Pink Review

Kira Maintanis
Seminar 2: New Media

A Whole New Mind

          David Pink's novel A Whole New Mind is an elongated analysis full of pop culture references and vague facts which discusses why right brainers will rule the world. It's first half attempts to draw the reader in and convince them that having a creative right brain, with a good amount of logical leftness, will herald all mankind into a new movement of higher thought. Pink then continues onto establish the superiority of right brained thinkers everywhere while still using the 'left brainers WERE good, but now..." buffer in all of his arguments. The second section of Pink's A Whole New Mind talks mainly about what makes up your right brain and how to go about activating it in order to reach a higher mental plane. While all of this is fine and good, Pink is writing for people who generally are not artistic, and thusly, this book falls short of many mainly right-brained individuals' expectations. They are left with a book that entirely validates them to the point of gross egocentric idolization. Even the way Pink writes is geared towards the general populace: flat, easy to read, easy to digest, and filled with nods to popular culture. Overall, though useful in introducing those who do not see themselves as creative, artistic, right brained people to the other side of their brain, it reads as a kitsch, exhausted essay in the eyes of all others.
          Independent work. Problem solving. Creation. All these things have to do with the right side of the brain. While working in class, I chose to work alone. Logically "left" in my assessment of the situations (partners are slackers, I can get it done better/faster/easier by my self), my brain was still in right mode when I realized that I had to tackle a multitude of problems all by my lonesome. Creative problem solving is the key to living a smart, happy life. One must be conceptual, one must make meaning of their hectic life. Pink agreed, but he elevated it to something that it was not. He states that we moved from a society of "factory workers and knowledge workers" to a "society of creators and empathizers--of pattern recognizers and meaning makers" (Pink, 50). It should be generally accepted that you are going to have to think creatively and outside of the box most of your life. Living it as though you have your head in the sand won't get you anywhere. It's not some movement to a higher plane of conceptual thought by our society. Its just what humans should be doing already. We SHOULD be empathizing, detecting patterns, and seeking meaning. We've done it before during the Renaissance, and should, technically, be doing it from then until now and beyond. I am mainly geared towards analysis and productivity. I am efficient, knock off tasks in record time, and process/digest things faster than most. But this does not make me exempt from stepping outside the already established goal plan. If my plans fall through, I logically look for a way to fix them, and if that doesn't work, I creatively fix them. For example, my first stop animation was halted by my digital cameras breaking one after another. Instead of panicking, I tried to use my camera phone, and my roomie's camera phone. Alas, this was not to be. I swung by massart and took out a digital camera in between classes. I successfully solved my problem by using both the left and right sides of my brain. Logic told me to look for another means inside of my sphere of existence. Creativity told me to go out on a limb nearing midterm and check to see if they had one at the AV Department and plead with my eyes at the person there for a camera. Pink's novel discusses this sortof problem solving as though no one else has it. At all. As if we didn't start thinking this way until only recently, hence the movement towards the conceptual age. This is just not the case. And I'm not sure that left-brained oriented individuals think so either.
          When one desires to explain how progressive a way of thinking is, they should never insert an abundance of pop culture references, like when Pink uses "Fear and Loathing in my Amgydalas" as a title. I now try to limit the pop culture references within my own work and my short stories. Its entirely loathsome when someone is trying to make a serious point. It just makes it kitsch. But to those of the general populace, using this terminology and softening the language into something easy to stomach is necessary. As a balanced brained person, I do not need it, however, so it's just drabble to fill up the first part of a book. The first part also strokes the right brainer's ego far too much. Pink cites a quote on the importance of the right brain which says that the right brain is '"going to save us. It's the seat of creativity, of the soul."(Pink, 16). That's just one example. The entire book is right bent. The subtitle of the book is "WHY RIGHT BRAINERS WILL RULE THE FUTURE." Even left brainers must get tired of this constant idolization of the right side of the brain. Sadly, this is the entire premise of Pink's book, which makes one wonder if he merely took a longer essay and strung it out to create a very fast and substanceless read. The second half is entirely more promising.
          Over the course of the semester, I have been focusing mainly on empathizing with the artists that we come across in class discussions and field trips. I've also been trying to be more viewer minded in my own work. This is where Pink does not fail. The second half of his novel talks about what one can do to improve their right-brained skills. Empathy was one of them. Those who get hired are generally those with big smiles and warm hearts. Waitresses who smile more than others act nicer get higher tips. I was never a fan of new media, and mainly felt that it was almost as though a few kids were fooling around with a video camera in their backyard. I never saw it as more than something someone posts on youtube. But here, I was wrong. I didn't care for the concept. It was all too high tech, too over used, over exposed, over this and that and the other thing. Pink's book didn't change my mind about what I like and dislike about art, but it did allow me, with that one section on Empathy, to open my heart a little bit more. If I had been a completely left brained individual, I probably would have felt the softening of my heart come swifter and stronger. It's more gradual for me Now I look at what the artist was trying to say and how they presented it. Not just looking at what they have to say and how they made it look like crap. Negativity never got anyone anywhere. And it certainly won't help me become a better artist.
          Pink's Design chapter was a nod towards how I live my life. I fill it with objects and people that I know will last and be timeless. I try to make art that's timeless as well. Before I was merely honing my skills, but now, it's all about honing and crafting and designing. This chapter didn't change my way of looking at objects, people, or art. It merely reinforced it, without shoving the right brain agenda down my throat. Several others, like Symphony which focused on bringing it all together and composition, and Story which talked mainly about the narrative of the world and connecting people via story, were quite noteworthy. The Metaphor activity was quite nice as well. One was told to keep a list of metaphors, naming as many as they could think of. I came up with a list. I used this very same list to come up with several art projects. It was quite handy. It's really in the second half that Pink shines. The first part should have been shortened to a small chapter which would have lead the less right brained individuals through the creative forest and into the activities and engaging ideas.
          Overall, A Whole New Mind is a slow and over extended essay which tries to convince the reader about the importance of right brained-ness. It's the way of the future. It's those artists who will be the bearers of the future! Let's throw in more pop culture references, write like some twelve year old puberty experiencing American girl! The first part was a let down, to say the VERY least. Even though it was much shorter than the second half, it still feels like it was a longer, probably because it was so drawn out. The second half is very enjoyable to read, and the activities he presents (such as the metaphor list, the design journal, among others) are fun and actually help the reader become more creative. More of that, less of the first, please.