Biographical Sketch and Notes -- Thomas G. West – Revised, September 2024
West is the author of three books. His first book is In the Mind's Eye: Creative Visual Thinkers, Gifted Dyslexics and the Rise of Visual Technologies. This book was awarded a gold seal and selected as one of the “best of the best” for the year by the American Library Association (in their broad category including psychology, psychiatry and neurology). The book has been translated into Japanese, Chinese and Korean. West has provided presentations for scientific, medical, art, design, computer and business groups in the U.S. and 19 foreign countries.
West’s second book is Thinking like Einstein: Returning to Our Visual Roots with the Emerging Revolution in Computer Information Visualization. This book is based on seven years of invited articles and quarterly columns written for the in-house professional magazine of the international computer graphics organization ACM-SIGGRAPH (with annual conferences of up to 60,000 attendees, including physicists, physicians, surgeons, astronomers, mathematicians, technologists, artists, video game designers and makers of feature films).
His third book -- Seeing What Others Cannot See: The Hidden Advantages of Visual Thinkers and Differently Wired Brains -- focuses on stories of scientific discoveries and technological innovations made by dyslexics and other different thinkers.
West has lectured worldwide to varied groups interested in visual thinking, visual technologies, dyslexics and other different thinkers in the workplace. West has given presentations to the Confederation of British Industry in London, the Netherlands Design Institute in Amsterdam, a meeting of 50 Max Planck Institutes in Göttingen, Germany, the Italian Dyslexia Association in Rome, the first ever “Diversity Day” conference for the staff of GCHQ (the descendants of Bletchley Park, World War II Nazi code breakers, Winston Churchill’s highly secret “Ultra” code breakers in World War II) in Cheltenham, England, scientists and artists at Green College and at Magdalen College within Oxford University, England, the Royal College of Art in London, the Glasgow School of Art in Scotland, a dyslexia policy conference at the University of Uppsala in Sweden (attended by the Queen of Sweden), the University of California at Berkeley, an education conference sponsored by Harvard and MIT, the Arts Dyslexia Trust in London, an education conference in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and a meeting of visualization scientists and artists sponsored by MIT and the Getty Museum in Los Angeles.
Other presentations have included the Learning Disability Association of Taiwan, the international conference of computer graphic artists and technologists (ACM-SIGGRAPH) in Vancouver, BC, Canada, the International Symposium on Dyslexia in the Chinese Language organized by the Society of Child Neurology and Developmental Pediatrics in Hong Kong, the U.S. National Library of Medicine in Bethesda, Maryland, the Educational Testing Service in Princeton, New Jersey, the Aspen Institute in Colorado, Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, California – and a Director's Colloquium for scientists and staff of NASA Ames Research Center (at Moffett Field in California’s Silicon Valley).
In November 2014, West was invited to give five talks for the Dyslexia Association of Singapore as part of a nation-wide effort to take advantage of the distinctive talents exhibited by dyslexic children and adults. Long a leader in technological and commercial innovation, Singapore plans to lead the world with this effort as well.
Note: During 2020 - 2023, virtual talks have been given in the US, Egypt, the Netherlands, Singapore and Zimbabwe. Formerly, distribution for Prometheus Books titles was provided by Penguin Random House. In June 2019, Prometheus Books was sold and “Prometheus Books” became an imprint of Rowman & Littlefield. The new publisher brought out a new (Third) edition of In the Mind’s Eye (the first time in paper) in July 2020. Having been in print continuously for more than 30 years, In the Mind’s Eye is seen in the trade as an “evergreen,” a book that never ages and never stops selling. Contact information: thomasgwest@gmail.com, 202-262-1266.
Alternative Versions
He has given presentations to the Confederation of British Industry in London, the Netherlands Design Institute in Amsterdam, a meeting of scientists from the 50 Max Planck Institutes in Göttingen, Germany, the Italian Dyslexia Association in Rome, the first “Diversity Day” conference for the staff of GCHQ, the code-making and code-breaking descendants of Bletchley Park (World War II breakers of Nazi codes), in Cheltenham, England, scientists and artists at Green College and at Magdalen College within Oxford University, England, the Royal College of Art in London, the Glasgow School of Art in Scotland, a dyslexia policy conference at the University of Uppsala in Sweden, the University of California at Berkeley, an education conference sponsored by Harvard and MIT, the Arts Dyslexia Trust in London, an education conference in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and a meeting of visualization scientists and artists sponsored by MIT and the Getty Museum in Los Angeles.
