wonders if many people will try out this simple fix.

Daniel Levitin's book The Organized Mind is great on fact, but keeps returning to universal themes and ideas so that the reader begins to build up a clear picture of the issues. Along the way, we learn a great deal about different ways of organising things, and some handy techniques are described in enough detail for you to adopt them if you wish. The book is a bit light on insight, however, and seems to miss the valid point that too much organisation is also a trap. Instead of getting rid of things we don't need, we buy more stuff in order to organise the stuff we already have. Most of the complex filing solutions which Levitin advocates aren't worth the hassle. They are a poor fit for the rich mess that is reality.

The challenge of 'getting organised' is both commonplace and oddly particular. How we go about organising our possessions can be practical to the point of banality, but it can also be philosophically deep, something Levitin keeps reminding us of in his thought-provoking book The Organized Mind. Having said that, it is his desire to be comprehensive that weighs on the book. It is long and, while it does include a great deal to intrigue and entertain, the rather random parade of disparate topics makes it less than the sum of its parts. Levitin offers sensible practical ideas, but these tend to be rather well-worn, such as: 'Why not carry a notebook to jot down ideas so that you don't forget them?' And when he admiringly describes the way that Joni Mitchell has a customised drawer for Scotch Tape, another for masking tape, a third for string, we realise how woefully inadequate our own arrangements would seem to him.

shares Reviewer C's view regarding the usefulness of complicated systems for storing things like those featured in the book?

holds a different view to Reviewer B regarding the extent to which the book makes the reader think?

holds a similar view to Reviewer A regarding the originality of some of Levitin's advice?

holds a different view to the others regarding how well the book is structured?

The Organized Mind

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