How to Have a Beautiful Mind

by Edward de Bono

Despite the modern day emphasis on physical appearance, there is an easier way to become a desirable person rather than dieting or buying expensive clothes. Regardless of outer appearance, if people have minds that are fascinating, creative, and exciting—if they are good thinkers—they can be beautiful. The clear, practical instructions in this guide demonstrate how applying lateral and parallel thinking skills to conversation can improve the mind. The greatest impact is made on others through speech, and by learning how to listen, make a point, and maneuver a discussion, anyone can become more imaginative, more engaging, and more beautiful.

Genres: Nonfiction, Self Help, Psychology, Personal Development, Business, Audiobook, Philosophy

232 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Edward de Bono was a Maltese physician, author, inventor, and consultant. He is best known as the originator of the term lateral thinking (structured creativity) and the leading proponent of the deliberate teaching of thinking in schools.

Reviews

[Sanjay · Rating 5 out of 5]

The beauty of your mind shows in your conversation is the basic premise of the book. Just as people can look at your physical beauty, they can listen to the beauty of your mind. Making your mind more beautiful is not a matter of innate intelligence or great knowledge, it is how you use your mind that matters.

[Zulhilmi Ghouse · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title says it all. It's good, but I approached the book in the wrong way (I read it like a novel), and that's not how it's supposed to be read, since not all of the chapters were relevant to me. A tip: Get a highlighter and as you go, highlight the parts which you think you could improve your mind with. That way, you'll be more focused on what you need to do. You may find it a little bit boring sometimes (As I did, hence why it took 5 months to finish reading) because you're very likely to have a beautiful mind already =) Some of the things De Bono mentions were quite obvious, so if you find it boring, just skip that chapter and move on to something more relevant to you.

[Sebah Al-Ali · Rating 3 out of 5]

اممم، ربما أنسب وصف للكتاب هو: دليل عالمي لإتيكيت التعامل مع الآخرين عقليا. إذ أن الكاتب عمل على تسليط الضوء على عدة جوانب و مهارات تتطلب توظيف العقل و حرص على شرح الطريقة الأنسب للتصرف في تلك المواقف مع تقديم أمثلة و طرق عملية لتطبيق ما يدعو إليه. كما تتسم لغة الكتاب باليسر و السهولة مما قد يجعله مرجع مناسب لاستقاء المحتويات التعليمية في دروس اللغة.

مما تناوله الكتاب: كيف تتفق مع غيرك، كيف تعارض رأي غيرك، كيف تختلف عن غيرك، البدائل، القيم، الأسئلة، و غيرها كثير. و أظنه يكون مناسبا جدا في فهم السلوكيات النقاشية السليمة، أمر نفتقر إليه كثيرا في مجتمعاتنا.

أظنه يكون إهداء مناسبا لمن يدخل في سن المراهقة كمحاولة للحث على النضج الفكري و العقلي، و كذلك أحسبه يكون مناسبا كأحد المواد المرجعية لتدريس أخلاقيات و سلوكيات الحوار و النقاش.

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تعلمت/ اقتبست:


How to be interesting:
- Unusual information
- What if, playing with ideas
- Offering possibilities and alternatives
- Creativity and new ideas

****

"You need to develop the habit of finding interest in almost anything. Developing this habit of mind needs practice."


***

"Talking can show how smart you are. Talking can convince others of your views. Talking can help you clarify your own thinking. But talking only rarely gives you something new. Listening, on the other hand, can give you new ideas -if you try to receive them."

***

"Adjectives are almost always subjective. Adjectives tell you what the person feels rather than objective reality."

***

Six thinking hats:
- White hat: information
- Red hat: emotion, feelings and intuition
- Black hat: critical thinking
- Yellow hat: values, benefits, and why something should work
- Green hat: productivity, creativity
- Blue hat: process control, organize other hats

***

"Food is a concept. A hamburger is a practical idea."

***

"There are two reasons a conversation can become boring. The first is that no one has anything to say about the subject. The second reason is that what is said is routine, trite and expected."

***

"There is no point in pretending to know more about a subject than you really do. Ignorance is actually a stronger position."

***

"An opinion is a sort of stew of information, perceptions, feelings and values, cooked together within a particular culture."

***

"A beautiful body and a beautiful face age and grow old. A beautiful mind does not age and, in fact, can become ever more beautiful.

A beautiful body and a beautiful face without a beautiful mind can be boring. A beautiful mind without a beautiful body or a beautiful face can still be attractive."

***

"When you lose an argument, you may well have gained a new point of view."

***

"A discussion should be a genuine attempt to explore a subject rather than a battle between competing egos."

***

"Selective perception means perceiving things in such a way as to support a pre-formed idea.

