Thinking Skills

These books teach general skills in creativity, self-awareness, problem solving and turning ideas into effective action. I also especially recommend the Thinking courses.

• How to Get Control of Your Time and Your Life by Alan Lakein. Practical methods to decide on priorities and live by them consciously. (more:
  • Review
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• 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. (more:
  • Checklist in Brief,
  • Review of The Checklist Manifesto
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• 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.
• 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. (more:
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• Getting Things Done, The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen. How to transform mental clutter and stress into a system for objectively deciding how to be most productive. (more:
  • Review by Jean Moroney,
  • Review by Amy Peikoff,
  • Hold That Thought!,
  • Review by Scott Powell,
  • Review of The Checklist Manifesto
  )
• The Creative Habit, Learn it and Use it for Life by Twyla Tharp. Practical insights into how to be creative as a sustained lifestyle.
• Philosophy: Who Needs It by Ayn Rand. This motivational essay explains why philosophy is necessary to human life.
• 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. (more:
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• 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 New Rational Manager by Charles H. Kepner, Benjamin B. Tregoe. Problem-solving and decision techniques, focussing on the human side of change and improvement. (more:
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• The Thinker's Toolkit by Morgan D. Jones. Fourteen powerful Techniques for Problem Solving
• Decision Traps, The Ten Barriers to Brilliant Decision-Making by J. Edward Russo, Paul J. H. Shoemaker.
• The Power of Intuition, How to use your Gut Feelings to make Better Decisions at Work by Gary Klein. (more:
  • Review
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• 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 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.
• 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.

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.
• 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 © 2010 Andrew Layman, all rights reserved, 4/4/2010 1:40:50 PM, Topic: Thinking Skills, http://www.strongbrains.com