|
Think!: Why Crucial Decisions Can't Be Made in the Blink of an Eye | 
 enlarge | Author: Michael R. Legault
Publisher: Threshold Editions
Category: Book
List Price: $14.00
Buy New: $7.91
You Save: $6.09 (44%)
New (34) Used (15) from $6.15
Rating:  73 reviews
Sales Rank: 48272
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 368
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.4 x 1.1
ISBN: 1416531556
Dewey Decimal Number: 158
EAN: 9781416531555
ASIN: 1416531556
Publication Date: October 24, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand New, Perfect Condition, Please allow 4-14 business days for delivery. 100% Money Back Guarantee, Over 1,000,000 customers served.
| |
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Outraged by the downward spiral of intellect and culture, Michael LeGault offers the flip side of Malcolm Gladwell's bestselling phenomenon, Blink, which theorized that our best decision-making is done on impulse, without factual knowledge or critical analysis. If bestselling books are advising us to not think, LeGault argues, it comes as no surprise that sharp, incisive reasoning has become a lost art in the daily life of people everywhere. Somewhere along the line, the Age of Reason morphed into the Age of Emotion; this systemic erosion is costing time, money, jobs, and lives in the twenty-first century, leading to less fulfilment and growing dysfunction. LeGault provides a bold, controversial, and objective analysis of the causes and solutions for some of the biggest problems facing Western culture in the 21st century. From the over- load of reality TV shows and gossip magazines that have rendered curiosity of the mind and spirit obsolete to permissive parenting and low standards that have caused an academic crisis among our children, LeGault looks at all aspects of modern lives and points to how and where it all went wrong.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 68 more reviews...
 James Studinger December 4, 2008
I think our country would be better off (possibly to the point that it is a necessity) if everyone read the book Th!nk, and here's why. I wrote the book Wealth Is a Choice. During the editing stages we contemplated how much emphasis I put on the idea that people have to be actively, physically and mentally, engaged along the pursuit toward individual wealth. It was suggested to me, many times, that people just want to read about something that will tell them exactly what to do, without them having to think. I disagreed. I believe people are intelligent enough to understand that the definition of financial independence has changed, and are ready to learn how to succeed. Today we are in a global financial crisis, one that I believe could have been largely diverted if we all thought more clearly about financial decisions and their mid (let alone long term) ramifications.
Michael Legault reminds us of the importance of critical thinking, and challenges the reader in an engaging and stimulating study. You might not agree with all his examples, and may criticize some of his positions. We all have our notions. Yet his core message is consistent and clear. I don't believe we can rely on headlines throughout our life to give us a true representation for what is going on in the world. We need to engage our brains, and discover the truth behind the things that are important to us, and progress our decisions to be closer in line with our actual goals. Some of you may already be there. Given the condition of our country, I'd argue that not enough are. Th!nk helps you get there.
 Of very limited value... December 3, 2008
This book has a number of very serious problems. Some are (not necessarily in order of importance):
1. Far too verbose. The author could easily have conveyed his views in half to two thirds the pages. Ironic since he makes this criticism of others in his book.
2. Far more importantly, does not analyze cause-problem nexus. He states, for example, that one of main reasons for deterioration of "critical" thinking in business is poor schooling. Could it possibly, instead, be that businesses now require their employees to multi-task beyond comprehension? Could it be that solutions are expected far quicker than before (hence leaving less time to actually critically analyze a problem)? This type of logic, unfortunately, permeates this book and hence is the reason for the one star rating. Not being concise is one thinking but being incomplete in one's thing, illogical and/or contradictory are another thing altogether.
3. Far too many references to "Blink". Not only does it become tedious after a while but one actually has to have read that book to fully examine the value of "Think".
 Very helpful stimulant toward practical thinking November 21, 2008
I listened to this audio book for two weeks while commuting to work. Most of the theses hold together strongly as I apply them to events going on in our nation now, two 2 years after its publication. For example, I see more clearly how the metastasis of man-made global warming notions within our public policy agenda is an assault on reason and objectivity. Another example is the recent election of a president whose primary strengths are presentation and style rather than delivery or accomplishment. The populace seems to have overlaid his lack of substance with their imagining of what treats they want the government to bestow upon them as well as their non-critical incorporation of the negative world-view fashioned by the dominant consumer media. It's also alarming that a recent poll shows the majority of college students don't understand the most basic principles of our government (like 'what are the three branches of goverment?').
I have also listened to the audio book Blink (and read the book Guns, Germs and Steel) and I find LeGault's depiction of these to be spot-on. The initial ideas presented in Blink have an appeal because of their cleverness, but there is no application for them; they don't lead to anything real or constructive. The ideas in Blink do help explain why some events occur (like the police shooting in New York); but the proscriptions Gladwell casts out for applying intuitive thinking don't hold together.
The author of Th!nk presents some elementary concepts of logic, but I would have liked to have heard a bit more.
This book (Th!nk) encourages me think objectively as I respond to what life throws at me; I am motivated to support my opinions with high quality evidence; I see that the most constructive outlook for living is to employ objective discourse with my peers and provide a hopeful example for my children.
This book is not perfect but it is helpful. The negative reviews here seem to be shallow-minded and prove the hostility that can be engendered when someone presents a challenge to change and goes against the main-stream mindset that the highest priorty in life is to feel good, rather than to exert yourself to be good.
Complete waste of time reading this book November 6, 2008
This book is poorly organized and contains no useful information. Unless you want to understand why people should have commonsense there is no reason to get this book.
Critical Thinking instead of Intuitive Blinking October 31, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
"Is America losing its ability to think? If, for arguments sake, we define thinking as the use of knowledge and reasoning to solve problems and plan and produce favorable outcomes, the answer is, apparently, yes." ~ pg. 5
"Think" is a very appropriate title. Many book titles promise but they don't deliver. Whether you agree or disagree with the information presented in this book it is still a brain-stimulating ride. "Think" is divided into three main sections. In part 1 Michael R. LeGault takes on workaholism, the stress epidemic, information overload, mental illness, political correctness, global warming, the negative aspects of TV and computers, newspapers and obesity. Part 2 includes information on the lives of Einstein, Copernicus, Shakespeare, Newton, Edison and Darwin. Part 3 discusses everything from permissive parenting and school textbooks to paranoia and postmodernism.
For the most part I found myself disagreeing as often as agreeing. I disagreed over the notion that "intelligent design has no substantiating evidence." For anyone interested in this subject there is an excellent book called The Case for a Creator: A Journalist Investigates Scientific Evidence That Points Toward God.
There are some interesting facts, like about how more people drown in their own bathtubs than are killed by terrorists in an average year. Since I read a lot more than average it was enlightening to read that forty-year-old Americans only spend about 35 minutes a day reading. Most spend their time watching TV. Since I don't have cable at the moment that could explain the quantity of my reviews. After years of people telling me I'm too positive I was pleased to finally read that critical thinking doesn't have to be negative. It can also include praise.
Michael R. LeGualt brings a voice of sanity to the whole discussion of what it means to be intellectual. He makes a clear and concise case for critical thinking and believes thinking is sexy, inspiring and powerful. At times this book reads like a crash course in our societies modern problems and at other times it is a revealing look at why America is one of the greatest places on earth to live. I can truly say this book was a pleasure to read even if I had a few disagreements on some of the major topics like evolution.
"The technique by which we make good decisions and produce good work is a nuanced and interwoven mental process involving bits of emotion, observation, intuition, and critical reasoning." ~ pg. 12
~The Rebecca Review
|
|
|
|
