Teach Yourself To Think

by Edward de Bono

Teach Yourself to Think is THE classic work of intelligent self-empowerment from world-renowned writer and philosopher Edward de Bono. Our happiness and success depend on clear thinking. But too many of us are compromised by confusion, trying to do too much at once, and not knowing what to do next.In Teach Yourself to Think, Edward de Bono shows that good thinking depends on a simple five-stage process that anyone can learn if they try. It will enable you to assess your goals, sort available information, identify the available choices, make a decision and, finally, turn thought into action.This book offers brilliant advice for anyone who needs to be able to respond to and deal with a vast range of situations at work and in life quickly, efficiently and intelligently.'An inspiring man with brilliant ideas. De Bono never ceases to amaze with his clarity of thought' Richard BransonEdward de Bono invented the concept of lateral thinking. A world-renowned writer and philosopher, he is the leading authority in the field of creative thinking and the direct teaching of thinking as a skill.Dr de Bono has written more than 60 books, in 40 languages, with people now teaching his methods worldwide. He has chaired a special summit of Nobel Prize laureates, and been hailed as one of the 250 people who have contributed most to mankind.Dr de Bono's titles include classic bestsellers such as Six Thinking Hats, Lateral Thinking, I Am Right You Are Wrong, Teach Yourself How To Think, Teach Your Child How To Think, and Simplicity.www.edwdebono.com

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

258 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1997

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 3 out of 5]

Except for advertising his other books, this book is a great and an easy read.

[Zawani · Rating 5 out of 5]

You are locked in a room. You desperately want to get out. You want freedom. Your feelings are very strong. Which is the more useful, this very strong feeling or a key to the lock?

Feelings without the means to carry them out are not much good. At the same time, the key without the desire to leave the room is also not much good.

We need values, feelings amd thinking.
Feeling is no substitute for thinking.
Thinking without values is aimless.
Values and feelings are equally important but insufficient without thinking.

-Edward de Bono

The foreword description was interesting and surprisingly, it answer some of my unanswered question about thinking. I always wonder, do people actually think in everyday life? Or people just think in certain situations? Do 'feelings' and 'values' can be included in the thinking processes while brainstorming? Those questions finally answered by this one piece of book.

[Dylan Taylor · Rating 1 out of 5]

Good ideas presented in a simple and understandable way. The downside was the lack of references to anything other then his own work, constant sales pitches to his other books and an author who believes he is innovative and new, telling the reader that nothing new has been done in thinking since Socrates until his books. He often makes claims with no evidence to support them, mainly in regards to his achievements. Throughout the book there are random snippets of his achievements that often seem to have no relevance. His effort to introduce the word po and its... conjugates to language I found to be annoying.

I would say to read it and use the ideas to help form your own thinking strategy, but do not get sucked in by his ego.

[Peter · Rating 2 out of 5]

Terribly boring and confusing. The examples given are very vague and sometimes silly. The author keeps referring to his other books, it feels like a pitch to the reader to buy those books as well. And what bugs me the most: there are no references in the book to literature about thinking...

[Pritesh · Rating 5 out of 5]

very good book with lot of practicality
i doesnt help you at first but when you grasp the concepts its like a mindfire
it hepls you thinking clearer and makes thinking enjoyable
i used to hate thinking at first and i didnt think at all but now it helps me building me my own hobby clean and clear thinking with lot of enjoyment .
i m still reading the book i haven't applied all the concepts thaught.
but up to now its amazing resource for thinkers

[Manoj Kakran · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely! A great book to learn about Thinking. Easy to understand, narrative, and how to apply Thinking Hats; beautifully described here.