Other presentations have included the Learning Disability Association of Taiwan, the international conference of computer graphic artists and technologists (ACM-SIGGRAPH) in Vancouver, BC, Canada, the International Symposium on Dyslexia in the Chinese Language organized by the Society of Child Neurology and Developmental Pediatrics in Hong Kong, the U.S. National Library of Medicine in Bethesda, Maryland, the Educational Testing Service in Princeton, New Jersey, the Aspen Institute in Colorado, Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, California – and a Director's Colloquium for scientists and staff of NASA Ames Research Center (at Moffett Field in California’s Silicon Valley). In November 2014, West was invited to give five talks for the Dyslexia Association of Singapore as part of a nation-wide effort to take advantage of the distinctive talents exhibited by dyslexic children and adults. Long a leader in technological and commercial innovation, Singapore planned to lead the world with this effort as well.
West’s first book is In the Mind's Eye: Creative Visual Thinkers, Gifted Dyslexics and the Rise of Visual Technologies. This book was awarded a gold seal and selected as one of the “best of the best” for the year by the Association of College and Research Libraries of the American Library Association. The book has been translated into Japanese, Chinese and Korean -- and West has provided presentations for scientific, medical, art, design, computer and business groups in the U.S. and 19 foreign countries.
West’s second book is Thinking like Einstein: Returning to Our Visual Roots with the Emerging Revolution in Computer Information Visualization. This book is based on seven years of invited articles and regular columns written for the in-house professional member magazine of the international computer graphics organization ACM-SIGGRAPH (with annual conferences of up to 60,000 scientists, surgeons, mathematicians, technologists, artists and makers of feature films).
His third book -- Seeing What Others Cannot See: The Hidden Advantages of Visual Thinkers and Differently Wired Brains -- focuses on stories of scientific discoveries made by dyslexics and other different thinkers.
The second edition of In the Mind’s Eye includes a Foreword by the famous medical writer Oliver Sacks, MD, who said “In the Mind's Eye brings out the special problems of people with dyslexia, but also their strengths, which are so often over looked. . . . It stands alongside Howard Gardner's Frames of Mind as a testament to the range of human talent and possibility.” According to one reviewer: “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.”
Selected Publications
West, Thomas G. 1991 In the Mind’s Eye. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, distributed by Penguin Random House. (The second edition, 2009, of In the Mind’s Eye includes a Foreword by the late Oliver Sacks, MD -- see below.)
West, Thomas G., 1992. “A Future of Reversals: Dyslexic Talents in a World of Computer Visualization,” Annals of Dyslexia, the Orton Dyslexia Society, now the International Dyslexia Association, vol. 42, pp. 124-139.
West, Thomas G., 1994. “A Return to Visual Thinking.” In Proceedings, Science and Scientific Computing: Visions of a Creative Symbiosis. Symposium of Computer Users in the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, edited and translated by P. Wittenberg and T. Plesser. Gottingen, Germany, November 1993. (Published as a book in 1994.) (Paper published in German: Ruckkehr zum visuellen Denken, Forschung und Wissenschftliches Rechnen: Beitrage anlasslich des 10. EGV-Benutzertreffens der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft in Gottingen, November 1993.)
West, Thomas G., 1999. “The Abilities of Those with Reading Disabilities: Focusing on the Talents of People with Dyslexia.” Chapter 11, Reading and Attention Disorders: Neurobiological Correlates. Edited by Drake D. Duane, MD, Baltimore, MD: York Press, Inc.
West, Thomas G., 2004. Thinking Like Einstein: Returning to Our Visual Roots with the Emerging Revolution in Computer Information Visualization. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books.
West, Thomas G., 2005. “The Gifts of Dyslexia: Talents Among Dyslexics and Their Families,” Hong Kong Journal of Paediatrics (New Series), 10, 153-158.
West, Thomas G., 2009. In the Mind’s Eye: Creative Visual Thinkers, Gifted Dyslexics and the Rise of Visual Technologies. Second edition. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, distributed by Penguin Random House. (The first edition was published in 1991.) The second edition of In the Mind’s Eye includes a Foreword by the late Oliver Sacks, MD -- see above.)
West, Thomas G., 2014. “Amazing Shortcomings, Amazing Strengths: Beginning to Understand the Hidden Talents of Dyslexics,” Asia Pacific Journal of Developmental Differences, vol. 1, no. 1, January 2014, pp. 78-89. (A publication of the Dyslexia Association of Singapore, DAS).
West, Thomas G., 2017. Seeing What Others Cannot See: The Hidden Advantages of Visual Thinkers and Differently Wired Brains. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, distributed by Penguin Random House. With this new book, West investigates how different kinds of brains and different ways of thinking can help to make discoveries and solve problems in innovative and unexpected ways. West focuses on what he has learned over the years from a group of strong visual thinkers and those with dyslexia, as well as those with Asperger’s syndrome, and other different ways of thinking, learning and working.
Selected Publications and Readings
Eide, Brock, MD, MA, and Fernette Eide, MD, 2023. The Dyslexic Advantage: Unlocking the Hidden Potential of the Dyslexic Brain. Revised and Updated. New York, NY. Plume, An imprint of Penguin Random House, LLC. “The Dyslexic Advantage had a profound and positive impact on my life since it explained ‘me’ to me for the first time.” -- Dr. Robert Ballard, Explorer-at-Large for the National Geographic Society and author of Into the Deep: A Memoir from the Man Who Found Titanic.
