Customer Reviews

How We Think

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

It is very good to see this book appearing in new editions. This is a classic book about thinking. Dewey studies thought from the psychological and philosophical points of view and derives practical ideas for education.

Reading this book, I was surprised to see the applicability of its contents to my main activity field, which is business management. Today's main effort in business research is toward innovation and learning. Thus, thinking skill is probably the most important resource of any organization.

Dewey's view of thinking is surprisingly consistent and as fresh as any of the new management theories. Just to mention one aspect, he warns about the confusion of mental analysis (looking for the general aspects of an object) with physical analysis (dissection into parts), which leads to study living objects as if they were dead. This is the essence of systems thinking, which is so fashionable today!

The ideas Dewey presents about education are very useful for today's business environment. Business leaders, consultants and scholars should look carefully at his advices! His study of work and play is a great lesson of wisdom.

I would strongly recommend this book to anyone seriosly aiming at world class business performance.

Dewey's "How We Think" is the first book of his I have read. What a joy! I am in the "thick" of my doctoral dissertation, and am struggling to present and unfold my research work in a way that is clear to my audience (in this case, the members of my dissertation committee). Dewey's analysis of thought has helped me to consider important elements of thinking (and writing) such as: (1) the iterative "ebb and flow" between inductive and deductive thinking; (2) what is necessary to train my own mind to think "better"; etc.

Following my reading of "How We Think," I am now reading Dewey's "The Quest for Certainty" and "Knowing and the Known."

Reading "How We Think" is not difficult; however, it does require one to pay attention to what Dewey is saying to his reader audience. Now that I've read through it once, I will likely read through it again (fairly soon), as I work to tighten up my Ph.D. dissertation.

In conclusion, whether you are a student, teacher, or just plain interested in analyzing the world around you, then reading this book is very worthwhile.

I had never heard of John Dewey until I took a philosophy class. When I first received the book, I read through it relatively fast. Much of the material went over my head. However, on the second reading it was as if the pages were illuminated. In this book, Mr. Dewey gives his opinion on how we humans learn. It takes every day simple actions, breakes them up into their smallest unit and discusses why we did it that way.

What have I gained from this book? Everytime I do something, I attempt to break it down into its simples being, and determining how this breakdown fosters greater intelligence within myself.

As a text book or a book one wants to learn something from, I give it five stars. For just general reading it will garner 1/2 of a star.

This is not the same edition as the one that can be viewed on this page. There is a disclaimer in the front of the book that states that the so-called publisher "recreated this book from the original using Optical Character Recognition software..." Their software was defective. The results are unreadable gibberish. Information from the library they stole it from is integrated into the main body of text on the last page.

I am returning this to Amazon and looking for a legitimate copy of How We Think.

I've never panned an item for an Amazon review. But this specific edition of Dewey's "How We Think" should not be sold. Adapted from a POORLY EDITED online text, it is a bad text for reading and practically useless for scholarly documentation. Look for a better edition.

John Dewey book "How We Think" concludes that we can be taught to "think well". Ways to do just that are discussed. He starts with beliefs and then considers the consequences they bring about. He suggests that knowledge is relative to its interaction with the world. He seems to conclude that real freedom is intellectual and then defines that as the ability to just turn things over in ones mind which he calls the power of thought. Thinking is according to much of what he says more important than what is being thought about.

Thinking is about cause and the effects that follow. A process is implied and likewise a connection is made to influences that have a negative influence on the process. Thoughtful conclusions are less likely when influences from unbalanced appetites, caprice or the circumstances of the moment.

The book concentrates on the influences to thought. In addition to beliefs it looks at logic, language, and simple observation.

This book is a good foundation for digging deeper into literary cannon and its interpretation.

An easy book to read. Well worth it.

I discovered systematic printing errors in the text, as if the book had been printed from the wrong file. Text was missing, lines were truncated, strange symbols appeared in the text. This wasn't just a nuisance, but prevented understanding, so I decided to return the book unread.

This book was automatic digitization gone wrong. I don't think anyone looked at this before it was printed. There are jumble words and phrases throughout. Get a different version or go here to find the full text online for free.

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This book has text that belongs in the margin as notes, re-flowed randomly as symbol characters into the text body. I bought this for a college class along with another book by the same publisher. It also has the text mess. I will never buy books from this publisher again and would recommend anyone against it as well. I can't use them for the class. These books (with this type of cover at least) should not be sold.

This book is completely different than the preview version and the OCR text is unreadable. Dewey is good reading, so buy from a different publisher.