Thinking that works ... hopefully

"You're not still reading him, are you?" was the more-than-a-little-snide and cynical comment of a friend on seeing this Edward De Bono book on my desk recently.

It's true, this physician and author has for more than 40 years been writing about thinking and promoting the idea that we can think in a better way, but this does not make his work any less relevant today than it has ever been.

In fact, it could be said that we need to improve our thinking and find better ways to think about the challenges facing humanity now more than ever before. While the title of this book certainly suggests no small amount of urgency, it is also compelling and insistent in intent, but perhaps rather too badgering.

This is something of a problem with this book. It often feels too insistent and there seems to be something of a campaign here to promote the idea that the De Bono approach to thinking is best, if not the only way to address the challenges that face us all in our daily lives and as a global community.

De Bono openly states in the book that he will (and he does so throughout) refer to the thinking methods and "software" he has "designed" as "my thinking". This shows he is a great believer in what he has to offer the world, and that is all well and good. Why propose any idea if you don't believe in it? But sometimes this self-belief does border on the excessive.

He notes in his introduction that he is "providing what philosophy and psychology have never provided" and that he is "providing new software for human thinking" - big claims indeed. The introduction to this book reads more like a resume than an actual introduction, and so from the outset there is a feeling of the author trying to win points and get the reader on his side.

This is a shame because it is largely unnecessary. The interesting and often provocative things that are said throughout the book really do not need such salesmanship. For a book about thinking, it does appear that a little more thought on its production and editing could have been beneficial.

The best part of a paragraph about judgment is repeated word for word in chapters 2 and 3. Where at the end of chapters a "summary" is provided, they rarely really are summaries, instead at best fairly open-ended statements about what has been discussed in the preceding chapter. It feels as though a second read with suggestions was not adopted but it could have helped the book overall and should have happened.

There are undoubtedly concerns for the way in which the book presents itself and this is a shame because it is in fact littered with points of interest and points that could and should be acted upon. The author is particularly interesting when he turns his thoughts to education.

Very much in line with his whole approach to thinking is his concern that schools have been rather too obsessed with literacy and numeracy, and less concerned about "operacy". This, as he relates, is "the skill of operating, or getting things done". It has all too often been a criticism of education that it lacks relevance and this is reflected upon here as the author notes: it is "operacy" "in the real world, after leaving school, that is almost as important as literacy and numeracy."

De Bono suggests that schools have been too concerned about thinking for description when the need is there to address thinking for action. There is also a warning that computers can make the situation worse as children are prone to simply search for "the answer" so that rather than thinking they just search and accept any answer.

This may be an over-simplification, but the risk is certainly there and many students are in the unfortunate habit of simply copying and pasting.

The internet provides a lot of opportunities to access information and the thoughts of others at an incredibly high speeds, but as the author (perhaps a little sarcastically) notes, having access to "a thousand poor thinkers does not itself give you good thinking".

Similar views are expressed about universities and the author relates how as an undergraduate at Oxford reading psychology his studies were "all about the history of psychology" and not "consideration of current concerns, speculations, problems or practical points".

De Bono is clearly opposed to thinking for its own sake; thinking as just mind games. He advocates thinking that works, thinking that is perceptive, design-orientated and creative.

Among many strong and perceptive observations is the note that "you can analyze the past, but you have to design the future - or else you will just fall into it". The aim here is to try to make sure our thinking produces results. Thinking with design to achieve results and value is advocated.

Again, strong points are made about design thinking, stating that it "means putting things together. to deliver the values we want. Design is all about the real world." Further it is "about the world outside of schools and universities. How do you design your career? How do you design you life?" Thus, De Bono aims to promote thinking that is *real world' that helps change the real world.

Sadly, this approach can fall into the realms of wishful thinking and idealism. The author concedes that schools may want to change and have a different approach but still have "the responsibility of getting pupils through existing examinations, because that will affect their careers".

This is, then, a book that wishes to promote a better way of thinking. Many examples are cited throughout, of scenarios and situations in which the De Bono approach has been used successfully.

In many ways this book is a pointer to other books and strategies Edward De Bono has put forward over decades. It is therefore an interesting but rather fragmented read.

Think Before It's Too Late

By Edward De Bono Publisher: Vermilion, London, 2009. pp. 470

Source : The Jakarta Post