I picked up a book called
Thinking Like Einstein (published 2004) by Thomas West about the value of thinking and presenting information visually. So far it's been a decent read, but he makes bolder claims than I would. Here are a few quotes from the introduction that grabbed me:
Now, in the thin leading edge of the twenty-first century, computer graphics and visual technologies are in use around us everywhere, yet most us have no idea of the real power of these technologies. Our children live in a visual world of television and video games (unfortunately with too little visual observation of the natural world), yet most schools continue to be increasingly obsessed with the narrow skills linked to the ancient technologies of writing, reading, and the book. These are important, of course, but these alone are not enough to prepare our children and grandchildren for really high-value work in a global marketplace.
We focus on the facts, yet no one acknowledges that the essence of science is not a list of facts but a process that, for many of the best scientists, is largely visual -- making discoveries about patterns in nature through seeing patterns in complex visual information.
If a picture is worth a thousand words, a moving diagram based on highly complex computer data is worth a million words. This transition promises to be true revolution -- not about how we will use technology, but about how we will learn (or relearn) to use our brains.
