Customer Reviews

The Eureka Effect: The Art and Logic of Breakthrough Thinking

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

 

 

I have read many books on problem solving and breakthrough thinking. This is by far the most accessible. David Perkins is co-director of "Project Zero", an educational research group at Harvard Graduate School. He has a PhD in mathematics and artificial intelligence from MIT, so he is very qualified to be writing on this subject.

Perkins covers a lot of ground in this book and manages to explain his theory of problem solving from many different aspects using varied problems and examples.

The title refers to Archimedes and his breakthrough discovery of the displacement of water to calculate volume. This is the first example, which is drawn from this near mythological event. Perkins continues to delve deeper into how breakthroughs in thinking occur.

He outlines a series of steps that he believes are key to breakthrough thinking. These are abstracted from many different examples of breakthrough thinking. (Long Search, Little Apparent Progress, Precipitating Event, Cognitive Snap, Transformation).

From certain aspects this is the easy part, defining a set of steps that seem to be common in breakthroughs. The interesting part for a reader will be, can Perkins describe a series of steps that can define how the mind can actually achieve breakthroughs? Defining the steps always seems reminiscent of seeing the instructions for tying a bow tie, steps 1 to 4 seem reasonable, and then suddenly in step 5 you have a tied bow tie. But how do you get from step 4 to step 5 is always left a mystery that needs to be worked out. Obviously with a little fiddling, and knowing the end result, tying a bow tie, is a breakthrough that most people can achieve. But how to get from precipitating event to cognitive snap (or Eureka) is a little trickier to define. Is there really a series of steps to achieve breakthroughs?

Perkins spends the rest of the book, delving deeper and exploring this subject. He tackles some of the common pitfalls of thinking that can hamper someone's ability to solve a problem. Breakthrough problems by their very nature need to breakthrough current assumptions and thought patterns. Perkins uses the analogy of the Klondike gold rush to explore the principles further. How do you find a small amount of gold in a large area? Perkins feels this is analogous to finding solutions to breakthrough problems. He describes some common pitfalls, using this analogy (Wilderness of Possibilities, Clueless Plateau, Narrow canyon of exploration, Oasis of False Hope).

Perkins uses many puzzle examples throughout the book. Some of the puzzles are old, but still useful to explore. He defines the different kinds of puzzles, the ones that can be solved by a linear progression of thought, and then the second kind that needs a breakthrough in thinking (not always on a large scale), this is where linear logical progression will not reveal the answer. He uses the pitfalls as defined and shows how each of them can side track the puzzler from finding the solution.

At first, the nature of the Klondike analogy, seems to be too contrived and can be off-putting. But Perkins manages to demonstrate the different aspects of breakthrough thinking using it. The book is filled with puzzles that will be fun for anyone who loves puzzles. Perkins explores many aspects of thinking, delving into artificial intelligence and evolution. Sometimes I felt that some of the chapters were probably irrelevant, but on the whole, this book is very cohesive and manages to follow through a logical progression through the many facets of breakthrough thinking. It is very accessible, and its simple nature, could be mistaken for lack of substance. But there is a lot of information, and the reader will learn many techniques and can actually put together a set of steps to "help" them solve problems. Obviously it is not going to give a step-by-step manual to come up with the next "Theory of Evolution" but there is a lot of information here that can be used practically to help solve puzzles, and help solve real world problems. Perkins never succumbs to boasting that this is an exhaustive set of principles to achieve breakthroughs in thinking.

This is a very rewarding book, but if you are looking for a "how to" guide, you will not find it here. But you can extract many helpful insights from this book that will help you solve problems.

I highly recommend this book for anyone interested on breakthrough thinking.

Note: This is published in paperback under a different title "The Eureka Effect"

Note: This was initially published in hardback as "Archimedes in the Bathtub"

The other two reviewers missed the whole point of the book. This is a well balanced book of problem solving theory, and practical examples. "The Klondike", is a good model to explain why people have trouble solving difficult problems. Yes, I have found some of this material in other books. However, I think this is presented in a more understandable and cohesive manner. I do agree with the other reviewers the book does not end well. But the first 80% is money well spent.

Problem solving, according to Perkins, is a little like looking for gold. From there we draw analogies about the landscape and the different stages of problem solving itself: false hits, stuck in canyons, etc.
There's no denying that such a description fits and anyone reading this book is going to recognise the very same limitations in there own thinking. The problem, however, is in the application. Though Perkins enjoys telling a few anecdotes where he coaches the person to a successful solution by highligting which of the thinking modes they're 'stuck in', in real life (and without knowing the final solution) it becomes something of a problem to apply.
It's an enjoyable read but it kind of makes me wonder whether this book will lead to many 'euraka' moments.

I never read "science" books. I bought the book because when I think "breakthrough thinking" I think about transformational work. I was pleasantly surprised to find out a lot of cool things about problem solving that I had never considered before.

Yes, he gets scientific in the end, and the book doesn't quite flow, but, on the other hand I gained a perspective on why my life sometimes goes through bumps and spurts, and have gained valuable information in my daily troubleshooting life.

Occasionally, one finds a book that is so packed with insights that one can't help writing "Yes!" in the margins of page after page.

This is not one of those books.

If you have no prior exposure to any of the literature of human problem solving, have never read anything about exploration of problem spaces, and have never thought much (if at all) about how people solve problems that can't be solved with pure brute-force, then there might be something here for you. Otherwise, it's a glib and superficial survey of a lot of ground that's been covered before, paying lip service to scientific rigor in analyzing the theories it describes, but accepting or dismissing them without any convincing evidence.

Disappointing and a waste of money for anyone with more than a passing familiarity with Artificial Intelligence, Cognitive Psychology, or Operations Research.

Very enjoyable read and useful information for companies and people engaged in creative activities. Presents interesting research and great content regarding innovation. Perkins' style is well-suited to general audiences and he provides good references for more technically demanding readers. I highly recommend this book.

Perkins does it again: OUTSTANDING WORK from a genius. Remember this is not just another author: Perkins is MIT AND HARVARD with incredible and long term background looking at thinking and genius. The book has amazing analogy to the reality of breakthrough problem searching. It is a must buy and buy now.

I saw this book for the first time while browsing the science section at a bookstore. I decided to purchase this book because I rather ironically just had a "Eureka" moment of my own and noticed that not only was I able to develop a solution to the problem that I had but I also noticed that my thinking overall permanently. This book helped me to understand it.

Perkins explains each stage of the eureka moment and what holds people back at each moment. Other reviewers did a fine job explaining the merits of the book so there's no need to be repititive. Worth the purchase is what I would say.

Why only four stars? I believe the Eureka effect can be a learned behavior, like anything else in life and I wish there had been more explanation on how to recreate that state of mind. In it's essence, it's a very simple process: 1) persist in discovering a solution while not being limited by restrictions which truly don't exist, 2) rest your brain. 3) An answer will eventually come. Simple yes, but surely since the process is known on a basic level, improvements can be made. For example, what is different about the person who continuosly "gets" things versus the person who "gets" things occassionally? I was expecting this book to go beyond explanation and into instruction.

A book about innovation - without any innovation whatsoever

Perkins is convinced that his model for creative thinking is powerful and unique. It is trivial, unoriginal and useless. He compounds this problem by applying the model to various situations and spends 3 chapters assessing whether evolution "thinks" using his model and whether it "thinks" better than humans. Like the rest of his book, entirely irrelevant.