Rating: 
Summary: A good starting point
Review: Therefore it is likely you would enjoy the book and actually practice some of its principles. Like "Body Learning," Michael's book on the Alexander Technique, this book is a good starting point for exercising your mind. While some of the exercises or principles may not agree with your outlook right now, try them anyway. I have been following Michael's advice on both topics for about 18 months after attending a company training program he taught. The efforts have been worthwhile - so much so that I am sending a copy to everyone in my family. The one piece of advice to you, future reader, is this: reading the book won't automatically endow you with da Vincian thought processes. You will probably have to develop them just as diligently as a marathon runner develops endurance or a painter develops her eye. The old saying applies - the more you put in, the more you get out.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent reading for any Rennaissance Man-to-Be
Review: Even for those who've already achieved a measure of balance and wholeness in their life, this book offers deliscious brain food. If you've developed some of the concepts of Curiosita and Connessione in your daily living, you'll enjoy this read that much more -- you'll see yourself as you CAN BE. If Beavis and Butthead are more your style, stick to the tube. There's no hope for you anyway. :)
Rating:
Summary: Fuel the fires of your genius!
Review: Michael Gelb has written an insightful and challanging book. Not being a da Vinci scholar, but one always impressed by da Vinci's ideas and especially his drawings and paintings, this book increased my knowledge of this genius and challanged me to think that I could benefit greatly by thinking like Leonardo.Gelb sets out seven Da Vincinian Principles and illustrates each with examples from da Vinci's life and work. He encourages the reader to assess oneself with regard to each of the principles and then presents an abundance of exercises to develop one's awareness of the principle and skill at using it. I found myself, over the course of reading the book, using the principles as I observed the world around me throughout the day, listening to the sounds of nature, really watching birds in flight, wondering at the beautiful pumpkin from a friend's garden that I was peeling, seeding and chopping to make into soup. The latter exercise was further enhanced by pouring myself a glass of the chardonnay that went into the soup and truly tasting it and savouring it (my own version of an exercise found in the Sensazione chapter.) The last of the principles presented is Connessione. I understood this principle clearly as I reflected on the earth from which the grapes were grown, the grapes and all that nourished their growth, the many hands and minds and hearts that created the wine, packaged it, shipped and distributed it and the many consumers who were enjoying it. Yes, I can say wholeheartedly that this book is worth buying, reading and keeping around as a guide filled with practical ideas and exercises (including a beginner's drawing course) for stimulating and encouraging one's self understanding and indiviual genius. Da Vinci's passion to know kindled and sustained the fires of his genius. Gelb is obviously one touched by these fires and has thoughtfully extended a hand to the other passionate seekers to fuel the fires of their own genius.
Rating:
Summary: This book made me smile....
Review: As a neuropsychiatrist, I treat people who have problems with the way they think and learn. As a neuroscientist, I study how the brain and mind perceives, pays attention, and learns about things in the inner and outer world. And as a medical intuitive, I help people learn how to access intuition through their bodies symptoms of health and disease. In his extra-ordinary book, Michael Gelb teaches us in a practical way, the steps to do all of this...he teaches us how to use all of our body and brain's capacity for perception,thought and intuition. Grazie! Grazie molto! Grazie mille!
Rating: 
Summary: Fantastico (...)!
Review: Gelb, Gelb, Gelb! You have some solid ideas presented in 7 steps but aren't they in fact borrowed from the likes of Steven Covey, Tony Buzan (Mind Map guru) and the late Dale Carnegie? The introduction is great as a nice overview with the history of the renaissance. It gives scope to da Vinci's extraordinary impact on our culture. The problems arise with the seven steps, which follow suit of the mans life. All insights are derived from contemporary self-help gurus (as stated above) and not particularly cited as something Leonardo proclaimed. Sure the obvious is stated, Leo had a notebook for ideas and it might just be a good idea to bring one with you wherever you go (Einstein sure never left home without one although he professed only having a "few" good ideas). The mind mapping idea is surely from Mr. Buzan who created the technique in the 70's, which is an amazing idea if you implant it. The goal segment is particularly good yet it sounded like it came directly out of "The Power of Focus". All these not to even mention the Steven Covey references. Overall, this book is great for people who want some nice morsels out of the self help genre. Yet, what the title promises the text body doesn't fulfill.
