Seeing What Others Cannot See: The Hidden Advantages of Visual Thinkers and Differently Wired Brains Paperback – July 11, 2017

Have really benefited from Thomas West's books. Seeing What Others Cannot See is no exception. He really puts the education establishment and even the mental health establishment on its head in many areas. Schooling, including most private schooling, looks at learning as mastering words and memorization. Thomas West shows that there are many other ways of learning and perceiving and receiving information. And that those who see in pictures and see the big picture are going to be the ones who move society forward, and maybe even save society, at least as we know it. As West points out, thinking out of the box is where dyslexics and others labeled defective, such as those with Aspergers and autism naturally exist. And he points out that it is those who are not so-called dyslexic who came up with the label. West has long pointed out that dyslexia is not a defect, it's just a different way of seeing the world, and a much needed perspective. As mentioned, West also gets into Aspergers and autism in this book. Those labeled as such also have valuable perspectives of the world in technology and so many other fronts.I see myself in West's books, including this one. I have never been officially diagnosed with dyslexia, but school and reading were so hard for me. It was not a matter of not "working hard." In fact, the harder I tried, the worse it seem to get. Yet, I somehow made it through grade school, high school and even college largely as a C or worse student. I have taken the Davis Dyslexia course that emphasizes turning words into pictures and it has made reading more possible, but it is still a challenge.Seeing What Others Cannot See and In the Mind's Eye and the book on Einstein's thinking have given me confidence that I have much to offer the world with my way of thinking. I highly recommend this and Thomas West's other books for everyone, but especially for those in education and those of us who have struggled to make it because of perceived weaknesses in reading and comprehension and other related challenges. West gives us a different and much needed perspective on learning and how to learn in different ways than the popular prescriptions of many decades.Amazingly, West has faced many obstacles in getting this common sense way of thinking about education and learning into the mainstream. It seems that many in the education establishment see West's thinking and vision as a threat to their turf. And though a number of others, such as those at Dyslexic Advantage, are putting forth similar ideas about dyslexia and other circumstances such as Aspergers and autism, it seems that revolutionaries such as West always face much resistance before their ideas are accepted. Have no doubt that West's thinking will be the mainstream at some point. In the meantime, please read Thomas West's books, and other writings, including Seeing What Others Cannot See.(You can also see talks and interviews with him on Youtube.) You will be way ahead of the curve. You then may also be able to see and bring out genius in some young people and even adults who have long been told they are defective and stop the madness of putting kids on drugs if they don't conform to the prescribed way of teaching and learning in the education establishment. That is nothing short of child abuse.

Seeing What Others Cannot See: The Hidden Advantages of Visual Thinkers and Differently Wired Brains is Thomas G. West's third book. I am sooooooooo torn about this work. It is a powerfully reasoned defense of a world-wide, critical movement to recognize the needs and astonishing abilities of people who are visual/spatial/dyslexic/neurodiverse thinkers. Visual/spatial learners may have horrible challenges learning to read and write or memorize "simple" facts like multiplication tables. They may never spell well. Their sense of time can be non-existent and their social skills weak. And they see the big picture as no one else can. They make connections between dissimilar and seemingly-completely unrelated items and concepts with dizzying speed. They often understand the most difficult arguments, theorems, hypotheses of a discipline and/or create entirely new analyses of our world and can be completely unable to explain why in a step-by-step fashion without huge struggle. Their weaknesses get them labeled "stupid," "lazy," "careless," and too many other soul-shriveling names to list. And their gifts are too often sadly trivialized, although, encouragingly, West notes that these biases in worldwide cultures are reversing.There are wonderful, inspiring biographies of highly successful, "atypical" learners throughout the pages who have often completely upended the understanding of their fields of expertise - Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, Winston Churchill. That's only a partial list of the individuals examined in Seeing. That list alone should be convincing as to why we need to nurture all brains. And giving all students access to appropriate resources and teaching benefits everyone in school: none of us is strictly "typical."But Seeing is repetitive. Very very repetitive. I'm not sure, but I think this is a collection of essays. Unfortunately, every essay ends on the same notes. What was convincing becomes tedious. I would suggest reading this book for the biographies, and the arguments in favor of a radical re-vamping of educational systems which are incorporated in those biographies will be absorbed. But don't feel compelled to read every page.

Says the things it’s trying to say, but feels about 50% longer than it needs to be. Not a bad book by any means, but it feels long. Of course as one of the ones it talks about (slow reader) I’m probably more sensitive to getting to the point in as few as words possible.

Thomas G West is an exceptional writer first an foremost. His insight into dyslexia and positivity he brings to the subject is a breath of fresh air. Brilliant

I kinda found this book less of an interest to read, I like the first book and has a much better appeal to his research.

Já havia lido o livro The Dyslexic Advantage, por Eide e Eide, e entrado em contato com esse lado da dislexia, que muitas vezes é negligenciado, sobretudo nas publicações científicas que tendem a focar somente dos déficits. Deparei-me por acaso com o título desse livro - Seeing what others cannot see - como sugestão da Amazon visto que havia adquirido o The Dyslexic Advantage meses atrás.A leitura é flui bastante, pois não é pretensão do autor - ele mesmo ressalta isso na introdução - expor um argumento demasiado científico, visto que ele já o fez em seu livro anterior "The Mind's Eyes, cujo estou louco para ler mas não encontro disponível =x. O autor exemplifica a sua teoria com diversos relatos de indivíduos altamente inteligentes e bem sucedidos demonstrando que eles pensam com os olhos, são pensadores visuais - Visual Thinkers - uma das características de quem é disléxico e está no espectro do autismo. Mesmo assim, ele não cai na falácia de que todo o disléxico é um gênio, ou que devemos extinguir a cultura letrada. Pelo contrário, o autor pondera os dois lados e argumenta muito bem a favor da perspectiva de pensamento visual, em imagens, como sendo um dos elementos mais importantes para a evolução e continuidade de nossa espécie, sem ignorar o que o advento da cultura letrada nos trouxe durante os séculos.Fiquei muito feliz com essa leitura e recomendo imperativamente.