Customer Reviews

The Art of Thinking

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have extensively researched the topic thinking styles. The Meyers-Briggs, Kirsey and other type cast/thinking references are great but do not deliver as much practical and usable information as the Art of Thinking book does in my opinion. I use what I have learned from the many examples in the book on a daily basis. The concepts in the text are easily applied to working with other people and adjusting one's approach to maximize effectiveness. Where before, I could never get along with specific people, we now are productive team players.

The five thinking styles listed are very clearly defined and made identifiable. The text also explains the interaction of the differing styles and how and when to use them. The practical approach in presenting the material makes it immediately usable. There are many realworld examples that readily come to mind from the book when I am seeking an approach to an issue. The book has an excellent test in it to identify preferred thinking styles. The material in the book is presented so well and in a usable fashion that it becomes easy to read other's preferences and adjust appropriately.

For myself, the book clarified that I implement a much less common "synthesist" style of problem solving in my work with computers and technology. It also provided invaluable direction on how to use this style effectively. It has helped me direct this skill with precision and tact instead of wielding it like an awkward club. I now am held in high regard as a problem solver and in delivering solutions where others have failed or have no success. I directly attribute this finely honed skill to the reading of this book, The Art of Thinking.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants a very practical reference and information source on how to be effective in your efforts with others. Sometimes we all know that we are so close to making something happen but cannot keep a handle on the real issues involving others. Well, this book is full of handles and you will never look at the issues concerning yourself and the people around you the same way.

I have been an ardent student in the subject of thinking most of my life. In my extensive libary on the subject this humble looking, modest styled book is one of my most prized. The notion that thinking styles are most profoundly influenced by sets of fundamental beliefs about the way the world works allowed this approach to be infinitely more useful to me in dealing with other people than many far more publicised and popular approaches. I hope you find the content of this book the gem that I have.

I have recently been studying a lot of academic research related to this book's central theme (i.e., that people tend use one of a handful of relatively standard ways to think, learn, process information, etc). This book is probably the easiest to understand and the most practical of all the books on the subject. Big name academics like Jerome Bruner and other people involved in educational theory back up this book's claims and provide a better academic foundation for those who want to know. In the educational world, it is commonly taught that children fall into four catagories, called "ones", "twos", "threes", and "fours". These catagries are virtually the same as this book, except that Harrison and Bramson have subdivided the "threes" categries into two categories that they call "realists" and "pragmatists". I personally believe that there is little dispute that these catagories (be they four or five or six in number) do actually exist and do actually have a profound affect on the way human beings interact. As an undergraduate business management major, with a graduate education degree, I feel that this book (and books like it) should be required reading for all teachers and people involved in any sort of organization -- particularly the managers of people.

Harrison generally skips the academic "evidence" and jumps straight into the practical stuff that they have observed in their years of business consultations. This book is a great place to start. Ignore the cover, which I find to be rediculously low brow. While reading this, remember that there are plenty of "heavier" academic books that say the exact same thing and look more believable, but are probably less accessible to most folks.

Generally, I agree with the high ratings that other reviewers have given to this book. After I obtained my bachelor's degree in philosophy, I took the end-of-the-book test. My thinking style at that time was primarily an idealist. But after I earned my master's degree in American Studies and took the test again, I was primarily an analyst. Both these test results made sense to me given that my two degrees were separated by six years. This is one of the "hidden" values of the book: that one's "Styles of Thinking" (the original hardcover and, in my opinion, the better title for the book) may change over a period of years.

However, I do not agree that the social scientific basis for the book and the test are well-grounded. The authors give a quite vague description for the validity of their five styles of thinking. And the only basis for the validity of the test is that they have given it to thousands of people. Purportedly, because they intended to write a follow-up book, and they wanted to keep their testing criteria secret at least until the sequel. But keeping the criteria for a test secret is simply poor social science.

Nevertheless, I find the book subjectively useful and still refer to it from time to time. I have also given the test to college students, and most of them identify with the test results. So four stars for usefulness but not five stars because of the lack of documentation.

Thinking-- a process we normal people are constantly doing in most of our lifetime. However, have anyone of us thought how do we think? It's an interesting question. Indeed, only very few of us have come across this question. This book have classified most people's styles of thinking into 5 main categories. Nevertheless, the book includes a test to help you identify your preference of thinking. If you do it seriously, you'll eventually find the result very accurate in helping you know more about yourself. Meanwhile you will identify the which classes do the people surrounding you belong to, in order that you will know how to deal with them using the most suitable approach. More importantly, you'll realize your own strengths and liabilities by reading this book. In such a way, you can develop the strengths that you already have and improve your liabilities. Hopefully, life can be a lot better if you can take the suggestions mentioned in the book into practice. Even if you are not preparing to take what this book alleges solemnly, it's still a great fun letting your friends do the test. You'll discover a load of things that you've overlooked! Thinking is a child's play, as well as a Herculean study.