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Mind-lines: Lines For Changing Minds
This book will teach you how to recognize and use the magic of language. Mind-Lines reworks Sleight-of-Mouth patterns using the logical level system of Meta-States. In doing so the authors bring order, understanding, and magic to the use of language in influencing, persuading, selling, negotiating, and many other human interactions.
342 pages, Paperback
First published June 16, 1997
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
October 3, 2007
Mind-Lines gives Sleight of Mouth patterns the Hall & Bodenhamer treatment.
Sleight of Mouth patterns are a collection of techniques for a) identifying beliefs behind someone's statements (including yours) and b) bringing those beliefs into conscious awareness for scrutiny.
The "Hall & Bodenhamer treatment" of an NLP topic is to reduce it to extremely small pieces (whether that is useful or not), re-organize and rename those pieces so they are recognizably different from how other NLP books teach them, and then claim to have invented something new and powerful.
When Mind-Lines came out, there weren't any good books on Sleight of Mouth, so any more material was very welcome. Hall and Bodenhamer reorganized the well-known (in NLP circles, anyway) Dilts model of reframing into a structure based on internal state and external behavior (two of the three basic elements Dilts, Bandler, and Grinder used to organize early NLP) and try as hard as they can to tie the structure of beliefs to their model of "meta-states" and "neurosemantics."
The problem with this book at the time was, it presented no usable material on its own, requiring an in-depth knowledge of NLP terminology and process as well as a willingness to decode the language they add so they can claim that they invented something. They stay at the level of extremely coded (nominalized, in NLP parlance) phrasing and never create exercises, examples, or recommendations that can be applied in the real world.
In addition, the book is written in the Hall & Bodenhamer style. They adhere to "e-prime," a style of writing briefly popular in the 80s human potential movement where passive voice is eliminated*, they reference only other books by themselves (and they reference them often), and the book is set in small margins with large blocks of text and minimal use of whitespace. In addition, random-seeming words are in bold or italic typeface and everything is presented with breathless descriptions. Nothing is "elegant" if it can be "mighty elegant." Readers are supposed to believe that everything is New, BRILLIANT, and exciting, rather than read the book, learn, and decide for themselves.
The book occasionally also borrows the New Falcon style of having a multitude of having diagrams, even of simple concepts, fantastic (in the sense of fantasy) chapter intro pictures, and large, boldface quotes by other authors (including New Falcon author Robert Anton Wilson) taking up end-chapter whitespace. It is a strange dissonance with the technical nature of the material and the self-congratulatory style of the writing.
On the other hand, the book did fill an essential need in 1997; other than some hard-to-get seminar notes and some articles in not-well-known magazines material on Sleight of Mouth was hard to come by outside of taking a class. Also, the diagrams are generally interesting or useful, and the appendices are not bad (although they, too, invent "new" material just to plug the authors).
Since Dilts released Sleight of Mouth, it has become even harder to overlook the flaws in Mind-Lines. Only pick it up if you're a hard-core collector of NLP books or if you really like Hall & Bodenhamer's material.
* Heh.
Sleight of Mouth patterns are a collection of techniques for a) identifying beliefs behind someone's statements (including yours) and b) bringing those beliefs into conscious awareness for scrutiny.
The "Hall & Bodenhamer treatment" of an NLP topic is to reduce it to extremely small pieces (whether that is useful or not), re-organize and rename those pieces so they are recognizably different from how other NLP books teach them, and then claim to have invented something new and powerful.
When Mind-Lines came out, there weren't any good books on Sleight of Mouth, so any more material was very welcome. Hall and Bodenhamer reorganized the well-known (in NLP circles, anyway) Dilts model of reframing into a structure based on internal state and external behavior (two of the three basic elements Dilts, Bandler, and Grinder used to organize early NLP) and try as hard as they can to tie the structure of beliefs to their model of "meta-states" and "neurosemantics."