The classic use of selective perception is with stereotypes and prejudices."

***

"Having a different experience never means that your experience is the right one and the other experience of the other party is invalid."


***

"The intention is not to 'remove' the difference because difference is bad, but to investigate a subject through exploring the basis for the difference."

[Siti Shakira Suhaimi · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a brilliant book and I love every corner of the book especially related to one self who doesn't know how to socialise accordingly. The words are like bullets shooting at you, showing where you done wrong and guide you to a better way. It can be a book you always bring with you in case you will have conversation with someone else.
This book need pencil, notebook and maybe highlighter that you can take note from it.

[Karen ⊰✿ · Rating 3 out of 5]

This felt like a remedial communications class, especially to start. I would hate for that to sound disparaging, but it's the best word I can think of to describe it.
This is the book I would give someone who needs coaching in Emotional Intelligence in the communications realm or for someone to whom English is a second language and they struggle with the social nuances of communicating.

[Aliaq8 · Rating 1 out of 5]

Read up to pg 90 & skimmed (with the occasional skipping of complete paragraphs ;p) through the rest.

To sum this book up.. All are different, we don't need to fully agree with each other .. All we need is to try and understand and respect one another
Why it had to be stretched out into a 240 page book GOD KNOWS!!

WAS UTTERLY BORING.. And USELESS

The 1 star rating was for the pretty book cover.

[Eden · Rating 4 out of 5]

" A beautiful body and a beautiful face without a beautiful mind can be boring. A beautiful mind without a beautiful body or a beautiful face can still be attractive. "

This statements that made me take the book from the shelf of the library and buy it.
I allowed to myself to read it very slowly to take as benefits as I can, I realize that the writer is right about the bald man who has an attractive mind while the beautiful women was boring bcos she had a boring mind.

After I read half the book I tried to see if the writer is right or not.
And I was going out seeing the ppl listening to talk shows try to see the mind of the speaker and I found most of the ppl was really boring and the horrible thing when they were trying to be smart, I was really pissed off and angry bcos I thought that they know they r boring and ignoring that fact and also make the ppl suffer.

That was my experience, but I enjoyed it and gave me few idea's that I wanna accomplish further in my life.

[J.A. Kahn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely brilliant, a must read for all who want to better themselves. I really think the content of this book should be part of all school curriculum foundations. The ability to think and engage with people in a constructive and intelligent way is fundamental to human interaction - this book teaches how.

[Holstein · Rating 3 out of 5]

A more appropriate title might have been "Conversation by Numbers". I found the tone of the book to be very assertive, as if becoming a great conversationalist is just a matter of following his formula. Or it could've been the fact that as an audiobook it sounds like a series of instructions.

Despite the direct delivery and a bit of self-promotion, I found De Bono's insights generally quite helpful. He makes some astute observations about different attitudes to conversation: as an argument, as entertainment, as a chance to show off or a chance to learn.

Perhaps another alternative title could be "How to have an Open Mind". I enjoyed the chapters about parallel thinking and how values and experiences influence our perspectives. They have prompted me to reconsider why people I feel are similar to me can have different opinions on the same issues. Now that's interesting!

[Juliana Es · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book reforms our school of thinking, in order to improve our communication skill.

There are various aspects presented, and some of them have been introduced by De Bono before, such as 6 thinking hats and parallel thinking.

After each topic, summarized points are listed for quick reference.

A great book for everyone, especially those involved in public relations and public speaking.

[Ahmad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Judging from the title, one thinks that this book is an aid to social conversation, unfortuntely it is not. However it helps with regards to discussing topics in general. It has a few good tips, but alot of it is a repetition of segments of De Bono's other books. One also gets the feeling that many of the examples are a generation too old.

[Chloë de Winter · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is not a terrible book... It might actually be enjoyable and useful if you're in high-school, have not completed that many university-level courses yet or trying to bring your English from B2 to C1 level (perhaps from C1 to C2?). If you don't fall under any of those categories, this book might turn out to be 230 pages of obvious statements to you.
I am extremely disappointed by how basic the presented concepts are. It is a nice overview of what is common-sense to most people with university-level education (university level of thinking, to entertain the idea that a degree isn't necessary to be an intelligent human being - because it isn't) but not much more than that. My opinion is that it should be marketed as such - first introduction to conversation.

[Jana Elston · Rating 5 out of 5]

How to have a beautiful mind was a very interesting book to read. It included many interesting concepts about thinking. I learned a great deal from this book however I've found it is difficult to read right through as so much information required time to absorb. My suggestion is to read a section of it at a time, go away to practice it and I come back and read another section. This book would make an ideal reference to keep to refer to time after time. Enjoy!