[lina Rashdan · Rating 3 out of 5]

كتاب جميل مفيد يحتوي على الكثير من الأفكار التي تساعد الإنسان على التفكير .. ابتداءاً من هدف التفكير وأغراضه وانتهاءاً باتخاذ الخطوات العملية لهذا التفكير ..
ومن أبرز أفكار الكتاب التّي علقت في ذهني أذكر:
نظرية القبعات الست وأهميتها في التفكير*
الحلم يكون سلّبي عندما نحلم فقط تعويضاً عن مآ نعانيه في الواقع*
الحلم والاختراع كلاهمها نفس الشي فهُما نوع من تحديد الأهداف*
علينا أنّ ندرك دائماً أن تحديد المشكلة يختلف عن تنفيذها*
يتضمن التفكير الكثير من التنظيم .. مثل من أين أبدأ ؟*
وضع الخطط " يحتاج إلى الحّس والتّطلع إلى المّستقل " و التّحطيط يحتاج الى خطوات واليات منتطمة واليه زمن كافي *
نقضي وقتنا في حل المشاكل بدون البحث عن الفرص والسبب في ذلك أن الفرص تحتاج إلى مجازفة ومغامرة*
نحن لا نحب خوض مثل هذه التجارب لإننا رضينا بالواقع*
الابتكار والابداع من مكونات التفكير*
التحريض مهم لإنه يولد أفكار جديدة*
الدّماغ يصنع سلاسل متتابعة أو مسارات يعتمد تفكيرنا عليها*

يُعتبر أسلوب الكاتب صعب بعض الشي ويحتاج إلى التركيز من أجل استيعاب مآ يود الوصول إليه .. ومن أكثر الأمور التي واجهتها صعوبة هي عدم تقسيم الموضوعات الرئيسية إلى فصول , كل فصل يحتوي على فكرة رئيسة وشرح مفصّل عنها مع ذكر الأمثله , فلو فعل ذلك لكان الوضع أسهل والإستيعاب أسرع والأفكار أنظم ! بالإضافة إلى ذكر عدد كبيير من الأمثلة وتكرار نفس الأفكار أكثر من مرة و هذا من شأنه إشعار القارئ بنوع من الملل .

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

In Teach Yourself to Think , Edward de Bono proposes that effective lateral thinking depends on a simple five-stage process that anybody can learn: TO (what do I want to do?); LO (what information do I have/need?); PO (how do I get there?); SO (which alternative shall I choose?); and GO (how do I put this into action?). It may feel a bit intuitive to some, but the detailed descriptions of each stage will no doubt prove useful for those who want to improve their thinking skills. 5/10

[Antti Palmén]

Quite a heavy read leaving you a feeling thinking should be more complex that it is. A lot of repetition in the text, explaining same things multiple times with very little difference. A book defending itself against critics is a bit questionable too.. Still had some ok points and gave some good ideas about thinking process, but could be way lighter.

[Kavin Xavier · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of wonderful book that gives frame works for thinking.The frame work given in this book helps make better decisions out of the possibilities .He shares valuable insight that helps reader to think better,transforming decisions into actions.

[Alaa · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's more like (Teach your self how to solve problems) rather than (think)

[Noris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Considero útiles y aplicables las fórmulas que propone el autor. Lo tendré disponible para consultarlo y utilizarlo.

Iré por otro de los libros de Edward De Bono.

Citas:

“La mayoría de los errores del pensamiento no son en absoluto errores de lógica sino de percepción, o de ver una situación sólo de una forma en particular.”

“Lo que es obvio a posteriori puede no ser visible en la fase previa. No poder darnos cuenta de esto es la causa de muchos de nuestros errores sobre el pensamiento.”

“Los buenos pensadores poseen esta gran habilidad de no quedarse encallados en los detalles y saber volver a lo general, pasar de lo específico a lo amplio y luego volver a lo primero.”

“Nuestra imaginación está limitada por nuestros conocimientos y experiencias, pero hemos de utilizarla lo mejor posible.”

“...es necesario tener herramientas externas, formales y deliberadas para dirigir la atención. Pueden parecer simples y obvias, pero son eficaces.”

“Partimos para buscar algo. Somos muy felices cuando encontramos lo que «encaja» con lo que estábamos buscando y ya no buscamos más.”

“Desgraciadamente, siempre damos por hecho que el propósito de nuestro pensamiento es obvio.”

“Si no sabes realmente a dónde quieres ir, es poco probable que llegues a algún sitio.”

“La humanidad se convierte entonces en una criatura llamada «resolución de problemas», lo que es un absurdo que excluye todos los instintos creativos, constructivos y lúdicos que han contribuido al progreso humano.”

“Cualquier cosa que no sea rutina es diseño.”

