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miq33l's review against another edition
4.0
Siegel's message of a particular type of awareness aimed at increased differentiation and integration of different brain areas resonated with me. After listening to the audiobook I have a vague understanding of the importance of developing coherence between brain areas processing different types of input - something that could be prevented by implicit learning.
Important areas of human development like attachment, experiencing emotions and relating to others were covered in the book.
I recommend this book if you want to become familiar with an integrative approach to personality development.
Important areas of human development like attachment, experiencing emotions and relating to others were covered in the book.
I recommend this book if you want to become familiar with an integrative approach to personality development.
slichto3's review against another edition
2.0
Mindsight is a disappointing book, but it's possible that you'd enjoy it more with a more accurate mindset. I expected Mindsight to walk me through techniques for having more positive mental health, while teaching me about the workings of the brain along the way. I expected it to dig into scientifically backed ways towards self-improvement. And... that's sort of in there.
The first part of the book describes how the brain works - I learned a lot from that (although I'm not sure that I remember it so well). Along the way, the author introduces the concept of mindsight, which is basically the same as what we now call mindfulness. He starts talking about mindsight as a laudable goal, but, honestly, if I didn't already know some about mindfulness, I wouldn't have really understood what he was talking about.
The second part of the book is all case studies about how the author treated a variety of patients in his psychiatric practice. The bottom line in all of them: meditation helped! So, if I were to give you the full advice that I got from this book, it would be this: meditation can sometimes be helpful for mental health. There are a lot of pages that boil down to this same message, and it's tedious. Further, the book doesn't give very specific techniques for applying meditation: how long should we do it, what are specific ways to do it? It's there a little: focus on your breath, or focus on your body. But there wasn't enough there for me to find it useful.
I wouldn't recommend this book - there are probably better ones that explain and advocate for mindfulness.
The first part of the book describes how the brain works - I learned a lot from that (although I'm not sure that I remember it so well). Along the way, the author introduces the concept of mindsight, which is basically the same as what we now call mindfulness. He starts talking about mindsight as a laudable goal, but, honestly, if I didn't already know some about mindfulness, I wouldn't have really understood what he was talking about.
The second part of the book is all case studies about how the author treated a variety of patients in his psychiatric practice. The bottom line in all of them: meditation helped! So, if I were to give you the full advice that I got from this book, it would be this: meditation can sometimes be helpful for mental health. There are a lot of pages that boil down to this same message, and it's tedious. Further, the book doesn't give very specific techniques for applying meditation: how long should we do it, what are specific ways to do it? It's there a little: focus on your breath, or focus on your body. But there wasn't enough there for me to find it useful.
I wouldn't recommend this book - there are probably better ones that explain and advocate for mindfulness.
tlctbr's review
4.0
This read a lot like a text book and was pretty dense in spots. I found I could only digest about 10-20 pages at a time before I just couldn’t concentrate any more. Still, I found it extremely valuable and would recommend it to people who really want to delve deep into the mysteries of the mind.
meg_mo_smith's review against another edition
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
ruthyalice's review against another edition
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
erikars's review against another edition
4.0
I read this book as part of a reading group at work. We had read Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman, and we had mixed feelings about that book. We had enjoyed the ideas but were disappointed by a lack of practical suggestions for personal growth. Siegel's Mindsight only focuses on one of Goleman's domains of emotional intelligence, self-awareness, but that piece is the fundamental one on which all other skill of social and emotional intelligence are built.
Siegel's book describes many practical actions one can take to increase self-awareness. These techniques will sound familiar to anyone familiar with mindfulness traditions (observing the breath, the sensations of the senses, sensations within the body, thoughts, connections to others), but he brings a different perspective. Siegel is a practicing psychotherapist with an interest in understanding the neuroscience behind different techniques. Instead of presenting mindfulness practices from a religious/spiritual point of view, he presents these practices from a practical (e.g., case study oriented) and scientific point of view. For those who have studied mindfulness from a spiritual perspective, this book will broaden your perspective For those who see mindfulness as new age woo woo, this book shows the scientifically and practically grounded effects and benefits of mindfulness practices.
That said, this book was much more focused on the stories of the case studies than on the concepts or the science. This was interesting, but most of us in the reading group would have liked to see this coupled with a more conceptual presentation. Oddly enough, the author would have preferred that too. We had coordinated the reading of this book with a visit from Dr. Siegel. In addition to giving an interesting talk, Dr. Siegel was generous enough to have a more focused session with the members of the reading group. During that talk, he revealed to us that he wrote this book for a general audience, and most people learn best through stories. However, he did have another book which, as he put it, contains everything his editor would not let him put into Mindsight. That book is The Mindful Therapist, and I look forward to reading it!
Siegel's book describes many practical actions one can take to increase self-awareness. These techniques will sound familiar to anyone familiar with mindfulness traditions (observing the breath, the sensations of the senses, sensations within the body, thoughts, connections to others), but he brings a different perspective. Siegel is a practicing psychotherapist with an interest in understanding the neuroscience behind different techniques. Instead of presenting mindfulness practices from a religious/spiritual point of view, he presents these practices from a practical (e.g., case study oriented) and scientific point of view. For those who have studied mindfulness from a spiritual perspective, this book will broaden your perspective For those who see mindfulness as new age woo woo, this book shows the scientifically and practically grounded effects and benefits of mindfulness practices.
That said, this book was much more focused on the stories of the case studies than on the concepts or the science. This was interesting, but most of us in the reading group would have liked to see this coupled with a more conceptual presentation. Oddly enough, the author would have preferred that too. We had coordinated the reading of this book with a visit from Dr. Siegel. In addition to giving an interesting talk, Dr. Siegel was generous enough to have a more focused session with the members of the reading group. During that talk, he revealed to us that he wrote this book for a general audience, and most people learn best through stories. However, he did have another book which, as he put it, contains everything his editor would not let him put into Mindsight. That book is The Mindful Therapist, and I look forward to reading it!
teibrich's review against another edition
4.0
In essence this book is about mindfulness, but with a very new perspective: Daniel Siegel talks about integration along 8 different dimensions. We need to integrate different perspectives to not get lost in either rigidity or chaos. One perspective are for example our emotions: we can block them off or we can get lost in them. Both is disastrous. Mindsight helps us integrate that perspective to become aware of it and use it productively.