Edward de Bono - Textbook of Wisdom: Shortcuts to Becoming Wiser Than Your Years

Edward de Bono is the leading authority in the field of creative thinking and originator of the term lateral thinking and the Six Thinking Hats. Highly regarded internationally, his instruction has been sought by governments, schools and leading corporations around the world.

De Bonos thinking methods provide practical, creative tools to make it possible for anyone not just people considered arty to be creative on demand. These are based on an understanding of the logic of the brains self-organizing information system, which forms asymmetric patterns. This is why creative thinking can be seen as a formal and deliberate skill and not a mysterious talent. De Bonos system of lateral thinking is so powerful that the use of just one of his methods produced 21,000 ideas in a single afternoon at a workshop with a steel company.

In the Middle Ages the influence of the Church gave rise to good thinking for finding the truth, which in turn served us well in science. Edward de Bono believes this is ebne (excellent but not enough). Culturally, we have never developed thinking for creating value but it is now time we treated it much more seriously. As part of this initiative Edward de Bono has taught thinking directly in schools and his methods are in use in thousands of schools worldwide. Research has shown improvement in all subjects, increased employment and much-reduced criminal behaviour.

Edward de Bono holds an MD (Malta), MA (Oxford), DPhil (Oxford), PhD (Cambridge) and Ddes (RMIT). He has had faculty appointments at the universities of Oxford, Cambridge, London and Harvard, and was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford. He has written 83 books, translated into 42 languages, in the field of creativity and thinking, including the global bestsellers Six Thinking Hats and Lateral Thinking.

Edward de Bono is the leading authority in the field of creative thinking and the publishers are delighted to be bringing this thought-provoking work back into print.

The author was writing in a different political and social era, and many of the examples he cites offer a snapshot of this time. However, though there have been considerable changes politically, socially and economically over the last thirty years or so, this important book explores key issues which still require attention, even in todays fast-paced world, and many parallels can be drawn with life today. The fundamental principles and themes in this book will encourage us to change the way we think; as the author himself says, In a rapidly changing world we are finding that our thinking is inadequate to meet the demands put on it.

Edward de Bonos teaching is as valid today as when this book was first published, and will resonate with readers for many years to come.

This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorized distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the authors and publishers rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

Vermilion, an imprint of Ebury Publishing,
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Ebury is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies whose addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com.

Copyright IP Development Corporation 1991

Edward de Bono has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this Work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

Published with permission from de Bono Global Pty Ltd www.debono.com

This edition first published in the United Kingdom by Vermilion in 2019

penguin.co.uk

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 9781473558083

The sections are numbered for ease of reference.

The gap between each section is indicated by a line. If the gap is large the line is longer.

There is a person at point A. For some reason you want to prevent that person from moving to B. What might you do?

1. You might give no information about B, so that the person is not even aware that B exists.
2. You might give misleading information, so that the person is looking in the wrong direction for B.
3. You might make sure that there is no road between A and B. So there is a gap or the absence of any path.
4. You might build a wall between A and B.
5. You might dig a ditch between A and B. The ditch does not have to be very wide.
6. You might build a wall (or ditch) around B.
7. You might fix a heavy ball and chain to the persons ankle. This would restrict movement in all directions including moving to B.

You can probably think of a lot more ways of preventing that person getting to B.

By far the most effective way of preventing that person getting to B is to provide an easy and attractive path to C.

In all the other ways the person has B firmly in mind and is seeking ways to get there except where there is no information at all about B. The person might be seeking ways to climb walls, cross ditches and remove the ball and chain.

With the easy and attractive path to C, the person forgets all about B and no longer notices B or the desire to get there.

It is because the mind works this way that wisdom is so important. We do not always want to take the easy and obvious path that our minds and our feelings set out in front of us.

It is the same with creativity. We do not always want to take the easy and obvious traditional path.

Two days ago someone told me that he had come back from an international meeting in Japan. At that meeting there had been an admiral who was very definite, decisive and dogmatic.

Imagine someone walking along the road in the countryside. That person comes to a fork in the road. The person may know the road, may read the road signs, may consult a map, may choose the fork going in the general direction of choice or may choose randomly. What is clear is that the walker has to choose fork C or D. The walker cannot pursue both roads at the same time.

It is possible that the background experience of the dogmatic admiral was the same. You cannot steer a ship in two different directions at the same time. So in steering a ship there is a need to be definite and to make decisions. I have no evidence at all that admirals, in general, are more dogmatic than other people. I am merely putting this forward as an illustrative possibility.

All this is very reasonable. You cannot walk along two roads at the same time and you cannot steer a ship in two different directions at the same time.