“Los expertos son extraordinariamente útiles, pero no pospongas una idea nueva por el juicio de un experto. No obstante, también hay que recordar que éste puede estar en lo cierto.“

“Disfruta pensando en cosas muy sencillas para las que puedas obtener respuestas. De ese modo construirás tu habilidad para pensar, tu confianza en esa destreza y tu disfrute de la misma.”

[Srinivasan Nanduri · Rating 3 out of 5]

A framework for organising thinking. The framework is comprised of the following stages

TO LO PO SO GO

A one line description of each of the 5.

TO – indicates the aim, purpose or objective of the thinking.
LO – indicates the information available and the information needed.
PO – the stage where possible solutions are generated.
SO – narrows down and chooses from the possibilities.
GO – the action step, what are you going to do about it?

[Mikaira · Rating 3 out of 5]

I personally found the book rather difficult to follow, though there were definitely gems i took to assist with my way of thinking, often referred to his own books which made it feel like a sales pitch every soo often. The book was not bad, but it's a one time read for me.

[Soh · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book I can't live without this year

If I were to pick a book that I would regret not reading, it would have to be "Teach yourself to think" by Edward De Bono.

Why this book? On hindsight, this book has changed my life in many ways. It helped me discover why all the ideas that I used to have were not able to come to fruition. It gave me a practical framework that I could apply to my work.

What is the wondrous Framework?

It could be summarised in this brilliant and intuitive acronym below.

TO = To (What is the objective?)
LO = Look (Do you need to look for more facts and information?)
PO = Possibilities (What are some ideas / solutions you could generate?)
SO = Solutions ( What are your Decisions / Solutions?)
GO = Go (Take Actions!)

Now, review your To-do list and try to list down the stage(s) that the tasks belong to. Apply the appropriate thinking / actions needed and work more effectively!

[Adam Machońko · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was going to write a paper on reasoning and thinking and as i was approaching the end of it I thought it may be useful to check if there is something i may have omitted. This book turned out to be a complete waste of time and a catastrophe. There are no references, author is describing obvious, common-sense things but uses so many examples as if it was the most difficult thing to understand. A utterly horrible book

[Samar]

قرائتي له جعلتني أفرّق بين الإدراك والمنطق وأفهم آراء الفلاسفة المتسلّقة نحوه..

لهُ دور في آرائي التحليلية ونقدي وقتها وتمييز الأنماط التفكيرية .. قرأته بأول ثانوي تقريبًـا
لا أنفي أنهُ

فتّـح مدارك مُخّي وأمتعني حقيقة ..

أنصح به آنذاك :)

[Virginia Rand · Rating 1 out of 5]

It has a few good ideas, un-evidenced of course, but they probably would have fitted in a pamphlet or small booklet. This book is repetitive and blatantly up-selling, and there are much better resources out there.

[Sweetin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice book

Good book to enhance your thinking capability. You have to read several time to understand the concept in details. One thing i have noticed is that it is less motivational. We need to generate our own motivation to read the book.

[M Zaheeruddin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Its more like a practice book. You have to generate different examples in your mind to understand more clearly and practice the concepts. I feel it should be read more than once if you want to get benefit out of your reading.

[Saif · Rating 4 out of 5]

Atleast 2 reading is required for this kind of book. Technically if all the methods are applied according to the process the results are amazing. Try as per the process , the more we try the more we will think better.

[Simple · Rating 4 out of 5]

كتاب أكثر من رائع..يجعلك تعيد النظر في طريقة تفكيرك.. ويرشدك الى طريقة استعمال القبعات الست للتفكير.. لن تندم ابدا على قراءته

[Ryan Barretto · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great processes to help you think, analyze and clarify the subject on your mind.

Please do read.

[Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

annoyingly helpful... not sure what else to say

[Nguyễn Công Trung · Rating 4 out of 5]

Biết đến tác giả bởi sự giới thiệu của một người bạn với tìm hiểu về tư duy sáng tạo. Quả đúng như vậy, đây là cuốn đầu tiên của Edward Debono mà t đọc và cảm nhận được sự khuyến khích không nên coi lối tư duy truyền thống là đủ mạnh và hoàn hảo. Tác giả phản đối mạnh mẽ với việc chúng ta bị ám ảnh sử dụng quá nhiều cách tư duy logic, phản biện và cho đó là đủ mà quên mất một phương diện khác là sản sinh các khả năng, các ý tưởng hay nói cách khác là tư duy sáng tạo.