The problem with this book at the time was, it presented no usable material on its own, requiring an in-depth knowledge of NLP terminology and process as well as a willingness to decode the language they add so they can claim that they invented something. They stay at the level of extremely coded (nominalized, in NLP parlance) phrasing and never create exercises, examples, or recommendations that can be applied in the real world.
In addition, the book is written in the Hall & Bodenhamer style. They adhere to "e-prime," a style of writing briefly popular in the 80s human potential movement where passive voice is eliminated*, they reference only other books by themselves (and they reference them often), and the book is set in small margins with large blocks of text and minimal use of whitespace. In addition, random-seeming words are in bold or italic typeface and everything is presented with breathless descriptions. Nothing is "elegant" if it can be "mighty elegant." Readers are supposed to believe that everything is New, BRILLIANT, and exciting, rather than read the book, learn, and decide for themselves.
The book occasionally also borrows the New Falcon style of having a multitude of having diagrams, even of simple concepts, fantastic (in the sense of fantasy) chapter intro pictures, and large, boldface quotes by other authors (including New Falcon author Robert Anton Wilson) taking up end-chapter whitespace. It is a strange dissonance with the technical nature of the material and the self-congratulatory style of the writing.
On the other hand, the book did fill an essential need in 1997; other than some hard-to-get seminar notes and some articles in not-well-known magazines material on Sleight of Mouth was hard to come by outside of taking a class. Also, the diagrams are generally interesting or useful, and the appendices are not bad (although they, too, invent "new" material just to plug the authors).
Since Dilts released Sleight of Mouth, it has become even harder to overlook the flaws in Mind-Lines. Only pick it up if you're a hard-core collector of NLP books or if you really like Hall & Bodenhamer's material.
* Heh.
August 18, 2008
a bit over my head, but couldn't stop reading once the authors started making fun of how the book might be over my head in the first or second chapter.
October 27, 2012
This is a book that I have read and studied love and have referenced often. Mind lines is of course Michael Halls evelution of the NLP sleight of mouth patterns. I believe the model for analyzing thoughts is extremely powerful. I believe at it's heart, it is a serious of perspectives, and perspectives are both the key to influence and the foundation to wisdom. Basically the model gives you about holds with in a a check list for how to look at a problem, belief idea etc. When you apply the mindline in your interactions artfully, you can cause someone who is stuck on an issue beliefe or thought to take a look at the same thing from a different perspective with out even knowing it and when they do then they are able to come off whatever they were stuck on.
Mindlines for this reason are often used in therapy because they help people to make mental shifts effortlessly simply by moving to the different perspectives as they have a conversation.
I have used this successfully on myself as I find my self stuck in less than beneficial states regarding certain things. It is great in sales. It can energize powerful beliefs, ideas or goals and flush out ones that are not so powerful and should be removed.
Mindlines for this reason are often used in therapy because they help people to make mental shifts effortlessly simply by moving to the different perspectives as they have a conversation.
I have used this successfully on myself as I find my self stuck in less than beneficial states regarding certain things. It is great in sales. It can energize powerful beliefs, ideas or goals and flush out ones that are not so powerful and should be removed.
Read
March 31, 2008great book, excellent foundation
for neuro-linguistic programming
for neuro-linguistic programming
March 5, 2011
Michael Hall is my favorite Author He is Brilliant and I use all His books in My coaching and training practice
Read
August 8, 2011Took me about a year to get through this one:)
April 28, 2013
Bobby G. Bodenhamer was my NLP Instructor
April 25, 2019
You, dear reader, will be unaware that I am at the beginning of a journey in the world of propaganda, and that I am keeping the journey as a live writing journal (which you'll find at biodagar.github.io/propaganda). I tell you this because it was while ruminating on what was missing from my considerations so far that I found Mind-Lines on a Kobo mini that I rarely use any more. I hadn't read this book. But its subtitle intrigued me (because of the propaganda meta-context), and so I began reading it.
Thus it was that my question about 'where to next' with Propaganda was answered. The answer was in neurosemantics and neurolinguistic programming.
