Lateral Thinking: Creativity Step by Step Paperback – August 29, 1973

Edward De Bono has not only successfully written a challenging guide on creative thinking, but a manual on how to read and teach it.De Bono begins by laying out the framework for lateral thinking and how it compares to vertical thinking, the type of thinking we are most often taught early in schools. Where vertical thinking seeks to find one answer, lateral thinking aims to find as many alternatives as possible, no matter how silly the alternatives may appear. The silly alternatives can transform into or inspire something great.Throughout the book, De Bono reminds readers that the key to creativity is liberating oneself from existing patterns and restructuring them to create something new. Each new chapter offers new techniques on how to achieve this, as well as practice examples that can be utilized when teaching the material to students.Lateral thinking came to life for me in Chapter 14: “The reversal method.” In this technique, one takes an existing system and reverses it. Simply applying the reversal method does not ensure a new solution, but it is a great way to stimulate creative ideas.A paraphrased example of this method in action:A duchess, who was “much overweight” (144), kept dismissing her physicians for putting her on unpleasant, near-starvation diets. One doctor reversed the idea of taking away food and prescribed the duchess “a glass of sweetened milk half-an-hour before all meals (which of course reduced her appetite very much)” (145).Though I read it over the course of a week, De Bono recommends sitting with each chapter for several weeks or months in order to practice and fully integrate each method into your daily thinking. I look forward to rereading and integrating these practices into my life.The wisdom in this book is applicable to all aspects of life, whether that be at work, home, or play. With short, easy to read chapters full of lively examples, I recommend this book to all who desire to think outside the box, and who are willing to come up with some silly ideas on the road to some really great ones.

Dr. Edward de Bono coined the term "lateral thinking," and this is the book that explains what it is, how it works, and what it does in the realm of creative thinking. It is one of my favorites -- along with just about everything else de Bono has produced -- and I've used his various teachings to good effect in my classrooms. Creative thinking is sorely needed in the United States today as it transitions from an industrial nation into a technology-based society. This book is the core of de Bono's philosophy, and central to all his teachings. Everyone, from individuals to businesses, can learn from it.

Lateral thinking is a concept that so little attention has been paid to, and most dismiss the concept without a second thought. But through this book, Edward De Bono showcases the incredible capability and flexibility of lateral thinking with clear examples and concise definitions that are made practical in day-to-day life and business without dismissing the need for vertical thinking. This book is a lot to swallow, so I would recommend taking your time with it, but the content is rich with many moments that might make you question whether you should try lateral thinking. While there are some moments he gets a bit wordy with explanations or uses one too many examples (hence the 4 of 5 stars), I think this book is an excellent read that can teach you a different way of thinking and approaching problems. If you get lost at any point in a chapter, he also provides a summary at the end, which is really helpful.

The book was meaningful to me as I found out that I'm evidently a natural lateral thinker. I've been doing it for years but didn't have a label for it until this month. People label me "creative" based on my arts and technology projects over a period of years. I realized I didn't need to do any of the exercises in the book since I was already there. Lateral thinking is my default, and I didn't know it. I'm first lateral and then test later with vertical logic. So the book was a personal epiphany.

This is a great book. It will get you thinking in new ways. It will help you break down patterns of thinking and help get creativity unstuck. This book has already got my brain working in ways that it never seemed to be able to do before. I have really only just begun to discover what I can accomplish with the tecniques in this book. The information in this book can ( I believe) unlock your unlimited potential as a human being.

Although strategies to adopt lateral thinking are suggested throughout the book, I found it very repetitive.

For a book that positions itself as a guide to design excellence, the reality of this debacle could best be described as: ridiculously off-putting. The font is so small I can't bear to read more than a couple of paragraphs at a time. What I am able to wade through is so meandering and banal, I feel like I need a year's vacation from words.The only reason I bought this book is because it was recommended in an article published by a hit and miss inbound marketing vendor called HubSpot. The article mentioned all kinds of interesting ways to jump-start creative juices, and it featured this book as the quintessential go-to resource. I'm not sure how much HubSpot was paid to print such a recommendation, but in my opinion, this book is unilateral drek.

This is the book for those of you who plow straight ahead on a path that is always very flat, very well-paved, very unbending, very sunny and well-ventilated. Shifting a foot to the side and letting your imagination follow will put you into another climate (moonlight instead of sunlight, curving paths with rocks, etc.). The author is upbeat and friendly, so following his lead can surprise you.