The Vigorous Mind

I was approached by TLC Book Tours about taking part in the virtual book tour for The Vigorous Mind by Ingrid Cummings. The subtitle of the book, “Cross-Train Your Brain to Break Through Mental, Emotional and Professional Boundaries”, really intrigued me and I was happy to accept.

“This book”, says the author “is for people who suspect they’ve become cognitively malnourished and want to reverse course.” Her basic contention is that we are all starved for mental stimulation. Most of us focus on certain specialized areas and Ms. Cummings urges us to broaden our interests and “cross-train our brains” through a technique called kaizen. Kaizen is an ancient Zen philosophy, which advocates taking small steps in order to reach a larger goal.

Reminiscent of a physical workout, Ms. Cummings suggests spending twenty minutes a day, three times a week, exercising our brain. Prompting her readers to become modern day Renaissance “men”, she wants us to keep learning new things. Take up pottery; learn another language; study archeology; whatever interests you. Not only will this practice make you happier, Ms. Cummings believes it will make you better at your specialty. I would add that it will also make you a much more interesting conversationalist!

The Vigorous Mind is divided into three parts. Part One sets up the author’s premise, explains why she wrote the book and introduces the reader to kaizen. Basically kaizen is the practice of breaking up large goals into small, manageable pieces. Learning a language, for example, might seem daunting but spend twenty minutes a day, three times a week working on it and you’ll be amazed how quickly you pick it up. This is the philosophy of kaizen that Ms. Cummings wants to share with us. She calls this the “Triumph in Twenty”, a term I like a lot.

Part Two gives us what the author calls the seven imperatives that we need to consider as we embark on this journey. Those imperatives are: Curiosity, Individuality, Selectivity, Empathy, Stretch, Spirituality and Courage. These seven chapters examine each imperative in detail and finish with an exercise to help develop and understand the imperative. Although I think the author was a bit overly explanatory in these chapters, overall I found her imperatives to be interesting and on point.

Finally, Part Three relates some observations about choice and tells us how to wring the most advantage from our leisure time. In this part of the book she gives us some direction and some advice on how to implement her process. In case you’re not quite sure into what interests you might want to delve, Ms. Cummings supplies a long list of possibilities. In Chapter Twelve, Systems Thinking: Thriving as a Generalist in the Workplace, she makes a case for how becoming more of a “generalist” will make you an even better specialist.

As a Liberal Arts major (she calls her book a Valentine to the liberal arts!) and a life-long learner, Ms. Cummings was probably preaching to the choir with me. Although I heartily support her conviction in the importance of being a well-rounded person, I optimistically disagree with her belief that we are a dying breed. Overall I found her book interesting, easy to read and I recommend it.



About the Author
Ingrid Cummings is a journalist, essayist, independent scholar, communications expert and international speaker. A Contributing Editor at Indianapolis Monthly magazine and an award-winning newspaper columnist, she also teaches at Indiana University, produces a radio show called Rubicon Salon and runs a PR/Media business called Rubicon Communications LLC. She calls upon 20 years of teaching and coaching experience to animate the creative process through a variety of original workshops. Named one of "Eight to Watch in '08" by The Indianapolis Star, "The Vigorous Mind", is her first book.