In this book, Dr Edward de Bono, who is well-known worldwide for his origination of lateral thinking, puts forward a direct challenge to what he calls the ‘rock logic’ of Western thought. Rock logic is based on rigid categories, absolutes, argument and adversarial point scoring. Edward de Bono believes that this thinking cannot solve our problems. Instead of rock logic, he proposes the water logic of perception. Drawing on our understanding of the brain as a self-organizing information system, Dr de Bono shows that perception is the key to more constructive thinking and creativity. Here, in this brilliantly argued assault on outmoded thought patterns, he calls for nothing less than a New Renaissance.
The Key To Understanding Human Behavior I found this book to be extremely useful to my understanding of human behavior. I have been reading extensive psychological literature in order to formulate a useful model to understand how humans in organizations react to proposed change. I want to use that model to help them create positive change. Most of the literature on organizational change is anecdotal support of an approach that once worked somewhere. (Exception: Chris Argyris) DeBono starts with the fundamental mechanism of how the brain works to understand the behavior people exhibit. This understanding has enabled me to formulate much more effective approaches to individual and organizaitonal change. You do have to think hard to understand deBono’s underlying messages. It may be difficult if this is the first deBono book you read, or if you have not been digging for a solution to a specific problem. But, I give it a 5+!
Learn How To Think, And Then Do It If you’re interested in learning what the brain does without having to memorize lists of neurotransmitters and sections of neo-cortex, this is the book for you. De Bono is a genius at making a complex subject completely accessible to the average reader. For example, he avoids involved anatomical terminology altogether by using the metaphor of an octopus in place of a neuron. Learning how the brain works by imagining a beach full of glowing, smelly octopuses is a more efficient mnemonic device than a dry, “scientific” treatment. The rest of the book addresses the problems we humans have in trying to deal with everything “logically” without real logical tools, and thinking that everything can be “solved” through language, analysis, and confrontation. My way of thinking was enriched by De Bono’s introduction of paradox, humor, and intuition to provoke creative thinking. And he takes on more than a few of philosophy’s sacred cows while he’s at it. The idea of…