Many people suffer from a peculiar affliction. They believe that complex problems can have simplistic solutions. Like infomercial products, these solutions are usually too good to be true and there is a name for people who buy them. They are called suckers. A few months ago, I finally got around to reading Daniel Pink’s best-seller, A Whole New Mind. It is an entertaining book  about coping with the transition from the information age to the conceptual age. And though I did enjoy reading it, I couldn’t help but feel that somehow I had been “slapchopped”.

In the book, he argues that due to three disruptive factors, it’s not enough to be a left-brained, logic and numbers society to maintain an edge. Instead, he proposes six easy-steps, “senses”, which individuals can hone to activate our right hemispheres and shed our reliance on the left brain of yesteryear. No doubt, these are senses that we must all cultivate in ourselves. But just like a five-minute recipe book doesn’t transform the culinarily challenged into master chefs, neither can this book transform a drone into a creative genius.

Really creative people (think Leonarda Da Vinci) rely equally on the left and right hemispheres. This seems to suggest that analytical skills and creativity have a strong correlation. There are a couple of well-known, but weak, reasons cited for the importance of studying mathematics in school. These are the “helps in daily life” and “gets you a science career”. But in today’s world, we have iPhones with tip calculation apps to help us out of a $74 three-way bill splitting jam at the Cheesecake Factories. Similarly, NASA isn’t about to go on a hiring spree to rope in rocket scientists and engineers. The real reason to study and excel at math is that it hones your creative skills so that one can become a well-rounded individual who can succeed at any career of their choosing, be it law, drama, medicine, or sales. That, in my opinion, is reason numero uno to study this subject.

I would highly recommend Steven Strogatz’s NYTime’s series, titled “Elements of Math“. In it he revisits elementary arithmetic, algebra, geometry and also slightly more advanced topics in a playful manner that is sure to make you exclaim “Hmmm!” as you follow his journey of re-acquaintance and discovery. If it sparks your curiosity enough, I would suggest picking up a copy of Douglas Hofstatder’s excellect collective, titled Metamagical Themas. It’s an imposingly thick book but be sure to read the chapter about how music prodigies visualize the notes in their minds. I promise it will get you thinking about your own thought processes. And if it doesn’t…. then perhaps I can interest you in buying this most amazing 3-in-1 slicing-dicing-chopping marvel for $19.95?