This book examines the practical application of visual tools such as brainstorming webs, task-specific organizers, and thinking-process maps. Graphic overviews map the big picture for each chapter and synthesize the key information about each type of tool. Stories, quotes, and insights from parents, students, teachers, administrators, brain researchers, and software developers illustrate how they use visual tools in their everyday work. A complete chapter on thinking maps (eight visual tools based on fundamental thinking skills) and software explicitly shows how these tools have brought about changes in students' reading comprehension and writing from kindergarten through college and into the workplace. The seven chapters are: (1) "The Mapping Metaphor"; (2) "The Networking Brain and Mind"; (3) "Webs of Creativity"; (4) "The Organizing Mind"; (5) "Thinking-Process Patterns"; (6) "Thinking Maps for Reading Minds"; and (7) "Change Patterns." (Contains 89 bibliographic references.) (SM)