Rating:
Summary: A so so self help book packaged with an excellent title
Review: Copied from page 8, the heart of the book is the Seven Da Vincian Principles drawn by the author, which are:- 1. Curisoita - An insatiably curious approach to life and an unrelenting quest for continuous learning.
2. Dimostrazione - A committment to test knowledge through experience, persistence, and a willingness to learn from mistakes.
3. Sensazione - The continual refinement of the senses, especially sight, as the means to experience.
4. Sfumato - A willingness to embrace ambiguity, paradox, and uncertainty.
5. Arte/Scienza - The development of the balance between science and art, logic and imagination. "Whole-brain" thinking.
6. Corporalita - The cultivation of grace, ambidexterity, fitness and poise.
7. Connessione - A recognition of and appreciation fro the interconnectedness of all things and phenomena. System thinking. Familiar? Notwithstanding the brief introduction of da Vinci's life, abundant photos of his artpieces and sayings highlighted, this book is very similar to those in the sea of self help books with extensive use of mind maps and self assessment questions. For art lovers and with the "Da Vinci Code" storm, the Da Vinci label is for sure a plus. On the down side, I am afraid many self help book lovers and new quasi/psuedo Da Vinci fans may get disappointed by the remote and a little bit lukewarm Da Vinci substance the book carries, though the chapter "The Beginner's Da Vinci Drawing Course" is really unique. So I give it a three star, that you can predetermine your love or hatred of it, which depends much on your experience with self help books and the temperature of your Da Vinci fever. p.s. Below please find the author's recommendation of Ten Power Questions to personal growth and fulfillment on page 60 for the support of my comment above. - When am I most naturally myself? What people, places and activities allow me to feel most fully myself?
- What is one thing I could stop doing, ro start doing, or do differently, starting today that would most improve the quality of my life?
- What is my greatest talent?
- How can I get paid for doing what I love?
- Who are my most inspiring role models?
- How can I best be of service to others?
- What is my heart's deepest desire?
- How am I perceived by: my closest friend, my worst enemy, my boss, my children, my co-workers etc?
- What are the blessings of my life?
- What legacy would I like to leave?
Rating: 
Summary: How to Scam like Michael Gelb
Review: This was one of the worst books I've ever bought. First of all, while there's no question that certain attitudes and techniques can be helpful (a point raised in thousands of self-help/success books and their ancestral sources), the sine qua non for achieving excellence is putting in the time. I won't become Tiger Woods by doing dippy things like writing backwards; to the extent that I can golf like Woods, it'll be by patient, frequent, conscientious practice based on a quality model while receiving feedback on what I'm doing right and wrong. You want to become the next Einstein or Feynman? Learn math and do physics, have fun with it, try to creatively apply it in as many ways as you can; interact with your peers and betters, and you'll give yourself a chance. Following Gelb's recipes may enrich your life in some ways, but it certainly won't make anyone a da Vinci or even a Kinkade. The book itself is written as an exercise in flattery. On page 8, we're told that the 7 principles, allegedly drawn from an "intensive study of the man and his life," will probably be intuitively obvious to you. Well, yes - that's because you're all so delightfully intelligent, dear readers! It's also useful to defuse an obvious objection to buying the book - there's no reason to buy what's hopelessly obvious...which is why the 7 principles are pretentiously stated in Italian, even though they're all obvious cognates! Again, it's a way to have one's cake and eat it, too: you get to be clever ("Hey, I KNOW these words!") and sophisticated ("Not 'demonstration' [wooden, pedantic] but 'dimonstrazione'!"), whlie Gelb again gets to sidestep just how trite many of these principles really are. Let's take a look at Michael Gelb, "historian", in his profound chapter on the Renaissance. Just as we need to be rescued from the ranks of mediocrity by Gelb, the Renaissance rescued European civilization from the plight of the Middle Ages. (Boooo! Hisss!) How bad was it? Gelb cites a William Manchester book with the fair-minded title "A World Lit Only by Fire: The Medieval Mind and the Renaissance." According to Manchester, medieval Europe was characterized by "a mélange of incessant warfare, corruption, lawlessness, obsession with strange myths, and an almost impenetrable mindlessness." Gee, utopia started in the mid-1400s, and I missed it! It isn't exactly clear what Manchester (and Gelb) think was wrong during the Middle Ages (everything? Christianity?), but it's at least hinted that