Analysis of The Element Written by Ken Robinson and Lou Aronica - Book Report/Review Example

The Element by Ken Robinson and Lou Aronica Introduction The Element is a book written by Ken Robinson and Lou Aronica. The book is based on the concept that how identifying the passion of a human being towards anything influences changes in his life. One of the authors of The Element, Ken Robinson is a well know personality and is a renowned thinker in the area of the development of the potential of human beings to achieve success and live a content and happy life. The author is also the host of the well known TED series of inspirational talks. This book claims that every human being needs it discover the internal element within him to understand how they can best develop their talents, relationships as well as their professional and personal lives. This book has been written by the authors with the objective of changing the views through which people look at their lives and the ways in which people try to achieve success and harmony in both the personal lives and work lives. Discussion In the book, The Element, the authors have proposed that the element reefers to the junction at which the personal passion of a human being meets the natural talents that are present within him. According to the author, finding out the element within a human being would help the person to tap into his existing potential and thus, naturally succeed in everything that is done by him. The basic of the guideline is to identify the proverbial sweet spot within every work that a person does in his life. Also, as per the book, the element within a human being allows the person to maximize his powers of intelligence, imagination, intuition, feelings, physical awareness, sensory awareness and spirituality which he has inherent within his nature (Isaacson, 2007, p.100). The author has suggested that a standard approach towards nurturing teaching and managing people is not likely to work towards enhancing the talents and skills of people. This is because, the level of intelligence, imagination and talents vary according to different individuals. Therefore, it is necessary to take up a customized and individual specific mode of managing and nurturing a human being to empower him to find out his element and proceed on the desirable direction to achieve his career and personal goals and objectives in life. The author also argues that the traditional means of measuring intelligence through the use MCQs and Intelligence Quotient (IQ) tests do not clearly identify the intelligence level and potential of a person because these tests only find the answers to how much intelligence a person has and provide no input on how the person is intelligent and what are his natural strength areas. Without understanding how the person uses his intelligence and what his actual passion are, a person cannot be steered in the right way to achieve his full potential towards any activity, career or personal achievements (Robinson and Aronica, 2009, pp.200-201). The book includes a number of real life examples that the authors have cited to justify their propositions regarding human talents and behaviors. The authors have cited varied examples of people who have been top achievers in a wide array of field like visual art. Directing, dancing, singing , acting and writing and has gone on to prove that many individuals who were poor students in schools and colleges in terms of grades have later on become successful in diverse fields because they have been able to identify their passion and use their natural talents to follow their passion. The author has also given real life cases in which it is clearly proved that many individuals have achieved success and shone in different fields of work when they have revolted against the traditional and rigid constraints of education and society and chosen to follow their own dreams and passion. The book includes the examples of real life success stories of well known figures in the world of creativity like Albert Einstein, Matt Groening, Meg Ryan, Mick Fleetwood, Gillian Lynne, Paul Samuelson, Debbie Allen, Bart Corner, Paul McCartney and many others. The author justifies his views of how important it is to find the element within a human being with panache by making his theories rich with examples and anecdotes of the afore mentioned celebrities as well as by citing the example of his own success story. The author has also interviewed many of the well known figures who have established themselves in the field of creativity and has included a number of interview excerpts in his strengths to justify how people can chive success as well as happiness by recognizing their passion and by realizing their capabilities. There are engaging real life incidents mentioned in the book which describe how many of the renowned personalities nearly missed out on discovering their potential and element and were steered in the right direction through a chance encounter, or a mentor or through the sole dedication to emerge as a successful person while going through extreme failure. Ken Robinson also goes forward in talking about his own experiences, his failures and struggles and also talks a great deal about those of his friends and family. A common concept noted in the book is that many of the people whose cases have been cited in the book were strugglers in school and college. Very few of the successful people discussed in the book were direct achievers. Most went through a great deal of struggle and failure before achieving their goals and objectives in life (Stoskepf, 2009, p.90). The unusual natures of passion and interest areas are also focused in this book. For example, the real life cases of Albert Einstein, the renowned scientist and Buckminster Fuller, a world class architectural designer signify that both these successful people identified their interior element in unusual domains of creativity and passion. The key concepts that can be identified from the book include the followings. Creativity is perhaps the most important natural characteristics within a human being that supports him in following his passion. Creativity is antecedent with the imagination of a person and evokes the requirements of a person so as to open up the mind of the same beyond the traditional, analytical, logical and linear thinking that are imposed by the social and education constructions and systems that are followed in different societies of the world. Creativity involves the use of the body and the brain of the person while reaching into the depths of the unconscious feelings, subconscious mind and the intuitive reflexes of a human being (Hartman, 2014, pp.100-102). There are varied and multiple areas of intelligence which are too diverse to be segregated into a fixed number of sections. Therefore, imposing restrictions on educational systems and following interests at any age is likely to restrain the scopes of the individual to find out his natural skills and talents and his interests and passion towards things. A person has to overcome the social, cultural and personal barriers to achieve the true potentials and follow his passion. Often the person has to take drastic steps to revolt against the traditional norms. Luck is an insignificant factor for success. Rather, the perseverance, beliefs and attitudes of human beings play a more critical role in shaping the destiny of a human being and to help him struggle through adverse situations in life. Conclusion Most of the theories and perspectives in the Element seem to tap into the minds of the readers but very few people actually are likely to have the courage to stand up against the existing education systems and government policies. However, the book can enhance the level of humanistic optimism among the readers and influence a person to follow his passion in spite of existing constraints and difficulties in the way. The book is expected to open up the minds of the readers towards a more positive outlook of life and is an inspirational literature that can actually boost the confidence and belief of a person in chasing something unique and out of the traditional domains. This book is aimed at making the readers dwell on how they can discover their individual passions and map them with their naturally inherent talents to maximize their potential on developing their ways of livings and achieving success and the popularity of the book seems to prove that the views of the author are fully justified and that the readers can actually relate these concepts to their real life situations. References Hartman, K. (2014). A summary of the book “The Element”. Retrieved from http://www.kimhartman.se/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/The-Element-by-Ken-Robinson-summary.pdf. Isaacson, W. (2007). Einstein: His life and Universe. New York: Simon & Schuster. Robinson, K. & Aronica, L. (2009). The Element: How finding your passion changes everything. New York: Viking. Stoskepf, A. (2009). The forgotten history of eugenics. Retrieved from http://www.rethinkingschools.org/archive/13_03/eugenic.shtml. Read More