Catching Unicorns: How Writing Enables Our Imaginations
Edition: 1
Copyright: 2023
Pages: 402
Edition: 1
Copyright: 2023
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When the topic of writing comes up in college and university classrooms, it is generally in the context of “how to do it” discussions. But another important question is “why we do it.”
Catching Unicorns: How Writing Enables Our Imaginations provides a full answer to this second question with some important observations on the first.
Students spend a lot of time writing. They take lecture notes, they make notes while preparing to write an essay or report, they write to fellow students and professors, they record lab results, write exams and so on. They also spend a lot of time consuming the writing of others. They read textbooks, lecture notes, papers, essays, exams, assignment questions, emails, and texts. Furthermore, once students graduate, writing will be critical in their professional lives and in their roles as citizens. In view of the fact that we spend years learning how to read and write, the question “why we do it” is an important one.
Catching Unicorns focuses on how we use writing to think and ideate. I’ll first argue that certain kinds of ideas are only discoverable with writing. The technology of writing enabled us to build the Saturn V rocket, to design mRNA vaccines, and to compose Adagio for Strings. Without it, these “ideas” would not exist. I’ll present evidence that the collection of ideas spawned by writing has been growing exponentially for centuries and now forms the basis for our modern techno-literate societies. Second, I’ll develop the idea that writing is a key technology which supports our collaboration, the signature talent of our species. Much of modern ideation is collaborative on a grand scale. It took 300,000 of us working for ten years to get Apollo 11 to the moon. Quite simply, the technology of writing enables a complex mind-sharing network to think and ideate over time and space. Both of these points are meant to convince students (and colleagues) that writing has been one of the most important technologies we’ve discovered.
Bill Hurley (BSc, MBA, PhD) is a Professor of Applied Mathematics in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at the Royal Military College of Canada. His research interests are in decision analysis, game theory, defence analytics, cognitive science, and teaching/coaching students to write. He’s held NSERC funding continuously over his career and has published over 125 refereed papers. This is his first book.
Professor Hurley has provided important context for understanding the strong interaction between written symbols and mathematical thinking. He has also shown the ways in which written symbols serve thinkers of any kind, mathematical or not. They do this by providing an external memory display, called an “exogram,” which is an essential cognitive support for most of the cognitive operations that run our economy as well as the Internet. His survey of the literature on exograms is clear, wide-ranging, and a genuine contribution to the field. It is also accessible and great fun to read.
Merlin Donald, Professor Emeritus, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, and author of Origins of the Modern Mind: Three Stages in the Evolution of Culture and Cognition
The concepts explored in this book provide compelling and timely reminders of how the act and process of writing helps us to think, create and innovate. Teaching the importance and skill of writing is especially critical now given that we are in an age of artificial intelligence where elaborate, inauthentic written responses can be easily produced. Catching Unicorns is a thought-provoking book that will undoubtedly prompt educators to assess their teaching practice particularly given the foreseeable consequences to the development of the human thought process. A must read for teachers in higher education.
Dr. Eileen DeCourcy, Vice President Academic, George Brown College, Toronto
Bill Hurley has addressed the vital link between the human imagination and the recording in intelligable symbols of ideas leading to their further development and communication to others literate in the symbols employed. Through the application of examples from many sources, including his own field of applied mathematics, he leads readers to a deeper understanding of the vital contributions of what we normally call writing or “exographics” to the processes of experiment, invention and their application to betterment of the human condition. It is a must read for everyone who takes too much for granted the importance of records, measurements, and of generally writing things down to foster strengthening, harvesting, and applying the ideas that flow from the human imagination.
Duncan G. Sinclair C.M., Professor Emeritus, and one-time Dean of Arts & Science and Medicine, Queen’s University
Student Testimonials
Dr. Hurley’s Catching Unicorns: How Writing Enables Our Imaginations provides a comprehensive examination of how the human species arrives at extraordinary ideas through writing and collaboration. By illustrating the intricacies of human imagination, Dr. Hurley led me to a thorough appreciation of the qualities, tools, and systems that enable humans to solve complicated problems. Ultimately, Dr. Hurley’s class has equipped me with lasting skills to tackle problems, write, and communicate far more effectively.
Officer Cadet Andrew Rice, Royal Military College, March 2023
With his intriguing and highly entertaining text Catching Unicorns: How Writing Enables Our Imaginations, Dr. Hurley provides an insight into thought that is valuable to any post-secondary student. Highlighting the uniqueness of the human mind and its reliance on external tools, Catching Unicorns thoroughly explores the history of human thought and how the characteristics of the mind influence human society. The book will undoubtedly provide the reader with a better appreciation for ideation, writing, and the thousands of years of evolution that have shaped the modern human mind.
