Book of The Week

 

 

 

Lateral Thinking ,by Edward de Bono

 

This book starts with a dilemma faced by a pretty merchant's daughter confronted by her father's nasty creditor. The creditor says he will settle the issue with a game of chance. Where they stand are white and black stones. he will put two stones in a bag and she will draw one out. A white stone means the debt is settled, a black stone means the debt is settled but she must marry the money-lender. Our heroine notices that the money lender puts two black stones in the bag. So whatever she chooses she is in a fix. And if she demonstrates he is cheating then he will just ruin her father. So she . . . uses lateral thinking. (You need to look at the book to see what she does, I won't spoil it.) De Bono offers a couple strong, practical suggestions to basically force our minds to ignore, reassemble and/or otherwise change the patterns that are preventing more useful or elegant solutions.This is the kind of book which you can enjoy for years by reading it again and again, and implementing the concepts suggested in your day to day thinking. The main point though sounds a small issue, but has been brilliantly explained by the author.