Now Reading: Six Thinking Hats by Edward de Bono

de Bono has always fascinated me… to write 56 books on ‘thinking’ is certainly no easy feat!!

I wanted to read this book for quite some time and had got it yesterday from the Eloor library.. have started to read it…. I especially like the part which says:

Being a thinker does not involve being right all the time. Indeed, anyone who is right all the time is likely to be a poor thinker (arrogant, uninterested in exploration, unable to see alternatives, etc.). Being a thinker does not involve being clever. Nor does it involve solving all those cunning problems that people always expect me to solve. Being a thinker involves consciously wanting to be a thinker.

and this:

You choose which of the six hats to put on at any one moment. You put on that hat and then play the role defined by that hat. You watch yourself playing that role. You play the role as well as you can. Your ego is protected by the role. your ego is involved in playing the role well.

When you change thinking hats you have to change roles. Each role should be distinct. As distinct as the witch and the prince in a pantomime. You become a bunch of different thinkers – all using the same head.

All this is part of the mapmaking type of thinking. As I have said, each colored hat represents a different color that might be used in the printing of a map. At the end the colors come together to give the completed map.

….

Thinking now begins to flow fro the acted parts and not from your ego. That is how maps are made. Then, in the end, the ego can choose a preferred route.