[Robert Day · Rating 4 out of 5]

I suppose the real test of whether this book could be considered a success or not comes from the answer to one question - do I now have a more beautiful mind?

My answer is - a little bit. So that means that although the book is a nice, quick, entertaining read, it doesn't do what it says on the cover.

Shame really, because I understand that Mr de Bono has quite a good reputation in the field of change. Maybe (oh, the horror) I'm just too stuck in my ways - but I don't think so.

So ... next!

[Firas Addas · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unfortunately, I found this book really boring. There is nothing useful at all. For example, it says, if you want people to like you you must talk sometimes about thing they like!!! Really?!?! I mean thats so new I did not know that until I read it :b I could't finish the book and stopped at the middle of it. So I don't recommend it to anyone.

[Lucy · Rating 1 out of 5]

It was so boring I couldn't get past the second chapter. Probably good for someone who has zero understanding of how to have an interesting conversation.

[Indiabookstore · Rating 4 out of 5]

If only the apparent beauty could take us to every possible height in life, words and mind would just be like silent companion. Yes, the beauty lies in a pure wisdom. But what happens when the mind is an empty bowl! Humans can please others in many ways. It is true that what is seen is always appealing and catches the eye of others. Hence, the ugliness is criticized. In such a case, how long the made- up doll beauty would last long, sense of humour will be judged later. . Edward de Bono is neither preaching nor giving-out any ordering statements in/through his self-help book- ‘How To Have A Beautiful Mind’. He is just trying to do a makeover of the mind by conveying some dos and don’ts in making conversation(s), argument(s), balancing IQ & EQ and many other cognitive facets.

Edward de Bono is regarded as the father of Lateral thinking and Creativity. His words and experiences always do flick the chords of creative thinking within you and has been the originator of this abstraction ‘Lateral and Conceptual thinking’.

The most catching slant by Dr Edward de Bono is his articulation of – Six Thinking Hats. In de Bono’s big idea, it is a tool of parallel thinking that would enhance the efficiency of working skills. Keeping aside the standard definitions, they can be christened as six colored metaphorical thinking hats:

The White Hat: The factuality of things.

The Yellow Hat: Optimism is the key.

The Black Hat: Stay away from ‘critical thinking’.

The Red Hat: Where EQ is valued more than human’s IQ.

The Green Hat: The lateral thinking; creations and innovations.

The Blue Hat: The thought process as a guiding light.

Hence, Healthier and Happier life!

For the full review, visit IndiaBookStore.

[Summer Alkadhem · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to give Edward de Bono's lesser-known books a go and so I approached this book with curiosity for what the author promises. That is my interest in how one can cultivate a so-called irresistible and beautiful mind.

The table of contents alone seemed interesting, with De Bono presenting ideas on How To Agree, How To Disagree, or How To Be Interesting. However, once I started reading, I found that most of the concepts presented were "common sense" concepts.

For example, in De Bono's chapter on How To Disagree his main points on how to better communicate disagreement is by offering phrases such as:
“I am not sure I follow your reasoning” or “There might be another way of looking at it.”

Something like this would probably be better suited for someone starting to understand how to converse civilly. Sort of like an introduction to conversation etiquette for preteens.
So, I felt the audience for this book was for a first-time reader into modern values of manners and politeness.

I can appreciate the noble ambition the author has in trying to improve the quality of the reader’s life. Overall, the problem with this book and a lot of self-help books is that they are often written in a narrow perspective with idle promises on attaining said qualities. In short, I found that this book added no value to my life.

[Venky · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this thought provoking book, Edward De Bono emphasizes the necessity behind acquiring a mindset that is intuitive, sharp and as the very title of his work suggests, 'beautiful'. Postulating a theory that sport ought not to be the singular prerogative of the body, but has to be a logical extension of the mind, the author proceeds to justify his claim by resorting to a great man practical suggestions and experiments.

A quintessential theme uniformly running throughout this interesting book, is the role played by conversation. It is conversation which to a great extent determines (in tandem with action) the day-to-day course of our existence. This conversation has the powerful potential to influence us in either an adverse or fruitful manner. Conversation is a confluence of thought and emotions. Channelising this formidable tenet, in the most appropriate manner would lead to beneficial results over the long run.

Written in a very pleasing-to-the-eye style, the book encourages the reader to fine tune and tweak his or her thinking habits in ways that seem simple, yet fundamental.

"How To Have a Beautiful Mind" - Worth possessing

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

OK so this guy is apparently very famous. He's also very full of himself. The entire book is like an advertisement for him and his completely outstanding, marvellous ideas. Sure, they may be good, but mainly they're just common sense and the attitude with which he presents them just infuriates me.