Officer Cadet Andrew Willison, Royal Military College, March 2023
When the topic of writing comes up in college and university classrooms, it is generally in the context of “how to do it” discussions. But another important question is “why we do it.”
Catching Unicorns: How Writing Enables Our Imaginations provides a full answer to this second question with some important observations on the first.
Students spend a lot of time writing. They take lecture notes, they make notes while preparing to write an essay or report, they write to fellow students and professors, they record lab results, write exams and so on. They also spend a lot of time consuming the writing of others. They read textbooks, lecture notes, papers, essays, exams, assignment questions, emails, and texts. Furthermore, once students graduate, writing will be critical in their professional lives and in their roles as citizens. In view of the fact that we spend years learning how to read and write, the question “why we do it” is an important one.
Catching Unicorns focuses on how we use writing to think and ideate. I’ll first argue that certain kinds of ideas are only discoverable with writing. The technology of writing enabled us to build the Saturn V rocket, to design mRNA vaccines, and to compose Adagio for Strings. Without it, these “ideas” would not exist. I’ll present evidence that the collection of ideas spawned by writing has been growing exponentially for centuries and now forms the basis for our modern techno-literate societies. Second, I’ll develop the idea that writing is a key technology which supports our collaboration, the signature talent of our species. Much of modern ideation is collaborative on a grand scale. It took 300,000 of us working for ten years to get Apollo 11 to the moon. Quite simply, the technology of writing enables a complex mind-sharing network to think and ideate over time and space. Both of these points are meant to convince students (and colleagues) that writing has been one of the most important technologies we’ve discovered.
Bill Hurley (BSc, MBA, PhD) is a Professor of Applied Mathematics in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at the Royal Military College of Canada. His research interests are in decision analysis, game theory, defence analytics, cognitive science, and teaching/coaching students to write. He’s held NSERC funding continuously over his career and has published over 125 refereed papers. This is his first book.
Professor Hurley has provided important context for understanding the strong interaction between written symbols and mathematical thinking. He has also shown the ways in which written symbols serve thinkers of any kind, mathematical or not. They do this by providing an external memory display, called an “exogram,” which is an essential cognitive support for most of the cognitive operations that run our economy as well as the Internet. His survey of the literature on exograms is clear, wide-ranging, and a genuine contribution to the field. It is also accessible and great fun to read.
Merlin Donald, Professor Emeritus, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, and author of Origins of the Modern Mind: Three Stages in the Evolution of Culture and Cognition
The concepts explored in this book provide compelling and timely reminders of how the act and process of writing helps us to think, create and innovate. Teaching the importance and skill of writing is especially critical now given that we are in an age of artificial intelligence where elaborate, inauthentic written responses can be easily produced. Catching Unicorns is a thought-provoking book that will undoubtedly prompt educators to assess their teaching practice particularly given the foreseeable consequences to the development of the human thought process. A must read for teachers in higher education.
Dr. Eileen DeCourcy, Vice President Academic, George Brown College, Toronto
Bill Hurley has addressed the vital link between the human imagination and the recording in intelligable symbols of ideas leading to their further development and communication to others literate in the symbols employed. Through the application of examples from many sources, including his own field of applied mathematics, he leads readers to a deeper understanding of the vital contributions of what we normally call writing or “exographics” to the processes of experiment, invention and their application to betterment of the human condition. It is a must read for everyone who takes too much for granted the importance of records, measurements, and of generally writing things down to foster strengthening, harvesting, and applying the ideas that flow from the human imagination.
Duncan G. Sinclair C.M., Professor Emeritus, and one-time Dean of Arts & Science and Medicine, Queen’s University
Student Testimonials
Dr. Hurley’s Catching Unicorns: How Writing Enables Our Imaginations provides a comprehensive examination of how the human species arrives at extraordinary ideas through writing and collaboration. By illustrating the intricacies of human imagination, Dr. Hurley led me to a thorough appreciation of the qualities, tools, and systems that enable humans to solve complicated problems. Ultimately, Dr. Hurley’s class has equipped me with lasting skills to tackle problems, write, and communicate far more effectively.
Officer Cadet Andrew Rice, Royal Military College, March 2023
With his intriguing and highly entertaining text Catching Unicorns: How Writing Enables Our Imaginations, Dr. Hurley provides an insight into thought that is valuable to any post-secondary student. Highlighting the uniqueness of the human mind and its reliance on external tools, Catching Unicorns thoroughly explores the history of human thought and how the characteristics of the mind influence human society. The book will undoubtedly provide the reader with a better appreciation for ideation, writing, and the thousands of years of evolution that have shaped the modern human mind.
Officer Cadet Andrew Willison, Royal Military College, March 2023