Rất thuyết phục bởi thế giới luôn thay đổi và có rất nhiều những mô hình cũ, phương pháp hay cả kiến thức và kinh nghiệm cũ không giúp ích được cho chúng ta. Khi đó, tư duy sáng tạo - đổi mới là điều cần được quan tâm và hướng đến.

Nội dung trong sách nói về 5 giai đoạn tư duy để định hướng và tư duy hiệu quả. Mỗi quá trình tác giả dành trọn 1 chương để giải thích cho ct hiểu và hướng dẫn ct cách áp dụng.

Ngoài 5 giai đoạn tư duy là nội dung chính, tác giả còn giới thiệu thêm 2 mô hình tư duy khác (6 chiếc mũ tư duy, mô hình CoRT) và khái niệm về 5 quá trình tư duy...

Ngôn từ và cách trình bày dễ hiểu cộng thêm phần tóm tắt mỗi cuối chương. gần 400 trang sách và rất đáng để tìm đọc nếu bạn đang quan tâm về cách tư duy và tư duy sáng tạo nhé.

[Mon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Aprende a pensar por ti mismo... siguiendo el esquema que te dicto. Muy autoreferencial, demasiado preocupado en establecer las palabras concretas del método más q el método en si, como buscando acuñar un término que le haga universal. Tampoco es que el método sea del otro jueves: trocear el problema con fases, estilo Design Thinking aunque el modelo con Design Thinking dispone de más herramientas y potencia.
Para una lectura lineal, pesadísimo y repetitivo. El proceso descrito para abordar el problema (proyecto estilo consultoría más bien) correcto, aunque los ejemplos son superficiales. Hubiera preferido menos palabrería y más ejemplos complejos. Conseguí unas slides resumen del método en 5 páginas que me parecieron muy buenas, y por eso me leí el libro entero, pero el libro apenas aporta teniendo un buen resumen del método. Un resumen del libro y unas slides detallando el método hubiera sido el óptimo a invertir en este contenido.

[mavromou · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un libro muy interesante de De Bono en donde desarrolla el proceso de pensamiento en cinco etapas, indicando para cada una de ellas distintas técnicas de pensamiento lateral.

Quizá el concepto más fuerte del libro es la crítica que hace el autor al pensamiento occidental de centrarse en la crítica la lógica y el procesamiento de la información como centrales en el proceso de pensamiento dejando de lado la percepción.

[Jota Caparrós · Rating 3 out of 5]

Me gusta mucho Bono, he ojeado algún que otro libro suyo en la carrera,pero este es el primero que me leo entero. En mi opinión, este libro no me parece la mejor primera lectura de este hombre, ya que hay muchísimas referencias a sus otros libros y es como que el propósito de este fuera venderlos, aunque en su defensa diré que me parece bastante útil su método. Un buen libro de consultas, no de una sola lectura.

[Omama Abedraboh · Rating 3 out of 5]

ُ يتمحور الكتاب حول آلية مراحلَ التفكير الخمس َ، وهي مرحلةُ )إلى (، ومرحلةُ )لو(، ومرحلةُ )ها(، ومرحلةُ )إذن(،
ومرحلةُ )ثُم َّ(...
•ينوه الكاتب على أهمية التفكير بخطوات عملية للفكرة(لأن التفكير يقسم الى قسمين ..تفكير بالمعلومات ..وتفكير بالخطوات التي ستتخذها)

الكتاب عبارة عن تفريغ لشريط صوتي..
أوالملخص في نهاية الكتاب يغني عن قراءة الكتاب كاملاً

[Drthuongn · Rating 4 out of 5]

P7_Bạn bị nhốt trong 1 căn phòng. Bạn cực kì muốn thoát ra khỏi căn phòng đó. Bạn muốn được tự do. Cảm xúc của bạn đang trào dâng. Lúc này điều gì sẽ hữu dụng hơn? Cảm xúc OR Chìa khoá để mở căn phòng?