Practical Intelligence: The Art and Science of Common Sense [Hardcover]

Karl Albrecht (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 15, 2007

Karl Albrecht’s bestselling book Social Intelligence showed us how dealing with people and social situations can determine success both at work and in life. Now, in this groundbreaking book Practical Intelligence, Albrecht takes the next step and explains how practical intelligence (PI) qualifies as one of the key life skills and offers a conceptual structure for defining and describing common sense.

Throughout Practical Intelligence, Albrecht explains that people with practical intelligence can employ language skills, make better decisions, think in terms of options and possibilities, embrace ambiguity and complexity, articulate problems clearly and work through to solutions, have original ideas, and influence the ideas of others. Albrecht shows that everyone’s PI skills can be improved with proper education and training and challenges all of us—from parents and teachers to executives and managers—to upgrade our own skills and help others develop their own PI abilities.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Albrecht’s practical intelligence builds on the ideas of multiple intelligence, outlining a series of guidelines and exercises to promote better approaches to problem solving" (Financial Times, Thursday 19th July 2007)

Review

“What could be more important than helping people, at every age and stage of life learn to use their minds more successfully? Karl Albrecht has given us a terrific resource for doing just that. His comprehensively four ‘software upgrades’ and four ‘mega-skills’ provide a wonderfully comprehensive framework for practical intelligence.”--Dr. Sidney J. Parnes, co-developer with Alex Osborn of the Creative Education Foundation

 

“This brilliant, ebullient, and brainy book brings us new means to gray matter. At turns high-minded and hilarious, Practical Intelligence will remain the source book for many years of the best thinking about thinking well.”--Jean Houston, author, The Possible Human

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Pfeiffer (June 15, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0787995657
• ISBN-13: 978-0787995652
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,383,321 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More Than Practical Intelligence, July 2, 2007

By 

Richard F. Gerson "HEAD coach" (Clearwater, FL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Practical Intelligence: The Art and Science of Common Sense (Hardcover)

Albrecht has hit the daily double with this new book. It is the perfect companion to his Social Intelligence book. This book, Practical Intelligence, goes way beyond what you'd expect from a book that is helping you improve your common sense and street smarts. Albrecht gives us new ways to think about thinking, introduces us to the different ways our minds work, and shares with us that we are not either/or thinkers but both/and thinkers. His various continuums of thinking help us understand why we think what we think and how to apply what we are thinking about. Plus, he backs up his positions with actual research results. Albrecht continues to help us improve our minds at work!

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Critical reasoning manual, December 18, 2007

By 

Rolf Dobelli "getAbstract" (Switzerland) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Practical Intelligence: The Art and Science of Common Sense (Hardcover)

Everyone knows a few super-smart people who continually do super-stupid things. Sure, they can finish a Sunday New York Times crossword puzzle in less than 10 minutes, play and win three simultaneous chess games handily and multiply seven digit numbers faster than a calculator. But they also can't hold a job, are given to fulminating about bizarre pet causes ("Restore the Carolingian Dynasty now!") and can't shut up about their "brilliant" ideas ("You mean you didn't read my 427-page proof of Goldbach's conjecture yet?"). What's going on? Well, if Karl Albrecht's ideas are right, IQ isn't the whole story of human intelligence. And it may not even be most of the story. Perhaps more important than raw IQ, particularly in today's world, is practical intelligence: the ability to use common-sense reasoning in a structured way to solve relevant problems. Fortunately, practical intelligence, like other mental skills, is not fixed at birth. How can you develop it? Start with this sensible book, which we recommend to anyone who wants to be not only smart but also effective.

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Handbook for Improving Your Thinking Skills, July 15, 2009

By 

bronx book nerd (Bronx, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Practical Intelligence: The Art and Science of Common Sense (Hardcover)

Karl Albrecht is a management consultant who over the years has developed a great breath and depth of knowledge about the mind and creativity. He demonstrates this in this book. My only complaint about the book is that it spends too much time discussing the physical struture of the brain and the specific functions of each brain section; a brief overview would have sufficed. Otherwise, Albrecht covers exceedingly well the many ways that we can make ourselves more creative and pratically intelligent. He gives clear descriptions of both good and bad thinking habits, and prescriptions for how to strenghten the good ones. I like how Albrecht, walking the walk, creates his own new categories of thinkers, not that these are necessarily scientifically correct, as they are somewhat speculative and based mostly on his own experience; however, these creations are a good example of a thinker who breaks out of his routine mode of thinking to come up with new ideas. The content of this book is a good reminder of how we can get stuck in thinking ruts, and a great handbook for finding ways out of those ruts.