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A review by sde
Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know by Adam M. Grant
5.0
I would never have read this book except for the fact that two separate people recommended it to me. I don't often give books 5 stars, and I may be giving this particular book 5 stars because I was very skeptical of it. It is classified as self-help (ugh), written by a professor at Wharton (yuck), and it has a cheesy I-think-I-have-easy-answers-to-your-complex-problems cover (yes, I know the author's young daughter came up with the idea of a candle with water instead of a flame. That is a cool idea, but they changed it to a match and they used a stark design that, when I judged a book by its cover - usually accurate - I didn't want to read it. No shade on the daughter, but on the people who messed up her idea.) But I rethought my opinions on all those things after reading the book!
Yes, this book has some pie in the sky ideas, but it contains quite a lot of very practical advice on how to rethink things yourself and how to help others see things differently, which will improve business, inventions, education, and even people's personal interactions. If only I had read it years ago.
I am guilty of many of the things he describes in the book, especially the prosecutor style where I try to change people's point of view through facts and data. I am also guilty of holding fast to opinions because they are ones that my group or political party hold, but we could get so much further along in solving problems if we would let go of our "party line" ideas.
The discussion of how you can win debates by starting with the points you agree with on the other side and by focusing on a few of the strongest points in your argument rather than pulling out a laundry list of lots of arguments, including weaker ones, made a lot of sense to me.
I especially enjoyed the chapter on education and how teachers got the students to think from different points of view. I thought the exercise where the teacher brought in excerpts from old textbooks that were shocking to students was a great one, but it would be hard to do in current days when there is so much scrutiny on what resources teachers are using, no matter HOW they are using them.
It was also interesting to read about things that we thing of as positive - e.g. grit - can lead to negative results, and things we think of as negative - e.g. imposter syndrome - can lead to positive results.
I grew up in Boston, so I laughed out loud several times when reading the chapter on his work to try to get Red Sox and Yankees fans to see their commonalities (spoiler: it was tough).
Most of what he writes in this book is excellent. The trick is actually incorporating it into your life, especially at my middle aged stage of life. I think I will have to read it several times to truly be able to implement any of the things he suggests. I am looking for an inexpensive used copy so I can mark it up all I want.
Yes, this book has some pie in the sky ideas, but it contains quite a lot of very practical advice on how to rethink things yourself and how to help others see things differently, which will improve business, inventions, education, and even people's personal interactions. If only I had read it years ago.
I am guilty of many of the things he describes in the book, especially the prosecutor style where I try to change people's point of view through facts and data. I am also guilty of holding fast to opinions because they are ones that my group or political party hold, but we could get so much further along in solving problems if we would let go of our "party line" ideas.
The discussion of how you can win debates by starting with the points you agree with on the other side and by focusing on a few of the strongest points in your argument rather than pulling out a laundry list of lots of arguments, including weaker ones, made a lot of sense to me.
I especially enjoyed the chapter on education and how teachers got the students to think from different points of view. I thought the exercise where the teacher brought in excerpts from old textbooks that were shocking to students was a great one, but it would be hard to do in current days when there is so much scrutiny on what resources teachers are using, no matter HOW they are using them.
It was also interesting to read about things that we thing of as positive - e.g. grit - can lead to negative results, and things we think of as negative - e.g. imposter syndrome - can lead to positive results.
I grew up in Boston, so I laughed out loud several times when reading the chapter on his work to try to get Red Sox and Yankees fans to see their commonalities (spoiler: it was tough).
Most of what he writes in this book is excellent. The trick is actually incorporating it into your life, especially at my middle aged stage of life. I think I will have to read it several times to truly be able to implement any of the things he suggests. I am looking for an inexpensive used copy so I can mark it up all I want.