I Am Right, You Are Wrong

This book opened a lot of doors in my mind that I've been trying to get through for a long time. This book is a great mix of topics that helped me gain a different understanding (several mental models are proposed in the book that offer a mental paradigm shift) of the relationship of emotion to thought to psychology, philosophy, belief, truth, etc. and helped me gain a historical and cultural understanding of the belief structures I have working in my life. In this book, De Bono proposes that critical thinking is powerful, but less than perfect, if it is the only thinking we use. He proposes that Critical/Rational thinking as developed by Socrates/Plato has provided the means for our technological success today, but has also blocked our progress as humans because it is only one kind of thinking (black or white, right or wrong). There are other ways of thinking and when they are used in conjunction with rational thought we have a better chance at improving our human interaction and the world we live in. I have a true, good friend who recommended this book. I had asked him for his opinion on why I feel the need to "evangelize" other people. "Why do I feel this need to convince other people that my beliefs are correct and that theirs are somehow flawed if they don't match mine exactly?" I've observed how this practice has had poor effects in my own life and also how similar practices have not had good effects in the world e.g. War, Politics, Religion, etc. On a technical level we've made all kinds of progress, yet on a social level we are still acting like cavemen! So, anyway, this year I've been studying motivation, behavior, psychology, belief, various religions, etc. attempting to understand myself and how/why I interact with other people in the way I do even though I know my confrontational approach is less than Ideal. This book gave me some breakthrough thinking on this subject and I'm still sorting through the debris of my former beliefs on human motivation as a result. This is why I feel like I will give this book 5 stars in a few months after I've had a chance to study it more. Right now, I'm wondering if I've been logically tricked... One thing is for sure, I didn't "get" De Bono's 6 Hats until reading this book. I bought "SIX THINKING HATS" at the same time I bought "I'M RIGHT, YOU'RE WRONG" and it seems like these two books together offer practical approaches to revolutionize our thinking patterns and improve our human interactions. Do these ideas result in practical change and improvement for myself and world I live in? I will need to report on this later. As a intellectually stimulating book I give it 5 stars. For pragmatism, I give it 3 because I haven't tested it yet. So, for today, I give it 4 stars overall. Note: This was not an easy book to read. It seemed like de Bono took forever to get to his points. In fact, at one point, I skipped a few chapters and then found I had to go back and make them up. His teaching seems so simple in hindsight! But de Bono is building a logical argument throughout the book and while it seems like he is taking too long to get to his points, the points are WORTH IT! This is NOT a book on practical tools. He has written other books about practical tools (of which he reminds you quite often). This book provides a foundation on which to develop practical solutions.

I have studied the work of #debono for over ten years and I am coming back to this book again for the second time. I feel that with this style of thinking I can build a better business. In my opinion this book had a deeper impact the second time through. I shouldn’t have waited another ten years. Buy this book today! #winsalesnow

Revolution is often associated with violence, emotion, and the collapse of great monuments. It's difficult to recognize how a new mode of thought could be revolutionary, yet De Bono demonstrates this thesis in IARYAW. With patience, the reader realizes De Bono's insights could help people to think better, see more clearly, be more creative, and live in a more just, equitable, and Utopian world as a result. De Bono's basic idea is that modern thinking, including critical thinking and analysis built on the foundation of Western logic, is insufficient and incomplete. The status quo mode of thinking, which De Bono refers to as "Rock Logic" falls prey to the brain's need for order and patterns. Consequently, we focus too much on what is or what has been. We argue, analyze, and criticize to explain, and we draw hard lines into the sand where there may in reality be none. This way of thinking, De Bono, suggests, holds us back. His solution: with greater awareness of the operational biases of the mind, we can transcend these limits and balance out the critical, analytical, binary thinking of the western tradition with a more exploratory, generative, design and future-oriented thinking. De Bono calls this "perceptual thinking" or "water logic." If we applied gender stereotypes to the contrasting modes of thinking, it would be easy to assign rock logic as masculine and water logic as feminine. Interesting to note that, for the millenia that rock logic has been in the ascendant, patriarchy has been the dominant social force. Without explicitly doing so, it seems De Bono is calling for a sexual revolution of the Western mind. De Bono's ideas are not difficult or complex ideas to grasp, but the implications are profound, and the author spends the great part of the book illustrating how a revolution in thinking could transform every aspect of society, from language to education to the economy. IARYAW is curiously written. It's repetitive, it comes in bite-size ponderable chapters rather than extended prose. It's at times stridently misinformed, like when De Bono suggests we have a better understanding of the brain than gravity (58) -- while we understand certain cognitive processes of the brain, the hard problem of consciousness is still a profound mystery. It also dances around the thesis, approaching it brusquely from many oblique angles rather than directly and deeply exploring it. I often felt the author spent too much time pointing out flaws with the current way of thinking instead of developing a substantial alternate program. We have to wait until the appendix of the book, for example, to discover a few hints about what De Bono means by his system of "water logic" -- and yet, according to the title, this is supposed to be the book's focus. Despite the quirks, bit by bit De Bono reveals genuine originality and insight. There are many fascinating asides, such as the concept of ludecy, which explains the insane consequences of people following poorly-conceived rules; the notion of networks and expectancy loops in attracting interest; the word "po" as a place-holder to help reserve judgment and create space for dispassionate reflection. I recommend the book and recommend reading it more than once to appreciate its broad implications.

Very interesting book. Arrives in great condition.

awesome

I bought this book after MANY people suggested I read it. What I expected was the (possibly reader-friendly) exposition of some theory and an exploration of its implication. What I found instead was a masterpiece of self-celebration, without any structure or goal whatsoever, and with very few (and bad) ideas. The book basically consists in a never-ending loop of: -Chapter title (which has seldom anything to do with the actual content of the chapter) -One or more gratuitous, awkward, but very dramatic, examples -"Table-top logic is hindering the Western world" -"The brain does not follow logic, but rather a self-organizing model" -(Starting from the fifth-or-so iteration) very bad examples explaining what a self-organizing model is -Some dogmatic statements on the theory -"My theory is sound because my books have been translated in so many languages" -"My theory is sound because it gave birth to very effective thinking tools (buy Lateral Thinking™ on iTunes)" -"My theory is sound because honestly, I'm really good guys" -(Optional) "If you really think my theory is wrong, why don't you come up with a better one? Mine is even better than Darwin's" -Gross mistakes about terminology and basic biology -misc Even though the thesis of the book is very compelling and the approach it pursues is very fertile, little to no actual ideas are put forward to compensate for the alleged inadequacy of our current way of thinking (that is, unless we consider the LT brainstorming games a valid alternative). One could easily read the introduction and perhaps one or two chapters and be done with it.

Just amazing! Based on one of the most common behavioral elements -I am right, you are wrong- this book makes you think how you think and act/react, makes you consider 'why' you do that, and much more in brief but so complete chapters that you wonder how come there can be so much wisdom expressed in so few words. De Bono at his best!

If you're interested in mind, brain, thinking, even marketing or stuff like this, just get and read it. You'll be glad.

Great book, with lot of learned from it

Das Buch hatte etwas mehr Gebrauchsspuren aufgewiesen als ich dachte, aber sonst ist alles reibungslos abgelaufen. Würe ich wieder machen