science was dead and that while everyone believed the Earth was flat (until Columbus and Magellan showed that daring, curious Renaissance spirit and set sail), the elites demonstrated their superiority through refined disquisitions about angels dancing on pinheads. Some brief replies: (1) The underlying scorn towards Christianity is disingenuous, not because Gelb isn't entitled to his opinion, but because he's ignoring the deep and widespread Christian faith of the Renaissance period in the process and twisting the accounts to serve that bias. (2) NO ONE believed in the Flat Earth theory - that was a myth invented by Washington Irving )of "headless horseman" fame). Going back to Aristotle, of whom the medievals were if anything inordinately fond, there were at least two empirical bases for that belief: the horizon effect and the universally round shape seen during lunar eclipses. Indeed, the medievals come out looking much better than Columbus and Magellan, on this account: C&M foolhardily used a trial-and-error method instead of a little simple scientific reasoning. (3) Angels on pinheads was never a real argument. Here's a contemporary parallel: when scientists speak of the Big Bang emerging from an "infinitely dense" singularity, do they mean it literally? If so, it would seem to mean that there is unextended matter, which at least superficially seems a contradiction in terms. Thus scientists and philosophers of science cogitate over this as an interesting side issue. Similarly, if angels are immaterial entities that can in some sense be "in" space, one might wonder if their being present at a location excludes the presence of another immaterial being. An interesting side issue, nothing more, nothing less. (4) So what were those silly medievals doing? There was some science going on, but also quite a lot of development in math and logic, both of which were important preconditions to the science that developed. There's no question that Renaissance science greatly exceeded and improved upon the Medieval work in those areas, but that's in part because the Medieval work made it possible, just as Maxwell's equations in the late 1800s tremendously sped up the work of 20th century physics. Okay, so why do I bring this up? Who cares if his history is wrong, shallow and biased? Isn't the point to be like Leo? Here's the point: being "creative" is easy if you don't really care about what you're doing. Gelb used a source (Manchester) who shared his attitudes, and Gelb attempts to win the reader with flattery as well. That's the path to conformity, not to learning, not to growth. Experiencing growth isn't all struggle, nor should it be, but hard work and interacting with opposing viewpoints is an important part of the process. My suggestion is that readers look elsewhere, to people who don't give evidence of having short-circuited the process in their own lives, for advice on how to think like a genius.
Rating:
Summary: Live life as an art form...
Review: What does it take to be a genius? Is there a formula for living that will pave the way to ultimate success and general happiness? In all reality, there is not one simple formula to attain success and happiness, but there are methods in which, if honestly applied, can change one's conditions for the better. Modelling one's life after a great person, whether alive or dead, is one of the basic methods towards living a better life. In fact, one will find most "self help" manuals prescribe just such a method. Find someone who is being, doing and having what you want to achieve, and then emulate that individual, and your chances of success can almost be assured. Leonardo Da Vinci is more than likely one of the most famous geniuses in history. When one thinks of the quintessential Renaissance man, Da Vinci comes to mind without question. What Michael Gleb has done in this inspiring book, is gleen the maestro's notebooks, various biographies, and his paintings, and has developed a well though-out system to live life as it should be lived, as an art form. The book is well organized: firstly an Introduction, describing the history of the Renaissance, providing a context for the reader in which Leonardo worked, created and lived. Following from there, Gleb then illustrates seven principles in which he believes Da Vinci lived and applied throughout his life. These principles are very practical and if the reader follows the many exercises at the end of each chapter, however slight, a positive change in one's view of the world should occur. It is well known that one can only change conditions in life, if there is a personal willingness and commitment to do so. Most of us desire to live fuller lives and to change conditions for the better in one area or another. With an open mind, a strong desire to live life as if it was an art form and experience the depths of existence in all its mystery, beauty and wonder, this little book may just present the right formulas to do so. This little book is well worth the investment.