Which completely makes sense, when you realise that Noam Chomsky, one of the world's foremost writers in the field of propaganda, was instrumental in its underpinnings, with his Transformational Grammar.
The fledgling linguist in me loved this book, in the same way that I fell in love with linguistics as a 20-year-old university student. It's for the same reason that I devoured Mind-Lines as I had, almost 20 years ago now, devoured sociolinguistics and sociocultural linguistics.
Language is magic, if by magic you and I understand "use of symbols" to "change the world". Your subconscious mind is what creates the world, and most of the time, your ego gets in the way. What? Does that challenge you? What would you say then if you learned that you could entertain your conscious mind while changing the programming of your subconscious mind, simply through story? Or the asking of the right questions?
Mind-Lines is ostensibly a framework for unpacking the linguistic statements by which we create our own realiticis, and in which we govern our approaches to meaning-making and the world. But it is, in parallel, a handbook for unwinding propagandist doctrines and paradigms.
Which, for me, is not only a happy coincidence, but an absolute firecracker of a resource. The only thing it's done is ignite another spark in me to go deep down the neurosemantics and neurolinguistic programming rabbithole. I'm making no promises about whether or not I'll be able to keep away from its edge.
If you are interested in changing your limiting beliefs, understanding how they are constructed, making positive change in the world, or simply understanding how beliefs are created, then start with this book. I have found it to be a good primer - and a good doorway into other texts (particularly as it points to other texts you can explore, along the way); and, thus, so might you.
Thus it was that my question about 'where to next' with Propaganda was answered. The answer was in neurosemantics and neurolinguistic programming.
Which completely makes sense, when you realise that Noam Chomsky, one of the world's foremost writers in the field of propaganda, was instrumental in its underpinnings, with his Transformational Grammar.
The fledgling linguist in me loved this book, in the same way that I fell in love with linguistics as a 20-year-old university student. It's for the same reason that I devoured Mind-Lines as I had, almost 20 years ago now, devoured sociolinguistics and sociocultural linguistics.
Language is magic, if by magic you and I understand "use of symbols" to "change the world". Your subconscious mind is what creates the world, and most of the time, your ego gets in the way. What? Does that challenge you? What would you say then if you learned that you could entertain your conscious mind while changing the programming of your subconscious mind, simply through story? Or the asking of the right questions?
Mind-Lines is ostensibly a framework for unpacking the linguistic statements by which we create our own realiticis, and in which we govern our approaches to meaning-making and the world. But it is, in parallel, a handbook for unwinding propagandist doctrines and paradigms.
Which, for me, is not only a happy coincidence, but an absolute firecracker of a resource. The only thing it's done is ignite another spark in me to go deep down the neurosemantics and neurolinguistic programming rabbithole. I'm making no promises about whether or not I'll be able to keep away from its edge.
If you are interested in changing your limiting beliefs, understanding how they are constructed, making positive change in the world, or simply understanding how beliefs are created, then start with this book. I have found it to be a good primer - and a good doorway into other texts (particularly as it points to other texts you can explore, along the way); and, thus, so might you.
February 2, 2019
Incredibly useful... best tool I've found for questioning old beliefs that don't serve me anymore.
It is rather dry though, and the very-logical approach aiming to be systematic comes across as cold, clinical, and robotic... I felt that some terms sound way too smart and technical for what they are actually describing.
Aside from that, there are some highly valuable techniques that involving questioning and poking holes in faulty beliefs, updating your identity to reflect the progress you've made, reframing your point of view for a more constructive perspective, and the best explanation of what a point of view is that I've seen.
It is rather dry though, and the very-logical approach aiming to be systematic comes across as cold, clinical, and robotic... I felt that some terms sound way too smart and technical for what they are actually describing.
Aside from that, there are some highly valuable techniques that involving questioning and poking holes in faulty beliefs, updating your identity to reflect the progress you've made, reframing your point of view for a more constructive perspective, and the best explanation of what a point of view is that I've seen.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews