Start reading Outsmart the Unexpected on your Kindle in under a minute. Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here.

Deliver to your Kindle or other device

 
 
 

Try it free

Sample the beginning of this book for free

Deliver to your Kindle or other device

Read books on your computer or other mobile devices with our FREE Kindle Reading Apps.
Outsmart the Unexpected: Grow Your Creativity the Edge-of-your-seat Way
 
 

Outsmart the Unexpected: Grow Your Creativity the Edge-of-your-seat Way [Kindle Edition]

Regina Pacelli
4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)

Digital List Price: $4.99 What's this?
Print List Price: $12.95
Kindle Price: $4.99 includes free wireless delivery via Amazon Whispernet
You Save: $7.96 (61%)

Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
Kindle Edition $4.99  
Paperback $12.95  


Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Unbuckle Your Creativity!  Get Better At Outsmarting the Unexpected by Sharpening Your Ability to Think on Your Feet.

"Outsmart the Unexpected" is filled with unusual, no-time-to-lose, thought-provoking predicaments in story form where it's up to you to figure a way out of the fix the central characters suddenly find themselves in. How things will turn out?  Happily?  In a twist?  They are a great way to exercise your mind and will help jump start your ability to think and react quickly, especially in situations where things are happening very fast.  Use them to develop the skills to creatively solve problems when they suddenly arise.

In some, you may need to suspend your disbelief to play along.  Some will make your head spin.  Others may make your heart pound.  Still others will make you go hmmm.  But all will challenge you to think outside your comfort zone, to look for solutions from different angles, and to not necessarily limit yourself to what you see and what the obvious solution could be.  They will stretch your mind and help you to develop your ability to formulate best possible solution in situations where you must react quickly and there's little available information to work with.

In the course of life, problems may suddenly arise and they may sometimes be things you've never dealt with before.  So your mental filing cabinet of experiences and skills can only partially assist in coming up with a solution.  The predicaments presented in this collection are situations that most people have probably never encountered before and never will (hopefully).  Besides it making them more fun, the rationale for this is that you'll need to work the problem and tap into your creativity in order to find a solution.  You won't just being able to draw upon your expertise and remembered experiences.

Try your hand at inventing different endings and discussing and debating the possible solutions or interesting outcomes that you came up with.  Do You think that the best solutions come from asking the right questions?  Get your brain buzzing thinking up what those questions would be.  Do you enjoy making up your own endings?  Let your imagination run wild.

Dive into the unexpected and bring your creative side along with you!

Product Details

  • Format: Kindle Edition
  • File Size: 132 KB
  • Publisher: CreateSpace (December 22, 2008)
  • Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B001UQ5BM0
  • Text-to-Speech: Enabled
  • Lending: Enabled
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #201,051 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
  •  Would you like to give feedback on images?


 

Customer Reviews

13 Reviews
5 star:
 (9)
4 star:
 (1)
3 star:
 (2)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:
 (1)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.3 out of 5 stars (13 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Fun way to keep your mind sharp, September 22, 2009
It is an interesting concept for a book and it encourages readers to use their imaginations. The situations the characters find themselves in can sometimes seem very dire and in some cases I found myself thinking, "Oh no! This cannot end well", but the beauty of the book is that if you like happy endings, it is up to you to use your creativity to find one.

The book encourages you to ask questions and analyze the various scenarios from different angles. What are the issues? What significant information is omitted? What reasonable solutions (or unreasonable solutions) are possible? This book is a fun activity for an evening home with friends (game night for critical thinkers). You can read the book out loud and discuss the possible outcomes. It is interesting to see what conclusion other people draw and their reasoning. The discussions can lead to some very stimulating conversations and your friends may even surprise you with the conclusions they draw. You may even gain some new insights into your own creativity and critical thinking skills.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Scenarios to help maintain your brain's health, December 9, 2009
Regina Pacelli has put together 24 challenging "what should I do?" scenarios to help the reader exercise their brain. Her descriptions of the problems her characters face are sometimes frustrating -- there doesn't seem to be enough information to reach a solid conclusion and there isn't an answer section to tell the reader how well they've done.

That's the point of the exercises; we often have to act quickly without all of the information we need. As Pacelli writes: "You don't always have the luxury of time to figure out what to do. You don't always have much information either." Pacelli argues that helping her characters resolve their situations will "help you to become an even more creative, quick thinking problem solver."

Pacelli doesn't furnish any support for her theories in this book; it's basically the 24 scenarios and a few suggestions for how to take the lessons outside the borders of the book: set up a party, an online chat room, an online discussion group. She has also created several excellent Listmainia! lists here on Amazon that presents dozens of resources in the field.

You might want to consider another way to play along; add some suggestions to the Comment section of this Review. In "Bigger Than A Breadbox" a biologist named Maxwell has let "a genie out of the bottle" and can't get it back in. His wife is also a biologist, and although his genie is loose in his sub-basement lab, he believes he cannot call on her for help, or any of his colleagues at his own lab. He's at a dead end. "Start solving."

A bit cryptic, I'll admit, but part of the joy of Pacelli's book is that there often isn't enough information to reach a solution. And, there are no "rules" -- you're on your own. Think about Maxwell's dilemma, check out my suggestions in the Comment, enjoy!

Better yet, pick up this challenging little book and try a few of the exercises yourself. You may get addicted too.

Robert C. Ross 2009
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Great way to increase your analytical prowess, March 3, 2009
This book was fun to read I especially love the suggestions made in the appendix. I love to play the game of chess where I'm constantly solving problems over a game board. As a chess hobbyist and enthusiast, I love anything that allows me to exercise my analytical gears. This book pushed me to ask the right questions in order to shed light on each described situation. The beauty is that there really are no wrong or right solutions - you can be as rational or irrational as your mood dictates. Therefore, anyone who depends on their creativity at work or play should read this book as a way to allowing their creative juices to gush.

Various problematic or unresolved scenarios are described in the form of short stories while clues are sprinkled along the way about the scenarios and the characters. The question is then posed which essentially asks: How would you solve this problem or what would you do in this situation? The resulting mental exercises encourage us to use our imaginations and creative skills to analytically determine the best or most creative solutions based on mental prowess, understanding of the problem, personal values and personality.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews











Only search this product's reviews



More About the Author

Regina Pacelli is the author of 'Outsmart the Unexpected: Grow Your Creativity the Edge-of-your-seat Way'. She works as an applications project manager, designing and implementing computer applications and holds a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science and a Master's degree in Public Administration - Operations Management.



What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?


Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 

Your tags: Add your first tag
 

Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   
Related forums



Look for Similar Items by Category


Look for Similar Items by Subject