West, Thomas G., 2022. “Dyslexic Strengths in Times of Adversity,” Asia Pacific Journal of Developmental Differences, Singapore, Vol. 9, No. 2, July 2022, pp. 194-203.
West, Thomas G., 2022. “Personal Memories of Donald A.B. Lindberg M.D., Visual Thinker and Medical Visionary,” in Transforming Biomedical Informatics and Health Information Access, B.L. Humphreys, et al, Editors. Invited section, for comprehensive history, with many authors, of the life and career of the former Director of the U.S. National Library of Medicine, published February 1, 2022, by IOS Press, Amsterdam. Keywords: Donald A.B. Lindberg M.D., visual thinking, computer graphics technology, dyslexia, U.S. National Library of Medicine, native voices, internet medical innovations, high performance computing and communications.
West, Thomas G., 2017. Seeing What Others Cannot See: The Hidden Advantages of Visual Thinkers and Differently Wired Brains. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, distributed by Penguin Random House.
West, Thomas G., 2014. “Amazing Shortcomings, Amazing Strengths: Beginning to Understand the Hidden Talents of Dyslexics,” Asia Pacific Journal of Developmental Differences, Vol. 1, No. 1, January 2014, pp. 78-89. A publication of the Dyslexia Association of Singapore (DAS). DAS initiated a multi-year program “Embrace Dyslexia,” intended to take advantage of the distinctive talents of dyslexic children and adults, as a form of economic competitive advantage. Long a leader in technology and commerce, Singapore intends to lead the world in this effort as well. In November 2014, Thomas G. West was invited to visit Singapore for a week to give five talks as part of the kick-off for the “Embrace Dyslexia” program.
West, Thomas G., 2009. In the Mind’s Eye: Creative Visual Thinkers, Gifted Dyslexics and the Rise of Visual Technologies. Second edition. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, distributed by Penguin Random House. (The second edition of In the Mind’s Eye includes a Foreword by the late Oliver Sacks, MD, who said “In the Mind’s Eye brings out the special problems of people with dyslexia, but also their strengths, which are so often overlooked. . . . It stands alongside Howard Gardner's Frames of Mind as a testament to the range of human talent and possibility.”)
West, Thomas G., 2005. “The Gifts of Dyslexia: Talents Among Dyslexics and Their Families,” Hong Kong Journal of Paediatrics (New Series), 10, 153-158.
West, Thomas G., 2004. Thinking Like Einstein: Returning to Our Visual Roots with the Emerging Revolution in Computer Information Visualization. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books.
West, Thomas G., 1999. “The Abilities of Those with Reading Disabilities: Focusing on the Talents of People with Dyslexia.” Chapter 11, Reading and Attention Disorders: Neurobiological Correlates. Edited by Drake D. Duane, MD, Baltimore, MD: York Press, Inc.
West, Thomas G., 1994. “A Return to Visual Thinking.” In Proceedings, Science and Scientific Computing: Visions of a Creative Symbiosis. Symposium of Computer Users in the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, edited and translated by P. Wittenberg and T. Plesser. Gottingen, Germany, November 1993. (Published in 1994.) (Paper published in German: Ruckkehr zum visuellen Denken, Forschung und Wissenschftliches Rechnen: Beitrage anlasslich des 10. EGV-Benutzertreffens der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft in Gottingen, November 1993.)
West, Thomas G., 1992. “A Future of Reversals: Dyslexic Talents in a World of Computer Visualization,” Annals of Dyslexia, Orton Dyslexia Society, vol. 42, pp. 124-139.
West, Thomas G., 1991. In the Mind’s Eye, Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books.
According to an early reviewer: “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.”
Deborah from DAS Singapore loves ChatGPT – use her quote
From Wikipedia – Luddites – this is a familiar term but the entry provides useful perspectives, in some detail, in reference to the effects with respect to modern jobs and education.
“The Luddites were a secret organization of English textile workers in the 19th century who formed a radical faction which destroyed textile machinery. . . . They protested against manufacturers who used machines. . . . Luddites feared that the time spent learning the skills of their craft would go to waste, as machines would replace their role in the industry. Many Luddites were owners of workshops that had closed because factories could sell similar products for less. [The] factories required fewer workers than producing those same things in a workshop. This left many people unemployed and angry. The Luddite movement . . . culminated in a region-wide rebellion that lasted from 1811 to 1816. Mill and factory owners took to shooting protesters and eventually the movement was suppressed with legal and military force, which included execution and penal transportation of accused and convicted Luddites. Over time, the term has come to mean one opposed to industrialisation, automation, computerisation, or new technologies in general.”
