Book Review

The Books' Topics:

• Thinking Styles


• Strategic Thinking


• Power Thinking


• Creative Thinking


• Analytical Thinking

The central themes of this book are:

• We are not born knowing how to think, but we can learn


• Strategies for thinking can be developed in a systematic way


• There are four major types of thinking


• People develop their own thinking style, but this style can be improved upon

Keywords:

• Re-thinking Thinking


• Power Thinking


• Problem-Solving, Opportunity Thinking and Decision-Making


• The Thinking Box

Main Idea:

Each type of thinking skill involves specific tools and techniques that can be learned, practiced and perfected

The types of thinking are:

• Strategic Thinking


• Power Thinking


• Creative Thinking


• Analytical Thinking

The "Thinking Box" involves considering…

• One's Personal Life


• One's Career


• Problem-Solving


• Personal Growth

Quotes:

"If you keep thinking in the same old way, you'll arrive at the same old conclusions and leave behind a well-worn rut of business-as-usual decisions. Trains must go where the tracks lead; they cannot follow unplanned routes." (p. - 7)

"Thinking is the conscious use of our minds to reason, deliberate, debate, predict and reflect on a subject. By better understanding why humans think the way they do, you'll learn how to approach problems in ways that lead to better decision-making. By smoothing out the ruts that have formed in the past, you'll be better equipped to "re-think" your responses when faced with new problems and opportunities. You don't need to be a victim of doing what has always been done." (p. -

"Human beings have built-in survival filters to prevent sensory overload.…We also have memory filters that serve as our 'auto-pilot. They let us perform routine tasks while we're consciously thinking of something else…Memory filters are time-savers that can cause us to make mistakes and miss opportunities. " (p. - 13)

"When forced to make a decision, people take different mental routes to arrive at that decision. Like travelers you may know, some take the most direct route to get where they're going. Others think of all the routes available, select the best one and then go. Still others take the scenic tour and enjoy the journey. And, some people jump in the car and just go, giving very little thought to direction or destination." (p. - 27)

"'Power' is being able to influence people or situations. It's not reserved for people in authority or those with the biggest stick. Power is something we all have and should be seen as neither good or bad. When we abuse power, it is bad; but when we use power to turn vision into reality, it is good." (p. - 69)

"'Strategic' means planning for the future, and strategic thinking is thinking about planning for the future. When you know where we are going, why you're going and how you're going to get there, you will get there, successfully--and strategic thinking tools will give you the where, why and how. Successful people learn to user their thinking skills so that their actions will not go astray, but will lead to desired goals." (p. - 51)

"In order to maximize your power-thinking skills, you need to be positive about yourself and your abilities…How you see yourself and the confidence you have in your ability to be successful will influence your power-thinking skills.

When we see ourselves as successful, we will be successful. The power of positive mental pictures has been recognized for a long time. Athletes and public speakers are some of the people who practice their skills with positive mental images of success." (p. - 84)

"'Creative thinking' is using your thinking skills to make new and useful connections--creative solutions from information that you already know…All people are creative, but in different ways. You may be creative when it comes to putting words on paper while an associate is creative in designing buildings. Once you recognize that you are creative, you can apply your thinking skills to come up with new solutions to problems." (p. - 89)

"'Analytical thinking' is the mental activity that helps us make correct decisions. We can use our creative thinking skills to come up with hundreds of solutions to our problems, but we need to use our analytical-thinking skills to select the best solution." (p. - 107)

Issues Addressed by the Book:

The author distills thinking skills to a variety of strategies and models that are useful for teachers.

Teachers could purchase this book for $0.33, place the book in the classroom library. Teachers could also develop an "applied curriculum" using the basic patterns that are described and outlined in the book.

The benefit that teachers derive of the brief nature of the book is that it is easy to refer to, easy to extract patterns and information from, and easily to apply in almost any content area class.

The strategies, diagrams and outlines presented in the book are easy to adapt to specific lesson plans and classroom needs.

The Book's Shortcomings:

The book presents only a single exercise or two for each of the various types of thinking. Teachers would appreciate lots more variety and more exercises for applying the principles that the author presents.

Also, since the book was geared for a business readership, the application of thinking skills to test-taking is not addressed.

In addition, the book could have provided additional strategies for communicating the results of strategic, power, creative and analytic thinking, i.e., with graphs, charts, graphic organizers and other communication aids.

Comments:

The book focuses upon thinking skills for business, but, "thinking is thinking" and the skills apply to teaching and learning just fine.

The book's concepts, such as the "Thinking Box" are readily adaptable to most content area subjects.

The book's format lends itself to easy skimming and easy adaptation for most classes.

The book is also easy enough to comprehend that upper elementary, middle school and high school students can us it for project-based learning assignments.

The author points out that everyone is different, and that everyone thinks differently. This is a lesson that teachers need to remind themselves (and our politicians) about. The author missed an opportunity here to explore "Multiple Intelligences" and provide many examples of these divergent thinking skills in successful, real life applications.

Summary:

This book can be part of most teacher's classroom or reference library. The price is right, and the book provides a good start.

The author writes in a personal, conversational style that aids in understanding the concepts that he presents.

Rating (Four Point scale):