Guido wrote:

Hi Alex,

I ' d like to add one important advantage of Mind-Maps that indeed are more
than outlines : they reflect the way we think. We think in a network of pictures,
feelings, sounds and information expressed in different manners. Though, a
Mind-Map reflects better this network of different bits of information in our brains
connected by billions of associations one to another.

That means in terms of
outlining that we as human beings do have to communicate linearly, being restricted
to a chronological order of presenting our ideas by speach or text. An outline is a good
medium for presenting and communicating information. But it is not in terms of
thinking, remembering or learning. In an outline, one has to process information in
the following way : First 1., than 1.1, than 1.2, than 1.3, than 2, than 2.1 etc. etc. The
brain thinks 1 and than at the same level : 1.2, than perhaps 1.1 and than 1.3 - the
sequence simply doesn't matter, what matters is the connection between 1 and its
childs. It's on the connection that a Mind-Map focusses. That's what Buzan calls
"radial thinking" and I invite everyone to make a short break and to contemplate the
own thinking process.

If we would think in outlines, we would process and think of a
lot of unneccessary information ( nodes in our mental outline ) in a given situation
before reaching the essential point. Fortunately, we do not think in this way but jump
in a few seconds to the only interesting information node.

Guido is correct about thinking, but the mind maps usually seen are, in fact, just pictorial representations of outlines. A web-type diagram, such as The Brain is a better representation, ofr thought because it allows subitems with different parents to be linked together. Outlines and other PIMs that allow unlimited linking among different items anywhere in the outline or PIM also represent the type of thinking Guido describes.

The problem with web-type diagrams or unlimited linking is that one can soon become completely lost, even if there is a trail of breadcrumbs to help one find one's way back. Many years ago, in DOS days, I had such a text program [possibly named Black Magic]. I couldn't keep track of where I was.

Although I dislike most mind maps, The Brain has the great advantage of one being able to chose any node as one's "center of the universe."

-c
-c