My journey to become a Mentat

I’ve currently reading the novel Dune from Frank Herbert. It’s a really exciting book, filled with dialogue between highly intelligent characters. The thing I liked the most about the book are the concepts and ideas that are presented therein, where the Mentats are the most interesting characters.

Mentats are so-called human computers, who perform arithmetic and analytical skills computers usually perform, due to the fact that in the novel’s universe, computers have been outlawed.

Those Mentats were then trained from a young age to become adept at  logic, memory, strategy, pattern recognition, or other skills that require rational thinking.

Inspired by these characters, I’ve thought of what it would take to become such a Mentat. Ofcourse, it’s a novel, and one cannot become a real “human supercomputer”, but I do believe one can become a whole lot better at remembering things, make better decisions, and think more clearly. If this is combined with training in soft skills, one can become a sort of emotionally balanced Mentat.

Therefore I have been making a list of skills to acquire to achieve this goal. For this, I have found different resources:

• PersonalMBA blogpost of “Core Human Skills”: http://personalmba.com/core-human-skills/
• Mentat Wiki: http://www.ludism.org/mentat
• Article “So You Want To Be A Mentat”: http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/Science-Fiction-News.asp?NewsNum=1643

Then I’ve picked some skills from those lists that seem useful to have. Those are (30 in total, categorized):

• Self-management
• Speedreading
• Memory
• Personal development
• Health
• Psychology
• Advertising psychology
• Dating psychology
• Creativity
• Creative thinking
• Drawing
• Storytelling
• Communicating
• Conversation
• Body language
• Voice expression
• Writing
• Debating
• Presentation
• Relationships
• Creating rapport
• Influencing
• Conflict resolution
• Planning
• Decision making
• Time management
• Scenario generation
• Analysis
• Systems thinking
• Data analysis
• Mathematics
• Mental arithmetic
• Algebra & calculus
• Statistics
• Business mathematics
• Computers
• Lifehacking
• Speadsheet- and statistics software
• Programming

I have then made a list of books to read to accumulate those skills. That list isn’t finished yet, but the books are mostly in Dutch anyway, so I won’t be posting them here (you can contact me if you really want to know the titles).

In my next posts that I’ll be writing I’ll keep you informed of the progress I’ve made. Till then.