October Read

Title: Smart Thinking: Three Essential Keys to Solve Problems, Innovate, And Get Things Done

Author: Markman, Art

Call Number: 153.43 M346S 2012

Subjects: Thought and thinking; Critical thinking; Problem solving

Number of Pages: 259

ISBN: 9780399537226

Book Description (from the Book Jacket):

            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 understand 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, Dr. Markman provides insights into the functioning of the mind and synthesizes this understanding into practical tools and exercises that develop new skills and help you achieve personal goals.

My Read:

            The first thing I recall from reading this Smart Thinking is the Role of 3. “Generally speaking, your memory for things that happened to you in the past is governed by the Role of 3. You are able to remember approximately three distinct things about any experience. The quality of what you can remember depends on how well you are able to connect those three things to knowledge you have already. You create High-Quality Knowledge when you relate new information to important knowledge edge you already possess.”-Page 74

            I remember the author states memory is about relationship, association, connection, and interconnection. It reminds me of a book I read about brain and thinking that incidents, things, or events are like dots registered in our brain. To remember something is like to retrieve dots from the dossiers inside the brain and to connect and associate the dots to create some kind of picture so you can read or see.

            Smart Habit: there is a formula the author lists in the book: mapping between an action and the environment consistently, and performing that action repeatedly. The author states that habit change requires replacing bad habits with good ones. One can’t change something with nothing. The relationship between an environment and an action reminds of me of a well-renowned Chinese story about the mother of Master Mong Tzu. To provide little Mong Tzu a healthy growing environment, Mother Mong relocated their living place 3 times. Young children are like sponges; they absorb things from their living environment and the interactions with people around them as fast as water flow. The final settlement of the family Mong is a community with a school and learning children. Gracefully little Mong Tzu blends in and engages in reading and learning ever after.

            High-Quality Knowledge: Use the role of 3 to acquire casual knowledge: prepare, pay attention, and review. It’s like preparing an exam. A student would study in advance and zero in on the main areas and review before the exact exam day. The author encourages the readers to do self-explanation to see if there is any gap in explaining how things work. If a person is not able to explain and detail how things work then s/he has to learn deeper to know about the knowledge.

            Making comparisons and applying your knowledge. The author introduces application of analogy and tactics of comparison to help readers to apply learned knowledge. A person can borrow book titles, proverbs, or punch lines from jokes to make relations or connections of casual knowledge. “This is like that, only different.” The author uses the example of the chain restaurant, McDonald’s, to explain the alignable difference. The similar layout of every McDonald’s restaurant provides their customers a friendly environment. Though the location may differ, the design and things displayed are identical invite in familiarity and similarity giving customers comfort and friendliness.

            How smart a person could be? Similar to those books I read about innovation, creativity, and getting smart, this book reminds me if one wants to become great one has to have the basics covered and be able to do the self-explanation. If one can explain how a thing works the knowledge is hers.