Engines of Discovery: Dyslexic Talents in a New Era of Innovation
An inspiring talk focusing on the strengths associated with dyslexia by a nationally renowned author.
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When
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Saturday January 30, 2010
9:00 AM -
1:00 PM
Eastern
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Where
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St. John's Episcopal Church
6715 Georgetown Pike
McLean, VA 22101
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Who
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Organizer:
DC Capital Area Branch of IDA
Contact:
202 248-2487
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Cost
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Pricing |
Registration
IDA Members
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$25.00 |
Registration
LDA and CHADD Members
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$30.00 |
Registration
General Public
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$35.00 |
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Description
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Our speaker for January 30, 2010, will be Thomas G. West. The Title of his talk is "Engines of Discovery--Dyslexic Talents in a New Era of Scientific, Technological and Entrepreneurial Innovation." This inspiring talk will focus on the increasing understanding of the many strengths that are associated with dyslexia. It will be suitable for persons with dyslexia, family members, and professionals working in the field.
Thomas G. West is the author of the award-winning book In the Mind's Eye (Prometheus Books, 1991, updated 1997, second edition 2009). Now in its 15th printing, the book was awarded a gold seal by the Association of College and Research Libraries of the American Library Association as "an outstanding academic title" and, later recognized by the ALA as one of the "best of the best" for the year (one of only 13 books in their broad psychology, psychiatry and neuroscience category). After 18 years in print, West's publisher, Prometheus Books, requested a revised second edition of In the Mind's Eye to be prepared for publication in September 2009.
Well known medical writer Oliver Sacks, MD, has recently commented: "In the Mind's Eye brings out the special problems of people with dyslexia, but also their strengths, which are so often overlooked. Its accent is not so much on pathology as on how much human minds vary. It stands alongside Howard Gardner's Frames of Mind as a testament to the range of human talent and possibility." Another reviewer commented: "Every once in a while a book comes along that turns one's thinking upside down. In the Mind's Eye is just such a book." (Roeper Review)
Two Washington state practitioners have recently commented: "Since he first published In the Mind's Eye 18 years ago, Thomas G. West has been at the forefront of a growing number of experts who recognize that the 'dys' in dyslexia is often far less important to those who have it than the often remarkable abilities in reasoning, visualization, and pattern recognition that frequently accompany this condition. The impact of this now classic work upon the dyslexic families and individuals that we have the privilege to work with--the encouragement and insight it has provided--is incalculable . . . . Everyone who is dyslexic, has a child with dyslexia, or works with such individuals will be encouraged and enlightened by this marvelous book. For those tired of an educational system that too often treats dyslexic children like ugly ducklings, it is a field guide to the glories of the swan. We cannot possibly recommend it highly enough." (Brock Eide, MD, and Fernette Eide, MD, authors of The Mislabeled Child, Hyperion, 2006.)
In connection with In the Mind's Eye and his other writing, Mr. West has been invited to provide presentations for scientific, medical, art, design, computer and business groups in the U.S. and overseas, including groups in Switzerland, Sweden, The Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Italy, Ireland, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
In the Mind's Eye was published in Japanese translation in 1994 as Geniuses Who Hated School. A Chinese translation was published in 2004. With the new edition five new translations may be added to the existing Japanese and Chinese translations. His publisher recently wrote: "the department has received interest in Korean, Japanese, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Turkish, and Chinese rights."
West is now working on a third book, this one dealing with visual thinking, high creativity and dyslexia in several scientists and scientific families--focusing, in part, on one such family that includes, over five generations, many dyslexics and winners of four Nobel Prizes. The new book will also feature profiles of dyslexic scientists such as the late William J. Dreyer, a Caltech professor who used his highly visual imagination to see things in molecular biology and immunology well before others--and in so doing helped to start the biotech revolution, developing one new theory 12 years ahead of all others in the field, creating new sets of data by inventing his own new instruments and analytic devices (including the first automated protein sequencer, 1977) and starting seven new biotech companies.
Another profile in the new book will focus on John R. (Jack) Horner who flunked out of the University of Montana seven times because of his dyslexia but is now known as one of the three most important paleontologists in the world--known as an original and innovative interpreter of the fossil evidence, advising Stephen Spielberg on the three Jurassic Park films. Horner says he tries to teach his graduate students "to think like a dyslexic" because that is where the "good stuff" comes from--making original discoveries by learning to read the book of nature without being distracted by the theories of others or reading too many books or articles. The rest is "just memorization," he says. One of Horner's dyslexic students recently made discoveries thought "impossible"--red blood cells and flexible blood vessels inside a 65 million-year-old fossil bone. Horner notes that it is easy for dyslexics "to think outside the box" because "they have never been in the box."
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Attending
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The event has already occurred.
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Link for this event
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http://www.SureToMeet.com/exec/gt/event.h,event=1b9b6e4df8a1
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