Customer Reviews

Creative Problem Solver's Toolbox: A Complete Course in the Art of Creating Solutions to Problems of Any Kind

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This book is both practical and useful in giving you the ability to create creative solutions to any type of problem in any field from family problems to business to science. This isn't one of those cutesy mind game books either. It gives you exercises and tips to not only create good solutions, but to create solutions that are useful, compared to creative solutions that are useless (who wants those?) Excellent. I highly recommend no matter your age, occupation, or location. The information in this book is timeless. Also a good book related to this for those who are into science, check out Robert Scott Root-Bernstein's book Discovering.

Creative Problem Solver's Toolbox: A Complete Course in the Art of Creating Solutions to Problems of Any Kind
by Richard Fobes

Writing a creative problem solving book is pretty easy, but putting the ideas down & bringing them alive - in the form of workable tools - against a backdrop of real world problems, call for a versatile author with myriad pre-occupations. In this case, Richard Fobes fits the billing perfectly as he has worked as a writer, interactive multimedia software designer, systems analyst, computer programmer, inventor, electronics technician, hardware store clerk, & dance instructor. He has spent five years researching & writing this book.

Many of the author's early ideas have been published during the four years he wrote the Creative Problem Solving Tips column of the Focus newsletter from the American Creativity Association. [Readers can access the tips via the author's solutioncreative website.] That's how I got to know about Richard Fobes & his inspiring book.

A few things intrigued me when I first encountered the book during the early nineties:

1. A catchy subtitle, A complete Course in the Art of Creating Solutions to Problems of Any Kind;
2. A radial outline of the book at the end of the book (I wish all authors can follow his example!);
3. A portrait of a lady next to Einstein on the front cover. I didn't know her until I read about her: She was Hypatia, who invented a hydrometer which measures fluid density. She lived in Alexandria, Egypt, from 370 AD to 415 AD. The author has deliberately put up her portrait as a reminder that women also innovate! Bravo!
4. There are sixty five ingenious tools for solving problems in the book;

Upon reading it, I found it to be a very user-friendly book. There are a lot of examples & exercises in a variety of real world problem settings.

Personally, I have applied many of the tools in the book. At the time I had acquired it, I had just started my own strategy consulting business as well as my learning resource store. Being a novice entrepreneur, the book served in many ways as my problem solving advisor. In fact, the book was also part of my store inventory during the early years.

For the benefit of readers, I append below the table of contents:

1. Opening the Toolbox;
2. Welcome Your New Ideas;
3. Reconsidering Your Goals;
4. Exploring Your Many Alternatives;
5. Refining Your Ideas;
6. Thinking in Alternate Ways;
7. Thinking Dimensionally;
8. Understanding Clarity;
9. Considering Your Goals Some More;
10. Taking Action;
11. Using the Toolbox;
12. Closing the Toolbox;

In particular, I like the author's observations & arguments in the book:

- goals influence thinking in surprising & subtle ways & they expand possibilities;
- besides weight & money, other dimensions that defy being measured such as love, risk, assertiveness are a part of virtually every real problem;
- a failure to reach a clear understanding lies at the root of most unsolved problems;
- thinking visually, thinking in concepts & using intuition enhance the problem solving process;

My end anaylsis of this book is this: An excellent primer if you want to revv up & sharpen your problem solving skills. It's really a toolbox! You can't go to the office without it!

[I am very glad & also feel proud for the author, as his book has been translated into Chinese, Russian, Indonesian, Japanese & Korean. Watch out the Chinese!]

I've read many books of this type and this one is by far the most comprehensive. It is not just a laundry list of tools and techniques, it also provides a greater guidance on the best attitude and mental approach to make the book useful. The author himself says repeatedly, not just in humility but in acknowledgement that there may be better yet unidentified methods, to not just believe everything he says but to try out all the tools in real life, and to improve upon them as necessary. At times the book reads somewhat like a tedious manual, but this is completely counterbalanced and outweighed by the abundance of information and meaningful examples. This is a lifetime reference for anyone interested in making their life more interesting via applied creativity.

Creative problem solving is my passion, as well as the crux of what I do for a living. I was a skilled problem-solver even before I bought this book. And I have other excellent tools that have made me a lot of money.

So why am I recommending this book so highly? Because it's taken my problem-solving abilities to an even higher level. It's complete and practical...and less expensive than any of the other tools I've used.

If you want to drastically increase your ability to create solutions to all kinds of problems, I can't think of a single reason why you should do anything other than...buy this book.

Even after reading this recommendation, you'll be pleasantly surprised when you receive the book.

I think the saying about what kind of exercise machine to buy certainly applies to books on creativity as well, i.e., "Get the one you'll use!" My keen interest in enhancing my creativity has led me to investigate numerous creativity tools & techniques in the form of software, card decks, lists, and books. The result of my research is that I use *this* book's tools & techniques before any other. Sometimes I also make use of other resources for creativity, but I always begin with this book. Why? For me, the techniques usually "Hit the nail on the head," consistenly helping me to not just solve a particular challenge, but to widen my perspective on the problem so that I'm more confident that I'm solving the "real" problem. This book also offers me the most user-friendly experience (compared to other resources), as the examples interspersed between the techniques are typically fascinating and instructive.

The bottom line is that, for me, this book is the best single source of the most useful creativity tools & techniques, and at the least cost compared to other resources. I don't think you can beat it!

As I write this, all 5 reviews of this book have 5 stars. It must be a great book, you think. Well, maybe not.

I have thought long and hard about creativity, and read many books, and do you know what I think I gained?

Nothing, other than the firm conviction that creativity and problem solving have nothing to do with tools and strategies.

We read books like this to get words of wisdom, but there are no words of wisdom here. Books like this are usually well meaning, but primarily exist so consultants can build their careers and sell books. All the other similar books are similarly lacking.

But over a long period of questioning and exploration I have found the secret to dramatically improving creativity and problem solving, and I will do my best to explain it briefly to avoid boring you rigid. Here goes ............................

We all have issues that are partly or wholly unaddressed. These issues are behavioral manifestations of the pain that lies beneath them. Opening up these issues and dealing with them gradually unblocks the mind and allows desire to connect thoughts and feelings that previously had no chance of connecting. In essence, our issues render us creatively blocked and solution-challenged to the extent of their magnitude and complexity.

Dealing with them is not easy. It is not fast. It may not be pleasant. But if you deal with all your niggling issues and agendas and buried feelings, I guarantee that you will open your mind in ways you never dreamed possible. Accepting what you once denied begins a process of freeing your mind to go anywhere it wants to go. Creativity flows. Solutions to seemingly impossible problems are difficult but possible.

At that point you will realize that a book like this one is no more than a multi-instruction band-aid, and actually plays a part in limiting your creativity by giving you the false impression that you are becoming more creative and problem solving than you would otherwise have been, and by slowing or preventing your discovery of what really allows your mind to take you exactly where you want to go with minimum effort and maximum pleasure and reward.