Thinking Skills

These books teach general skills in creativity, self-awareness, problem solving and turning ideas into effective action

Mental Clarity

• Philosophy: Who Needs It by Ayn Rand. This motivational essay explains why philosophy is necessary to human life.
• Thinking Directions – Thinking Directions teaches courses on improved thinking skills, particularly methods for sustained, effective thinking on difficult or complex problems.
• The Power of Intuition, How to use your Gut Feelings to make Better Decisions at Work by Gary Klein.
  • Review
• The Logical Leap, Induction in Physics by David Harriman. All knowledge rests on induction from the evidence of sensory data, yet philosophers have claimed throughout history that knowledge is either an arbitrary, subjective fantasy or a mystic insight transmitted from another dimension, with induction and sensory evidence peripheral or irrelevant. David Harriman demonstrates the central role of induction and the precise method of valid induction, which, if followed, produces certainty. Further, he demonstrates that knowledge is the integration of sensory data, so all knowledge is contextual and open-ended. Harriman's demonstration is inductive: he uses a detailed history of science to show the inductive method in action; when the proper method has been followed, it has produced mankind's greatest achievements in knowledge, while to the extent ignored or rejected, men have stagnated in ignorance. This book should be essential reading to every philosopher, scientist, and person interested in confidently knowing the validity of knowledge and how to get it.
• The Autobiography of Charles Darwin by Charles Darwin. This biography is excellent both as literature and as insight into the ideas and thinking methods of the great scientist.
• Newton and the Counterfeiter, The Unknown Detective Career of the World's Greatest Scientist by Thomas Levenson. Newton's character shows clearly in this history of his management of the British royal mint. Newton was not a man of aloof theory, but passionately committed to using theory as man's method of understanding and controlling nature, combining intense focus on fundamentals with a deep pursuit of practical details.

Emotion-Value Integration

• When Panic Attacks, The New, Drug-Free Anxiety Therapy That Can Change Your Life by David D. Burns M.D.. Ignore the title. This book present a universally useful, highly effective method for identifying and resolving the root causes of nearly any personal psychological obstacle in which fear is a component.
• Feeling Good, The New Mood Therapy by David D. M.D. Burns. For anyone suffering from feelings of depression, this book provides a proven method to identify and resolve its cause, so that you can proceed to live your live happily.
• The Selfish Path to Romance by Ellen Kenner and Edwin Locke. Just about everything most of us have learned about how to find love is wrong. That’s the premise of The Selfish Path to Romance. Love is not about sacrifice. Real, lasting romance comes when you are certain about yourself, your needs, and your worth. In the words of top-selling novelist and philosopher Ayn Rand, "It is one’s one personal, selfish happiness that one seeks, earns and derives from love." Authors Dr. Edwin Locke and Dr. Ellen Kenner are inspired by the work of philosopher and novelist Ayn Rand. Their book explores Ayn Rand’s belief that the assertion of your own needs and values is the foundation of love. The Selfish Path to Romance offers a no-nonsense, rational alternative for those who are serious about finding and sustaining a lifetime romance. Be prepared to have your preconceptions shattered, your intuition challenged, and be ready for candid introspection. -- Publisher's Description
• Mindset, The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck. Some people have a mindset in which they believe that change, growth, learning, and improvement are both possible and normal. These people learn from experience, deal with setbacks more resiliently, and gain in skill and power over time. But other people look upon talent as a fixed attribute, impervious to change. These people are threatened by challenges and setbacks. They, even if of great initial ability, do not grow. Carol Dweck believes that all people have the potential to grow and change, provided they adopt the right method and put in the work. This book describes the research behind her thesis and a program that anyone can use to enter the growth mindset.
• Change Anything, The New Science of Personal Success by Kerry Patterson. "Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act, but a habit." -- Aristotle. To those who wish to take control of their actions and habits, Patterson offers a practical process.
• Mind Over Mood, Change How You Feel by Changing the Way You Think by Dennis Greenberger, Christine A. Padesky. Using the approach of Cognitive Therapy, you can identify the ideas that cause your emotions and then think about them consciously.
  • Review
• Deep Survival, Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why by Laurence Gonzales. It turns out that the ability to keep thinking, even under stress, is the vital difference between life and death.

