Hyerle, an author, teacher, workshop leader, and speaker who focuses on integrating thinking process approaches into learning and teaching, discusses the use of visuals tools in learning, the theory and research on its effectiveness, and applications such as brainstorming webs, collaborative reflection, book reviews, mapping lesson plans, and graphic organizers. The book is a synthesis of two of the his previous volumes, Visual Tools for Constructing Knowledge (1996) and A Field Guide to Using Visual Tools (2000), and contains excerpts from these books and expansion of the overview synthesis pages for the tools. It also describes new research in the field and new applications with visual tools he developed called Thinking Maps, described in the final chapters, which also discuss their application with special needs students. Annotation ©2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)