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A review by saarahnina
Look: A Practical Guide for Improving Your Observational Skills by James H. Gilmore
5.0
This book is filled to the brink with eye-deas!
It was an informational, scholarly sort of book, so it took me a while to get through. As a research student, there's only so much 'schoolish' books you can take. Though, I certainly felt the nature of this book was compelling: James Gilmore looks into how we can maximise the use of our eyes, to make more useful observations, and to influence our thoughts.
It is clear that I am favourable towards this book, for example, Gilmore's insights are widely supported: early into the book, Gilmore writes of how 'what you look at informs what you think about, which influences what you act upon.' This is something researchers have found a number of times, tackling the issues which come with blank, and boring, office walls. In spite of this, I do have slight criticisms. I found that Gilmore solely focuses on ways of looking, and so I do understand why he didn't venture into outside territories (just as Dr. Bono didn't, in the case of his 'thinking' hats), but I feel that our imagination, our mind's eye comes into play considerably with both thinking and looking, the same can be said of colour. Certain colours stimulate our attention, influencing our behaviours, more than others. Gilmore could have made use of this.
I also felt that this book isolates people who are blind or partially sighted. While Gilmore does take this population into consideration, as he writes 'Looking can take place with more than your eyes. True, we normally associate looking with just the eyes, because we do most all looking through our sight. But a skilled observer also looks via each of the other senses,' I felt there was potential for him to have been able to integrate a pair of glasses to suit and explain the ways our senses could help, as some of us happen to rely on different senses to other people.
Though, the surprising, and most definitely the best thing about this book is that you can use it is various parts of your life: your personal and professional life. For example, as a historian, and someone with an interest in Psychology, looking at the nature of things is incredibly important. You are required to investigate by adapting a holistic approach (as unscientific as that may be, for Psychology). You have to see all things, see how they interact, how they fit a framework a 'mould', and how they influence events. You have to be quite scrupulous, constructing various motives, and putting everything into perspective, in order to evaluate significance. There is hardly any certainty, neither History nor Psychology is a Science: so you just explore, no limits. This is where the usefulness of this book comes in: Gilmore encourages readers to mindfully explore, looking this way and that, zooming into the picture and then looking backwards (something required of any historian). To explore what is there, and what is not. Some of the looking glasses weren't as useful for me, for example the rose- coloured glasses. As a historian, I am not required to see how things could work better. As I would mindlessly reach new heights, to the point my arguments and judgements would become unfocussed, and unfounded: you can hardly find cause for things that never happened! No evidence means no substantiated argument, which practically makes the argument empty and pointless. But even these rose coloured glasses, particularly in the discipline of Psychology, could help us evaluate better treatments, better methodology for a study, better techniques to reach a result. Allowing for conclusive, more reliable, and valid evidence.
I realise that some of these things are things we do anyway, as 'part of the job', just some skills we've unconsciously picked up, and learnt when to utilize...But, in spite of this I feel that Gilmore's 'Looking Glasses' help put a name to the skills, and so when our observations, findings or debates come up short, we can look down a different avenue, by changing how we look. We can count down the ways we've already looked, and look a different way. As someone who can get carried away with facts, and create new arguments that do not answer a key debate question, I rarely ask myself, "How could I miss that?" Instead, I ask myself: "Why in the world would I add that?" Stuff that doesn't answer the question, nor does it contribute to the debate; so by using these glasses I can ensure I only look at something that is significant, so as to avoid creating my own debate and spiralling out of control with my arguments. Needless to say, this book is brilliant, and incredibly handy: one, I will happily revisit and consult when writing essays.
These glasses have immense potential. They allow us to make some profound observations, I felt like I was Sherlock for a while. Speaking of, this book could be very valuable out in the exciting field of detective work! I also really liked the Dr. Suess style at the beginning of the book, he's quite possibly still my favourite children's author.
I received this book through NetGalley.
It was an informational, scholarly sort of book, so it took me a while to get through. As a research student, there's only so much 'schoolish' books you can take. Though, I certainly felt the nature of this book was compelling: James Gilmore looks into how we can maximise the use of our eyes, to make more useful observations, and to influence our thoughts.
It is clear that I am favourable towards this book, for example, Gilmore's insights are widely supported: early into the book, Gilmore writes of how 'what you look at informs what you think about, which influences what you act upon.' This is something researchers have found a number of times, tackling the issues which come with blank, and boring, office walls. In spite of this, I do have slight criticisms. I found that Gilmore solely focuses on ways of looking, and so I do understand why he didn't venture into outside territories (just as Dr. Bono didn't, in the case of his 'thinking' hats), but I feel that our imagination, our mind's eye comes into play considerably with both thinking and looking, the same can be said of colour. Certain colours stimulate our attention, influencing our behaviours, more than others. Gilmore could have made use of this.
I also felt that this book isolates people who are blind or partially sighted. While Gilmore does take this population into consideration, as he writes 'Looking can take place with more than your eyes. True, we normally associate looking with just the eyes, because we do most all looking through our sight. But a skilled observer also looks via each of the other senses,' I felt there was potential for him to have been able to integrate a pair of glasses to suit and explain the ways our senses could help, as some of us happen to rely on different senses to other people.
Though, the surprising, and most definitely the best thing about this book is that you can use it is various parts of your life: your personal and professional life. For example, as a historian, and someone with an interest in Psychology, looking at the nature of things is incredibly important. You are required to investigate by adapting a holistic approach (as unscientific as that may be, for Psychology). You have to see all things, see how they interact, how they fit a framework a 'mould', and how they influence events. You have to be quite scrupulous, constructing various motives, and putting everything into perspective, in order to evaluate significance. There is hardly any certainty, neither History nor Psychology is a Science: so you just explore, no limits. This is where the usefulness of this book comes in: Gilmore encourages readers to mindfully explore, looking this way and that, zooming into the picture and then looking backwards (something required of any historian). To explore what is there, and what is not. Some of the looking glasses weren't as useful for me, for example the rose- coloured glasses. As a historian, I am not required to see how things could work better. As I would mindlessly reach new heights, to the point my arguments and judgements would become unfocussed, and unfounded: you can hardly find cause for things that never happened! No evidence means no substantiated argument, which practically makes the argument empty and pointless. But even these rose coloured glasses, particularly in the discipline of Psychology, could help us evaluate better treatments, better methodology for a study, better techniques to reach a result. Allowing for conclusive, more reliable, and valid evidence.
I realise that some of these things are things we do anyway, as 'part of the job', just some skills we've unconsciously picked up, and learnt when to utilize...But, in spite of this I feel that Gilmore's 'Looking Glasses' help put a name to the skills, and so when our observations, findings or debates come up short, we can look down a different avenue, by changing how we look. We can count down the ways we've already looked, and look a different way. As someone who can get carried away with facts, and create new arguments that do not answer a key debate question, I rarely ask myself, "How could I miss that?" Instead, I ask myself: "Why in the world would I add that?" Stuff that doesn't answer the question, nor does it contribute to the debate; so by using these glasses I can ensure I only look at something that is significant, so as to avoid creating my own debate and spiralling out of control with my arguments. Needless to say, this book is brilliant, and incredibly handy: one, I will happily revisit and consult when writing essays.
These glasses have immense potential. They allow us to make some profound observations, I felt like I was Sherlock for a while. Speaking of, this book could be very valuable out in the exciting field of detective work! I also really liked the Dr. Suess style at the beginning of the book, he's quite possibly still my favourite children's author.
I received this book through NetGalley.