Planning and Decision

• Making It All Work by David Allen. Getting Things Done launched a wave of organization and productivity. Making It All Work expands on the earlier ideas, setting them into a more complete context and clarifying certain important ideas such as "Horizons of Focus." it shows how to build a flexible organizational system to support productivity, from the details of getting a lot of work accomplished, through project management, and up to a complete perspective on the values most important to your happiness in your life.
  • Review by Amy Peikoff,
  • Review by Jean Moroney,
  • Review by Scott Powell,
  • Getting Things Done, the Website,
  • GTD Times
• How to Get Control of Your Time and Your Life by Alan Lakein. Practical methods to decide on priorities and live by them consciously.
  • Review
• Goal Setting, A Motivational Technique that Works! by Edwin A. Locke and Gary P. Latham. In a series of succinct chapters, Locke and Latham define goal setting, describe why it is effective at motivating business productivity increases, give the evidence that goal setting is at the heart of most other successful productivity methods, and describe how to apply and measure goal setting successfully across a range of activities from unskilled labor to the highest levels of corporate strategic management. The principles also apply to personal goal setting and motivation. (out-of-print, see sources.)
• The Checklist Manifesto, How to Get Things Right by Atul Gawande. Checklists allow one to manage complexity and cognitive overload. Gawande shows, first, that checklists are the means, during complex situations, to consistently apply the knowledge that is available in our minds but that we might forget to use. Second, checklists permit us to manage the assembly and integration of knowledge that is held by different members of an enterprise when facing a complex situation.
  • Checklist in Brief,
  • Review of The Checklist Manifesto
• Winning in FastTime. Causing a system to change requires grasping that it is a system, a set of interrelated and mutually-supporting parts. A system is more than the sum of the parts and also the parts are dependent on the system. To change a system, one must impact multiple parts simultaneously and rapidly, targeting for effect, not effort. Certain parts and relationships are more consequential than the rest.
• The Effective Executive, The Definitive Guide to Getting the Right Things Done by Peter Drucker. identifies the principles for effective decision-making and action. Equally applicable to a whole life as well as business specifically, an effective executive concentrates his time and energy on the most important opportunities that will have decisive consequences and makes that concentration into a conscious habit.
• Study Methods and Motivation, A Practical Guide to Effective Study by Edwin A. Locke. Knowledge is power, said Bacon. Deliberate study from books is a crucial way to gain knowledge, but the effectiveness of time spent on study depends on approaching the process correctly. Having the right study methods and motivation makes the most productive use of study time and enables retention, integration, and application of the studied material. It turns study into knowledge. Dr. Locke describes exactly how to make the most of each study hour with specific, succinct advice. A bonus is the appendix with profiles of motivated students.
  • Review
• The New Rational Manager by Charles H. Kepner, Benjamin B. Tregoe. Problem-solving and decision techniques, focussing on the human side of change and improvement.
  • Review
• Decision Traps, The Ten Barriers to Brilliant Decision-Making by J. Edward Russo, Paul J. H. Shoemaker.
• The Logic of Failure, Recognizing and Avoiding Error in Complex Situations by Dietrich Dorner. Explains why people make dumb mistakes, how you can recognize one blooming and how you can think your way out.
• Certain to Win by Chet Richards. John Boyd proposed a theory of military strategy that has revolutionized warfare by placing an emphasis on the cognitive aspects of conflict, especially on the roles of values and epistemology (though he uses an odd vocabulary of his own, and can be maddingly unclear). This theory is for the first time applied to winning and losing more broadly, outside the specifically military.

Creativity

• The Creative Habit, Learn it and Use it for Life by Twyla Tharp. Practical insights into how to be creative as a sustained lifestyle.
• How to Solve It, A New Aspect of Mathematical Method by G. Polya.
• Conceptual Blockbusting, A Guide to Better Ideas by James L. Adams.
• The Thinker's Toolkit by Morgan D. Jones. Fourteen powerful Techniques for Problem Solving

Links

• Ayn Rand Lexicon – This online, mini encyclopaedia of Objectivism contains key statements by Ayn Rand on over 400 topics in philosophy, physchology, history and economics.
• BB&T Values – Branch Bank and Trust Company impressively documents its corporate values. These apply to any individual seeking to increase the success and happiness of his life.
• Dr. Ellen Kenner – Dr. Ellen Kenner, host of The Rational Basis of Happiness
• Edward Tufte – Edward Tufte writes and self-publishes books on graphics and information design.
• Hold That Thought! – Don't let thoughts slip away. Capture them immediately. Here's how.
• Philosophy – Philosophy is the Science that Studies the fundamental nature of Reality and Man's relation to it.
• Thinking Directions – Thinking Directions teaches courses on improved thinking skills, particularly methods for sustained, effective thinking on difficult or complex problems.

copyright © 2012 Andrew Layman, all rights reserved, 2/2/2012 6:15:31 PM, Topic: Thinking Skills, http://www.strongbrains.com

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