PREFACE

Think back to a recent occasion when you had to make a decision or solve some problem that called for careful thought. Think of a time when your logical processes were really clicking well, and you came up with a really good solution.

If you’re like most people, you got a miniature emotional charge out of that experience—you had a momentary feeling of being high, potent, and effective. It felt good to be able to conquer a problem with clear, logical thought.

Like most people, you’d like to feel that way more often, on a more consistent basis. This book can help you feel that way, by helping you learn certain key thought habits and mental tactics that make your logical processes more powerful and reliable.

Research into the practical aspects of human thought has identified the differences between people who can think clearly and logically and people who are intimidated by it. Aside from any differences in so-called “intelligence” that may or may not exist, clear thinkers have somehow mastered certain relatively simple mental procedures that make the difference. Many skilled thinkers can’t explain clearly how they go about dealing with complicated situations or intricate problems, but a care­ful analysis of their comments reveals a very orderly thought process at work. My research into practical thinking processes, tested and refined through a number of years of conducting the Brainpower seminar for business organizations and teaching thinking courses at an extension of the University of California, has isolated these key mental tactics and organized them into a teachable form. By understanding them and using them deliber­ately in various everyday situations, you can become “smarter,” in a practical sense.

In this book, I will guide you on a fascinating journey­inside the human mind, where we will “listen in” on the thoughts of a person who has developed the skills of clear, logical thinking.

This is not a book of “puzzles” in the usual sense. Rather, it is a book of guided mental exercises, using easy thinking problems for practice and skill building. I have selected each of the problems for its skill-building value rather than for its potential for frustrating or defeating you. These problems are not “tricky” in the sense that I am trying to present you with something you can’t solve. There are enough “puzzle” books already, with titles that emphasize mental torture, frustration, and aggravation. I have included each of the selected problems for its ability to enlighten, rather than to exasperate. Puzzle fans may find them interesting as well, but my purpose is to teach rather than to test.

If you are one of the many people who have suffered for years from a lack of confidence in your logical faculties, and therefore steered shy of situations that would put them to the test, this book may have special value to you. It will help you see that clear, logical thinking is not a magical process or a matter of genetic endowment, but rather a process of organi­zing and manipulating information which you can learn. By carefully studying the basic mental procedures or tactics pre­sented here, and by making a deliberate effort to use them in as many situations as possible, you will probably see a marked improvement in your logical skills. You will probably feel much more effective in most situations as a result.