Rating:
Summary: Trash
Review: According to the back cover, this book should be located in the self help/business section of the bookstore. I suggest it be relocated to fiction/comedy. If it's a good laugh your after, buy this book. The section on how to make an authetic minestrone (apparently Da Vinci's favourite everyday dish???) I found particulary amusing. Gelb suggests that while the minestrone is simmering, one should begin enjoying "the synthesis of colours, textures and aromas", as any good cook would. However, Gelb extends this appreciation for the simmering brew with the ludicrous suggestion that one should "sing and hum the sounds of the emerging gustatory and olfacotry symphony" and begin dancing "your minestrone dance". Some tips on appropriate "Renaissance style" correography would have been helpful at this point, however the ever aloof Gelb gets around this by stating that "if you don't know what to do, then you have got the idea"..... What the hell does that mean..?
Rating:
Summary: The Magic Notebook. . .
Review: This book is not for everyone. Here's how it helped me and here's a test to know if the book's for you:
If you really want to see the "world" (cliche' but I do mean the entire world: your dog, your business, your lover's response, the smell of air) in a new way and if you really try to do so, then you know how difficult a task it can be to catch a new glimpse or a new idea. Though it's not too difficult to find what other's have already pointed out, it's the place of prophets and poets and the great entrepreneurs to see something new. As a research chemist 20 years ago, and now as a physician involved in research, I use a very powerful tool that helps improve vision; the tool (the notebook)and good techniques for using it are described in this book.
I see peole buy notebooks and diaries for school and personal use but I don't know many people who catch the real power of this tool. You could read this whole book (How to Think Like...) and not catch the power of the tool without giving the notebook technique a try. You could try the technique and not catch the power unless you keep trying and keep revising techniques and keep trying to see and to hear and to block out the voice of your teachers who told you what to see and what to hear.
Einsten kept a notebook with him even when he went sailing. Another famous mathematician kept notes and had theories even about why the good guy is quicker in a western gun fight. King David must have kept an extensive notebook (we read some of his notes in the Psalms). Seems most people have the idea that personal notebooks are for 13 year old girls to decipher puberty. But ship captains, scientists, poets, businessmen (who mostly journal expenses), track stars (who keep up with workouts) and people who accomplish great things or bite off great fun keep journals.
Nope, I don't have a Nobel prize. But, I've made a few contributions with the help of notes. Even more importantly, keeping a journal (and this book gives possibly the best advice I've seen on how to keep a journal) enriches my life by allowing me to capture the new joke my or the fun adventure of a camping trip with my son.
As I stumble through literally rooms full of books in my home, if there were a fire, the books I would grab first would be the ones I wrote and scribbled over the past 20-plus years.
No! I cannot think like Leonardo Di Vinci. I don't want to. I also don't want to think like you or anyone else. But I do want to think like Leonardo in that I use some of the same tools that he and many others with excellent thinking and vision have used (for more tools you can see my book "Anytime...for as Long as You Want"). Even if I can't think with the brilliance of Leonardo, I can use the same tools to improve my own thinking.
The test to learn if this book is not for you:
If the idea of carrying a notebook with you to the next camping trip, to the grocery store, to the library, and to your mother-in-law's house sounds just too weird and nerdy to you, then this book will not be of much use to you. There are several other books about Leonardo that do a better job telling the story of the life of this great man; if you want to know more about Leonardo, read one of those instead.
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