Be a Thinker

This book deals with certain strategies and processes of thinking, and the critical and creative cognitive operations that underlie them. The writer has attempted to strip away the often threatening terminology and academic complexities of the cognitive field. He presents the step-like algorithms and heuristics of thinking so that they appear as digestible, usable and unthreatening. The author has designed the book to be clear and readable. It should prove suitable for anyone who has a fair command of language, and a willingness to engage with thinking as a conscious, critical tool rather than as an obscure, mystical enterprise. Students, scholars and teachers should find it especially useful, and perhaps valuable. The writer deals thoroughly with critical thinking that emphasizes rational, logical thought. He also covers creative thought in some depth. By means of creative thinking, one generates and tests diverse, innovative ideas to devise some unique creation. Moreover, whether the thinking is convergent, in which case the subject narrows down to a single good idea, or divergent, in which case the thinker generates and pursues a range of ideas, there is always an emphasis on relationships, associations and connections. Accordingly, the thinking processes deal with solving problems and devising fresh and exciting creations in the complex and sometimes baffling contexts in which they occur. To ease understanding, intricate processes of thinking appear as logical steps. Here, optimal sequencing is important. The writer invites readers invited to introduce their own enhancements based on their experience. Although one can gain insights into thinking processes quite rapidly as result of reflecting purposefully on them, to become proficient as a thinker demands serious, focused commitment in the long term. To engage with a study of thinking in general, and one’s own thinking in particular, is an absorbing and enormously rewarding journey. It is, however, a long haul with few ‘quick fixes’. During the past half-century, and the last decade in particular, research into the human mind (and especially cognition), has surged and expanded. The interested reader should also delve into the many other excellent academic and practical works emerging. Many comprise detailed and tested courses of study devised over decades. Some offer training products thoroughly worth exploring.