The book only contains some exercises that train creativity and are used for the educational environment. It is not very useful.

However, this statement may not be entirely accurate. While the book may focus on creativity exercises, these can have significant value in the educational context. Creativity is a crucial skill in today's rapidly changing world, enabling students to think outside the box, solve problems innovatively, and adapt to new situations.

Moreover, the exercises in the book may help students develop other important skills such as critical thinking, communication, and collaboration. By engaging in these activities, students can learn to express their ideas clearly, listen to others' perspectives, and work together towards a common goal.

Furthermore, the educational environment is diverse, and different students have different learning needs and styles. The book's creativity exercises may provide an alternative approach to learning that suits some students better than traditional methods. It can激发学生的兴趣 and motivation, making learning more enjoyable and engaging.

In conclusion, although the book may seem to have limited usefulness at first glance, a closer examination reveals that its creativity exercises can offer valuable benefits in the educational environment. It is important to consider the diverse needs of students and the potential impact of different learning materials when evaluating their worth.

This book commences with a rather challenging dilemma that a charming merchant's daughter finds herself in. She is confronted by her father's unpleasant creditor. The creditor proposes a settlement through a game of chance. Right where they are standing, there are white and black stones. He will place two stones in a bag and she has to draw one out. A white stone implies that the debt is resolved, while a black stone means the debt is settled but she must marry the money-lender. Our heroine astutely notices that the money lender slyly puts two black stones in the bag. So, no matter which stone she selects, she is truly in a difficult situation. And if she were to expose his cheating, he would simply bring ruin to her father. So she...employs lateral thinking. (You really need to refer to the book to discover what she does; I won't spoil it for you.)

De Bono takes great pride in pointing out that the phrase - lateral thinking - was coined by him and has now made its way into the Oxford dictionary. Why he should be so concerned that people don't realize he invented this concept, I have no idea. Apparently, his books have enabled him to purchase an entire island near Venice, which surely can't be a bad thing.

This was a great book to read.

Lateral thinking makes a quite different use of information compared to logical (vertical) thinking.

For instance, the need to be right at every step is absolutely essential to logical thinking, but it is quite unnecessary in lateral thinking.

With logical thinking, one makes immediate judgements, while with lateral thinking, one may delay judgements in order to allow information to interact and generate new ideas.

The mind is a pattern-making system. It creates patterns out of the environment and then recognizes and uses such patterns. This is the basis of its effectiveness.

The need to change ideas is becoming more and more obvious as technology speeds up the rate of communication and progress.

Lateral thinking is directed towards bringing about changes in ideas through insight restructuring.

I really enjoyed reading this book a great deal! It provided me with many new perspectives and ways of thinking that I can apply in my daily life and work.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in improving their thinking skills and being more creative.

Insights from 50 psychology classics by Tom Butler-Bowdon:

Lateral thinking is a revolutionary concept that encourages us to break free from the traditional confines of our minds and think outside the box. It emphasizes the importance of linking seemingly disparate ideas together and thinking in terms of patterns.

The techniques employed by creative thinkers are diverse and powerful. Firstly, generating alternatives allows us to explore a wide range of possibilities, rather than settling for the first solution that comes to mind. Secondly, challenging assumptions helps us to question the status quo and uncover hidden perspectives. Thirdly, setting quotas for the number of ideas on a particular issue can stimulate our creativity and push us to think more deeply. Fourthly, using analogies can help us to make connections between different concepts and gain new insights. Fifthly, reversal thinking, which involves looking at a problem from the opposite perspective, can often lead to breakthrough solutions. Sixthly, finding the dominant idea enables us to focus on what really matters and avoid getting bogged down in details. Finally, suspended judgement allows us to keep an open mind and consider all possibilities before making a decision.

By understanding and applying these principles of lateral thinking and the techniques of creative thinkers, we can enhance our problem-solving abilities and unlock our full creative potential.

Even in our post-brainstorming age, lateral thinking remains highly relevant.

In this book, de Bono imparts valuable methods. For instance, he teaches how to question the brief, which can help us break free from the limitations of the initial given instructions and explore new perspectives. Additionally, the concept of deferring judgement is also introduced. By not immediately passing judgment on ideas, we allow for a more comprehensive and creative exploration of various possibilities.

However, while the majority of the book is interesting and thought-provoking, there are certain chapters that are overly abstract and difficult to follow. These sections may require more effort and careful consideration from the reader to fully understand and apply the concepts presented. Nevertheless, the overall value of the book in terms of enhancing our lateral thinking skills cannot be overlooked.

I tend to play the devil's advocate in almost every situation or thought process. Therefore, it was truly wonderful to see this aspect emphasized in the book.

Edward de Bono is a well-known figure. As someone who has studied psychology, the concepts presented in this book did not come as a surprise to me. However, I personally adored the insights provided on simplifying lateral thinking.

Writing a book on thinking is far more challenging than it appears. Nevertheless, this was an excellent attempt at outlining the steps that one could take to achieve this type of thinking. After all, it is not dependent on intelligence.

This is a great read, relatively easy to understand. I would most definitely encourage reading it as a foundation for considering lateral thinking. (It's not a one-day wonder or a miracle, but rather a continuous practice. So, don't expect the book to bring about an immediate transformation.)

The idea presented here has the potential to significantly enhance your current performance by a factor of 10. This is because it enables you to take a broader perspective and overcome the limitations that are currently hindering your progress.

It is a truly interesting piece that offers a unique way of thinking. If you identify as a logical thinker, you may either strongly dislike it or find it to be one of the most valuable reads of your life. Although it is designed with teachers in mind, it also provides students and beginners with a wealth of useful material to explore.