And then we have all the places where he sprinkles values around himself. Like "A person might say X which is completely outrageous, but you can say this and that and therefore turn it into Y which is very sensible", except often Y is also a quite un-modern and stagnated opinion. It's like his audience is made up entirely out of middle-aged American men who can laugh together about semi-sexist jokes ("höhö, feminism, hehehe") and still pat each others' backs because they just read this book and now they're experts at conversation as well. In Sweden we call it "gubbigt".

[Muhammad Muhaddis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has been about how to build up a beautiful mind with thoughts as well as with having a discussion. Simply reading this book won't work. It is important to rehearse the aptitudes in real life. Edward de Bono for the most part of this books focus around conversation and it incorporates numerous methods. By following them everybody can be a better conversationalist.

I figure it tends to be a helpful book you continually carry with yourself if you will have conversation with another person.

This book need pencil, notepad and perhaps highlighter that you can take note from it.

"It is not just a matter of sitting in a corner and having a beautiful thoughts. It is a beautiful mind in action."

[Farhan Khalid · Rating 3 out of 5]

To be always right is not important

Have an opinion not oppose others opinions

Compromise not conflict

Take interest and be interesting

No consensus is wastage of time

Listen

Ask questions

Give choices

Let others speak

Imagine

Have a backup plan

Values determine our decision and preferences

Humor is a key element

Be informative

Be ready to change an opinion

Interference is an uncivilized act

Personality and attitude run parallel

Have a learning, creative, constructive and fun attitude

[Emīls K. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book, many useful things how to bring certain topics when in a conversation. And in general a prety good book, to know how to communicate. But it isnt like a "How to book" per say. Great read, if you enjoy things like thoughts, conversations, etc. :)

[Kunga · Rating 4 out of 5]

Everyone should have a copy of this one. No wonder he is one of the pioneers for design thinking. He encourages us to use every corner of the human mind-not in a way that we are studying the human mind and how it works but more of observing and making the good changes.

[Esra Hamad · Rating 5 out of 5]

Succinct, useful and enlightening. A read to return to for tips that will help you in more areas of your life than you would expect.

[Estevo Raposo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Compré este libro pensando que se trataba de Seis sombreros para pensar, del mismo autor y acabé leyéndolo.

Según el autor contiene consejos para "tener una mente atractiva", pero creo que estos consejos se refieren más bien a ser un buen conversador. Como bien dice Edward de Bono, no es una novela, si no un libro al que hay que volver, y practicar lo que se lee en él.

[Martha.O.S · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really didn’t enjoy this book. I thought it sounded interesting, so picked it up, but found it a struggle, mainly because of the style in which it is written.

The tone is analytic, and rather black and white. “Develop these skills and you will have a beautiful mind,” whereby is listed ways to agree, disagree, be interesting, creative, a good listener etc. This all sounds fine but De Bono’s idea of a beautiful mind is quite simplistic and defined. I found this left little room for nuance, personal anecdotes or spontaneity. He presents clear guidelines, with specific examples of how to engage beautifully in conversation, by preparing facts, interesting topics, by dealing with particular situations in a particular way. This, to me, might not always come across as beautiful, but instead rather regimented and even smug.

I don’t think I learned much from this book about how to foster a beautiful mind. What I did learn were some interesting facts that he shares as examples as how to contribute to conversation, eg that Gemini’s are most likely to have car accidents, and that divorce is usually initiated by women! I’m not sure this was the point of the book though.

Certainly it was a clear book, well researched and has some value. However, I think the idea could have been unpicked in a more organic fashion that would mirror real life instead of being so stringently analytic and definite.

[Erin Attenborough · Rating 1 out of 5]

“How to be agreeable and appear mildly interesting: buy all my books” would be a better title. I listened to this on audiobook, mainly because I needed something short while waiting for another I’d reserved to become available. It was on a list of popular audiobooks on the app, and I cannot understand why. His advice is basically never to verbally disagree with anyone no matter how much you actually disagree, or correct them no matter how wrong they are. Also, learn a lot about something very specific and bring it up as often as possible so you always have something to talk about, and presumably your audience will have also read the book and know how to feign polite interest. Oh and don’t forget to read his collected works. What a load of twaddle.

[theinspirationtree]

I've always hated the manner in which most discussions take place (the I-know-better-than-you-and-will-not-leave-until-you-think-so-too manner) and this book provides an excellent alternative approach to have an interesting and stimulating conversation. Edward Bono provides some really great tips on how to beautify your mind.

[Shahad Al Melhem · Rating 5 out of 5]

It has been a while since I last read a book that actually taught me something valuable.

Yes the title is cheesy, but its worth reading! It teaches you the art of negotiation, how to hold effective meetings, and to remember that we all have different experiences, therefore different perspectives.

The examples used in the book are also interesting and funny!