Mechanism of Mind [Mass Market Paperback]

Edward de Bono (Author)

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (September 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140137874
• ISBN-13: 978-0140137873
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 4.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,799,378 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Dr. Edward de Bono is regarded as the leading international authority in the field of conceptual thinking and also the direct teaching of thinking as a skill. He originated the concept of "lateral thinking," which is now officially recognized in the Oxford English Dictionary-and which contributed to the success of the 1984 Olympic Games. He was a Rhodes Scholar at oxford and has held faculty appointments at the universities of Oxford, Cambridge, London, and Harvard.

He has written twenty-seven books, which have been translated into twenty languages. These include: Opportunities; Lateral Thinking for Management; Future Positive; Atlas of Management Thinking; Wordpower; Children Solve Problems; Tactics: The Art and Science of Success; Conflicts: A Better Way to Resolve Them. He has also made a ten-part BBC series called "De Bono's Thinking Course" and two other television series.

Dr. de Bono's instruction in thinking has been sought by many of the largest corporations in USA, Canada, Europe, and the rest of the world. These include: IM, Exxon, Shell, BP, Unilever, Procter & Gamble, Prudential, General Foods, Bell Telephone, Northern Telecom, Monsanto, DuPont, and ICI. He has given seminars all over the world, from Helsinki to Buenos Aires, from Toronto to Tokyo.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating, useful model of how our minds work., December 15, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Mechanism of Mind (Mass Market Paperback)

Mechanism of Mind is one of my most treasured books. It gave me very practical insights into how humans process information. The book is easy enough to understand, and doesn't require any previous knowledge of psychology. It's a fairly serious, engrossing read, though, even with de Bono's nice little explanatory diagrams and simple examples. (I've read six of de Bono's books, and this was the most demanding, and the one I'd only recommend to my most intellectual friends).

It compares the brain to an array of a thousand lightbulbs. All the bulbs in the array have a simple device that makes them responsive to light (from an image projected onto the array. Each bulb also has a simple device that makes them "tire" (grow dim) without stimulus).

It's fascinating how the array behaves. De Bono explains how it "processes" patterns, easily mimicing brain functions such as attention and diversion, memory and forgetting, pattern recognition (generalization), creativity and insight.

This book certainly changed my life. I understand much more confidently how my mind works, and the minds of others.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating mechanism., June 29, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Mechanism of Mind (Paperback)

This is one of the best books I have read. It does not describe the mind in neurochemical or psychological terms, but hits the spot by providing a simple model of how the mind works. From that model, De Bono provides insight on how memory, learning, attention, 'pig-headedness' and insight can occur. He shows how the brain stores information and experience efficiently, but also shows how those storage units can become rules unto themselves, thereby inhibiting further clear thinking. He then describes lateral thinking, as a means of disrupting the learnt rigid patterns that can make people blind to the simplest of ideas. It is curious that this work is not more extensively discussed in texts on psychology. Those texts often describe research on how certain neurons in the brain become selected through use, but do not take the simple step back to this original work by De Bono. Another interesting interpretation of the De Bono work is provided in Cookson's book 'Our wild niche', where he coins the word mindrules (similar to De Bono's d-lines). Mindrules are experience learnt instincts, and have wider connotations for human ecology and adjustment to various niches, both natural and artificial. I recommend you buy the Mechanism of Mind. Then you will almost see how the cogs in your own mind turn. [e-mail]

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Mechanism of Mind, April 21, 2003

By 

John Sheehan (Port Townsend, Wa United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Mechanism of Mind (Hardcover)

This book is a revolutionary examination of thinking and perception that should be a must read for anyone seeking to understand the why's and how's of human thinking. Elegant, and profound are the two terms that come to mind when describing DeBono's prose.