My friend, who recommended this to me, advised me to read it over a period of several years. And that's exactly what I did. There is a great deal of excellent content within it, and in order to fully understand and process it, you will need to approach it with patience and take your time reading through it.

Overall, this is a thought-provoking and potentially life-changing read that is well worth considering.

An interesting book presents some processes for generating ideas and solving problems.

To me, the core essence of this book lies in perceiving problems and solutions as patterns. Once a pattern is recognized, it can be broken or rearranged to form new patterns, which in turn lead to new solutions.

The author contends that ideas should never be cast aside, regardless of how absurd they may appear. Even the most outlandish ideas can offer valuable insights into a problem. It is not crucial to be correct throughout the entire problem-solving process. What truly matters is being right at the end. This perspective challenges the traditional notion of always having to have the perfect idea from the start and encourages a more flexible and open-minded approach to problem-solving.

The only complaint I have is that I wish the writing was bigger.

However, I'm sure they have that option. Opposed to the very tiny print I bought in a small kind of book, but that's all they had that day.

I always wonder why or how anyone can even see that or why authors even bother to publish a book with such small print.

Okay, now that I'm through ranting, LOL, I love this book. I love the exercises. It is supplied with an abundance of inspirational brain food.

This kind of book is exactly up my alley. I love how it reframes things so you could view it from different perspectives.

One of the most enjoyable parts of reading is to be able to interact with the author in a workbook kind of format. This book would talk to you and ask you things, stretching the mileage on my brain.

It provides you with various possible answers following the structure of presenting it so you can choose when to peak ahead.

Because of this specific book (even though I have tried to read as many as possible that offer exercises), I started an exercise/game notebook. Similar to my writers notebook, but it's really all just exercises.

So when I'm with my friends and we wanna do something like that or if I'm by myself and I just feel like enjoying myself with productivity. Or I need it to get my brain moving as the author always says to inspire me with ideas related to whatever I plan to do.

For somebody that loves to play with different perspectives, open up your innovative bridges, encourage yourself to see things from different angles (as many as possible), these are the kind of books for us. And this is definitely Bella approved.

At school, the emphasis has always been firmly placed on logical sequential thinking. While creativity is vaguely encouraged, it is mostly perceived as a mysterious, innate talent that only a select few possess. However, in this remarkable book, the author makes a clear and distinct separation between logical and lateral thinking.

He strongly emphasizes the crucial importance of lateral thinking in not only problem solving but also in the generation of new and innovative ideas. The book goes beyond mere theory and teaches some highly practical techniques that can be effectively utilized in the idea generation process, thereby enhancing one's creativity.

The most valuable lesson for me personally was the concept of suspending judgment during the early generative stages of thinking. This allows for a free flow of ideas without the constraints of immediate criticism.

Some of my favorite quotes from the book include: "Very often you need to break the old pattern which has been useful and arrange the old information in a new way." This highlights the need to break free from traditional thinking and explore new possibilities. Another profound quote is: "The purpose of lateral thinking is not to be right but to be effective. Being right means being right all the time. Being effective means being right only at the end." This emphasizes the importance of focusing on the end result rather than getting caught up in being right all the time. And finally, "A wrong idea at some stage can lead to a right later on." This shows that even seemingly incorrect ideas can have value and lead to something great in the end.

I have recently become aware that I have begun to encounter really simple yet brilliant ideas that have the potential to transform my life for the better. However, I am coming up with these ideas rather accidentally and in a haphazard manner.

So, I started to wonder if there is a way to discover a distinct pattern or a well-proven technique to achieve "eureka" moments on a daily basis.

In De Bono's "Serious Creativity", which I read a couple of weeks ago, the author expounds on his concept of "Six thinking hats" and other thinking tools such as random words or images. "Lateral thinking" is a somewhat shorter book, and a significant portion of it is dedicated to the gimmick of inserting a random word into a thinking equation. At first, it didn't seem like a viable tactic, but when I tried it myself, it actually worked!

Other concepts that De Bono elaborates on include finding the crucial point (for example, do robots need to have five-fingered hands like humans? - no, the crucial point is that they simply need enough to hold something firmly); reversal (for example, does the policeman regulate the traffic flow? - yes, and no, in a way the traffic flow dictates his actions); and probably the most applicable one - challenging assumptions. Let's say you need to plant five trees so that each one is at an equal distance from the others. Seemingly, this is impossible, but only if we assume that they are all on a flat ground. If we break this assumption and imagine the central tree growing on top of a hill or at the bottom of a pit - then it becomes perfectly feasible!

However, just like "Serious Creativity", this book lacks real-life examples and contains too much conceptual theorizing rather than practical advice. Moreover, it may be more targeted at school and university teachers teaching creativity in classes rather than actual learners of creativity. But if one carefully extracts the presented lessons, he can still gain a great deal from this book.

Firstly, stating that my status is finished is a falsehood. The reality is that I only managed to get halfway through this book before I had to give up. It is incredibly boring to the extent that I actually fell asleep while reading it, and I wasn't even tired. A whopping 90% of the content consists of a smug, self-congratulatory rant about how amazing lateral thinking is, using various metaphors to explain the exact same thing over and over again. The remaining 10% does describe methods for using lateral thinking, but in the most tedious way imaginable. I understand that enhancing your lateral thinking skills demands more than just solving a few puzzles, but this book fails to captivate or inspire you in this pursuit. I was on the verge of giving it just 1 star, but since I only read half of it, I decided to give it the benefit of the doubt that it might improve. It's a pity because I truly desire to improve my lateral thinking abilities, but unfortunately, this is not the right book for me.