Smart Thinking: Three Essential Keys to Solve Problems, Innovate, and Get Things Done [Hardcover]

Art Markman (Author)

Book Description

Release date: January 3, 2012 | ISBN-10: 9780399537226 | ISBN-13: 978-0399537226 | Edition: 1

When you understand how the mind works, you can think smarter—and act smarter.

Based on the precepts of cognitive science and drawing on a half century of interdisciplinary studies, Smart Thinking is the first book to reveal a three-part formula that distinguishes Smart Thinking from innate intelligence and shows how memory works, how to learn effectively, and how to use knowledge when you need to get things done.

Beginning with defining the difference between Smart Thinking and innate or raw intelligence, cognitive psychologist Art Markman demonstrates how it is possible to learn Smart Thinking that you can apply to the real world.

This engaging and practical book introduces a three-part formula for Smart Thinking, which demonstrates how anyone can:
• Develop Smart Habits
• Acquire High-Quality Knowledge
• Use High-Quality Knowledge when needed

Smart Thinking explores each part of the Smart Thinking formula and provides:
• An understanding of how the mind works and the means to replace self-limiting habits with those that foster Smart Thinking
• Insights into how memory functions and how to improve the quality of what you learn
• Ways to present new information effectively
• Specific techniques for improving your understanding of how the world works
• The ability to define and solve problems by finding the relevant knowledge from any area of expertise and applying it effectively

Drawing on multiple research disciplines, including psychology, artificial intelligence, philosophy, neuroscience, learning sciences, linguistics, anthropology, sociology, and education, Markman provides insights into the functioning of the mind and synthesizes this understanding into practical tools and exercises that develop new skills and achieve personal goals. The book culminates in tips for creating a Culture of Smart to make everyone in an organization more effective.

Editorial Reviews

Review

If you want to be more creative, if you want to be an innovator, this is the book for you. Hara Estroff Marano, Psychology Today As one of the world's most respected voices in the field of cognitive science, Art Markman has isolated a formula for thinking more effectively. The book is filled with specific suggestions and tips that you can use to create new habits to think better, starting literally from Chapter 1. Craig B. Wynett, Chief Learning Officer at Procter and Gamble and Dr Mehmet Oz, Professor of Surgery. From the Foreword to Smart Thinking An essential read for anyone who wants to operate at their best, think outside the box and accomplish whatever goals they set out to achieve. Sian Beilock, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology at the University of Chicago and author of Choke: What the Secrets of the Brain Reveal About Getting It Right When You Have To Smart Thinking not only enriches the literature on human thoughts - and its foibles - it takes it to the next level, offering clear prescriptions for how to sharpen memory, analysis and creativity in our daily lives. Wray Herbert, author of On Second Thought: Outsmarting Your Mind's Hard-Wired Habits The book is an easy read, though rewards re-reading. Unlike many of these "Think yourself smarter" books, this one has lots of good advice, and feels like it relies on primary sources more than secondary. In fact, I bet I end up reading a lot of what is in this book, taken out of context by "Think yourself successful" gurus. Save time, read it here, at the source.' Business Traveller The advice on how to break bad and lazy thinking habits is interesting, and I've already used it to good effect ... In summary, this is a thought-provoking read. Stuart Kellock, Business XL --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Art Markman, PhD is on the faculty member of the University of Texas since 1998 where he is the Annabel Irion Worsham Centennial Professor of Psychology and Marketing. He has published more than 150 scientific papers in the area of cognitive science. He has been the editor of Cognitive Science since 2006.

As a consultant, Dr. Markman has worked with industry, including Proctor and Gamble, and partnered with Drs. Mehmet Oz and Michael Roizen on two of their bestselling You books. He is a member of the scientific advisory board for the Dr. Phil Show and is a regular online contributor for Psychology Today, the Huffington Post, and the Harvard Business Review.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Perigee Trade; 1 edition (January 3, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 9780399537226
• ISBN-13: 978-0399537226
• ASIN: 0399537228
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #180,534 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Art Markman is the Annabel Irion Worsham Centennial Professor of Psychology and Marketing at the University of Texas at Austin. His research explores a variety of topics in thinking including the way people form and use analogies, generate creative ideas, and make decisions. He blogs for Psychology Today, Huffington Post, YouBeauty.com and Harvard Business Review. His last book, Smart Thinking, was published in January, 2012. His mini e-book Habits of Leadership comes out in January, 2013.

In his spare time, Art plays blues saxophone, writes for the Psychology Department Limerick Committee, and hangs out with his family.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 46 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Subject - Very Well Done January 6, 2012

By Book Fanatic TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

This wonderful book is very well written, insightful, and packed with practical advice. The science and theory are explained, but done in a way that is focused on what you can do to make use of those ideas. At heart this book is practical advice. This is not a hard book to read or comprehend. It is about 200 pages of extremely well organized material that is explained very clearly. The author follows his own advice in introducing his topics in each chapter and ending each with a "takeaway" section that summarizes it very nicely. He seems well qualified for the topic on which he writes. The three key ideas of the book are Smart Habits, High-Quality Knowledge, and Applying Your High-Quality Knowledge.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to improve their thinking. The chapter on analogy was by itself worth the price of the book. The explanations of memory were also excellent.

The book is organized in the following topic chapters:

What Is Smart Thinking?
Creating Smart Habits and Changing Behavior
Promoting Quality Learning by Knowing Your Limits
Understanding How Things Work
Making Comparisons and Applying Your Knowledge
Maximizing Memory Effectiveness
Smart Thinking in Practice
Creating a Culture of Smart

Two thumbs up for this excellent work.

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Manual for Thinking January 9, 2012

By Andre L. Souza

Format:Hardcover

Every once in a while you need a manual to teach you how to do something. You can easily find books with detailed guidelines for how to cook, how to operate a camcorder, how to write good scholarly papers, etc. What you don't easily find is a manual that teaches you how to think. Well, if you're looking for one, look no more! You have just found it. Art Markman's book is a truly engaging and easy-to-read manual of how to think effectively. He provides a very simple formula (believe me: it IS simple) that promotes smart thinking. Even better: the success and the basis of this simple formula are explained (and supported) by a number of interesting findings in Cognitive Psychology and Cognitive Science. Dr. Markman presents these findings in a very accessible way, with lots of examples, and even provides some "tasks" that you can use right away to start thinking more effectively. If you want to understand why we create habits -- and how to create smart ones --, how to apply the knowledge you already have to solve novel problems, and how to use smart thinking to get things done, you have to have this book. "The world needs more smart thinking"!!!

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent - if you pay attention April 13, 2012

By Jack Reader

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

It is easy to breeze through this book, getting a little here and a little there, then finish and feel like you got almost nothing out of it. It is perhaps that the structure of chapters is a little counter intuitive. There are points to remember, but they are buried in paragraphs without a clear outline. I wish there would be a little more structure or breakdown, clear outline of things. But do not give up.

Once you go back and start making notes, there is actually a wealth of useful, practical information waiting here to be incorporated in your life. Once you really get the point, the benefits are noticable almost instantly. Pay attention. Link information to your existing knowlledge. Be inquisitive. Know your limits. Know what you do not know. The most surprising fact is that while your life is built around almost automatic habits, your "smart thinking" can only be the result of breaking away from doing everything like an automaton. At the end I wish there would be more available material from the author.

You may not be the next Dyson. But hopefully you won't become one of the distracted, multitasking, absent-minded millions either...