Smart Thinking: Three Essential Keys To Solve Problems, Innovate, And Get Things Done (2012) - Plot & Excerpts
I can quite easily describe my feelings towards this book with one word - disappointment. I began reading 'Smart Thinking' in hope that it will enrich my knowledge with information on how to improve my thinking habits, or, if you will, develop smart thinking - that seems to be the purpose of the book based on the description on the back cover. There is no doubt that the author does provide you with a number of guidelines, however most of them are only skimmed over without further suggestions for implementation and, more importantly, the guidelines themselves are not eye-openers. I found that the 235 pages were mainly filled up by somewhat interesting but mostly unnecessary analogies and case descriptions. That being said, I can imagine that this could be a useful read for someone who is a complete novice to this area of study. “A snoozer of a composition”“Smart Thinking” was composed by Art Markman, PHD and claims to reach into the underlying ability to think, reason, make decisions, communicate, and take action all based in leading-edge science with news you can use. The composition never rises to the occasion. It rehashes innate intuitive human ability in a recipe type of layout as though the things that make people different are simply a matter of learning a new skill. Markman implies that with a bit of training anyone can invent a ‘Dyson Vacuum”; hardly! It is after all, a plainly decisive matter that some people are “thinkers” and others are not. If it weren’t so, the world would be overburdened with vacuum cleaners, or swim suits or other ingenious devices. The problem lies in the fact that, whether you are capable of learning thinking traits, putting them to use requires something altogether different. I have known many a superior thinker, who quite capably explained the blueprints of a spectacular idea, only to acknowledge he had no further idea of what to do with it. Reverse engineering the success of someone like James Dyson generally yields a plethora of would be traits that subtly suggest that such success can be learned; and it may well be, but learned by someone without the imagination to create something it will fall helplessly on a dunce.In short, I found nothing profound about Markman’s work; no light bulb flashed on and I took away nothing from the recitation of traits that were intuitively clear to begin with. I thought that possibly, the book would have been better had it tried to discern what made Dyson different; not how to emulate what Markman thinks motivated Dyson in the first place for that belongs solely to Dyson. In the end, I didn’t find anything remarkable about the information that Markman tries to instill in his narrative. It was after all, well, boring and in my opinion, useless; as it failed to even recognize that imagination, the motor of intelligence, is derived from substance that is rarely duplicated by training. All and all I didn’t think that the composition was useful and was probably not going to be of value to anyone in changing anything that defines their motivation or imagination; certainly not their success.I highly recommend that you spend your money elsewhere as this work will be a disappointment.
What do You think about Smart Thinking: Three Essential Keys To Solve Problems, Innovate, And Get Things Done (2012)?
Good book with interesting concepts and ideas to try.I will read it again.
—abigail
In a nutshell, how the memory works and how to use it effectively.
—lyne521
