The Thinker's Way : 8 Steps to a Richer Life [Hardcover]

John Chaffee (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1998

It is never too late to be what you might have been" -- George Eliot

The Thinker's Way is a book for anyone seeking a sense of meaning and purpose in life. John Chaffee's message is that we can all shape our lives into what we want them to be. We can all learn to think critically, live creatively, and choose freely. We can learn to focus in a confusing world of information overload, hyperstimulation, and instant gratification. Changing our thinking changes our relationship to ourselves and others. Thinking critically involves reflecting on the thinking process itself, enabling us to understand our own mind. As our thinking becomes clearer, our actions will become increasingly thoughtful, creative, and effective. Every area of our lives will be transformed, from our problem-solving skills, to our moral universe, to relationships with our family, friends, and coworkers. John Chaffee has written a book that will change the way we see the world, and show how each of us can achieve our full potential at work, in love, in life.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

We spend time, money, and effort trying to improve our health and our appearance, but we neglect the most important ingredient: "our ability to think and reflect, to understand our past and create our futures," says philosophy professor and critical-thinking expert John Chaffee. No number of self-help programs will improve our lives if we don't learn to think clearly. The aim of The Thinker's Way is to both stimulate our thinking and guide us to think on a more sophisticated and powerful level. It succeeds.

The book is divided into eight chapters that build on each other and ultimately work together to improve our thinking: "Think Critically," "Live Creatively," "Choose Freely," "Solve Problems Effectively," "Communicate Effectively," "Analyze Complex Issues," "Develop Enlightened Values," and "Think Through Relationships." In the "Think Critically" chapter, for example, we learn to recognize and overcome biases, explore different perspectives, and develop strong and accurate beliefs based on sound reasons. Each step has its own goals, strategies, provocative examples, and "thinking activities" designed to involve the reader. What a shame that critical thinking isn't a required course in high school and college. Fortunately, this is the perfect guidebook if you want to take a private seminar. --Joan Price

From Publishers Weekly

Beginning with the provocative assertion that "we have become a society of non-thinkers," Chaffee sets out to replicate for a trade audience the academic course in critical thinking he created for the City University of New York and says he has taught to "thousands of people for the past 20 years." He offers a thorough, detailed method for "analyzing complex issues," "evaluating evidence," solving problems creatively and "making informed choices." Using such examples as the recent court case of nanny Louise Woodward, the issue of human cloning and the Roswell UFO incident, Chaffee meticulously examines factual evidence, various perspectives and possible biases in assessing each case. While providing an excellent course in critical thinking, he seems to trip, however, over one of the very obstacles he describes by focusing solely on rationality and presenting it as a panacea for just about every problem and area of life. In particular, his chapters on relationships and freedom suffer from inattention to emotional, psychological and spiritual perspectives. Chaffee unrealistically advises readers to simply "will yourself to break free from constraints," be they addictions, anxiety attacks or dead-end jobs. As an introductory course in logical reasoning, this effort is superb; as a self-help guide promising that "your life will be transformed in every area," it falls far short. Simultaneous TimeWarner audio; author tour.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 432 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown and Company; 1st edition (October 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316133175
• ISBN-13: 978-0316133173
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,878,998 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Strange Discrepancy, July 9, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Tampa, FL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Thinker's Way : 8 Steps to a Richer Life (Hardcover)

I read this book and thoroughly enjoyed it. Upon reading the reviews of others, I noticed a dichotomy. People either REALLY liked it or thought it was too simple. I also noticed that the reviews of the ones advocating its futility were by far SHORTER than the reviews by the "happy campers." While my judgement is, by far, not scientific, I am led to believe that those that thought of it as a simplistic work...simply missed the point. This book is very philosophical while still practical. Chaffee is well informed and "preaches" the virtues of a world where people who want to be informed, live as such. I'll keep my review short and ask you not to read this book like a novel, but, as Chaffee suggests, read it over an extended period of time allowing for the concepts to come to fruition.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent booki for all thinking people!, May 24, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Thinker's Way : 8 Steps to a Richer Life (Hardcover)

I am a college teacher in psychology and the Humanities and recently came across THE THINKER'S WAY. It is such a welcome change from all the New Age/Psychobabble books promising everlasting life if a person does everything but think. It is so refreshing! For 17 years I have been a Life Planning counselor and teach people to do many of the things the book advocates: problem-solving, decision-making and goal setting. This book, THE THINKER'S WAY, almost reads like a textbook for my counseling practice.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great study in critical thinking, March 22, 2002

By 

Harold McFarland (Florida) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Thinker's Way: 8 Steps to a Richer Life (Think Critically, Live Creatively, Choose Freely) (Paperback)

The author, John Chaffee, Ph.D., is the Director of the New York Center for Critical Thinking and Language Learning and brings to us many years of research into critical thinking. The result is a book that teaches how to think critically and then apply those skills to everyday situations. The world can be very confusing with the tremendous amount of information thrown at us every day. How do you make a decision or analyze information to see if it is valuable to you or not? This book details how to approach the various challenges of life by thinking clearly. With an eight-step process to critical thinking, he provides information and exercises to get you going in the right direction. Whether attacking problems, dealing with difficult people, deflecting propaganda directed at you or just bettering your life through better decision-making and fewer regrets, the collective knowledge in this text points the way to clear thinking.