We've
seen them, those with an incredibly high IQ yet incapable of
successfully living life. Much more is required, Sundem says. He aims to
help us get the most out of what is in our brains to obtain the results
we want in the real world. “IQ doesn't lead to success. Practical
intelligence does.”
Sundem
says we need qualities like intuition, wisdom, skill in willpower,
the ability to focus, and skill in multitasking (actually the skill
of brain switching). He provides an explanation of the necessity for
each quality, including research, and then gives a number of exercises
to develop it.
I
liked his exploration of insight, finding a solution to a
problem combining specific knowledge with openness. He gave exercises
helping our brains become “open” to new solutions.
Other
topics in the book include tacit knowledge, problem solving,
identifying false assumptions, boosting creativity, when expertise is
a trap, cognitive involvement, wisdom, pressure, emotional
intelligence, heuristics and bias.
I
appreciate Sundem's documenting research. He names many books from
which he gleaned his information so it would be easy to do further
reading on a topic. I appreciate all the exercises too. Many of them
would take a great deal of time to complete. If you want to get the
most out of this book, plan to spend a long time with it. Reading it
from cover to cover will give you the information but not the
intended benefits of the exercises.
I
could see this book being used in a group setting. The exercises
would make for a fun family evening or for a group of high school or
college students.
Note
to Kindle readers: many of the exercises contain instructions like,
“Copy, cut out and arrange...” Also, after each exercise is a
“Click here for the answers” which will work, I suppose on new
Kindles, but not my older, non-touch screen one. Some exercises also
say “Click here to download this exercise” which could be done on
a computer Kindle reading app.
Garth
Sundem has a pre-med/music degree from Cornell University. He has a
growing list of books, keynotes for tech and data companies, has
appeared on the Science Channel, contributes to GeekDad.com and
Psychologytoday.com, and various magazines. He and his family live in
Boulder, Colorado.
Three
Rivers Press, 240 pages.
I
received a complimentary digital copy of this book from the publisher
for the purpose of an independent and honest review.
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