How to Think: A Survival Guide for a World at Odds

Short Review: How to Think is a short book (157 pages of main content) that is somewhat along the lines of Exercise for Young Theologians or Letters to a Young (X) types of book. Jacobs is writing as an English professor that has taught comprehension and communication skill via literature and composition for more than 30 years. He is not specifically writing to ‘young people'. But it does feel a bit like wisdom from an elder in a good way.

How to think isn't a structured 5 steps to better thinking or an analysis of logical fallacies, although there is a discussion of logical fallacies and there are suggestions on how to think better. Largely it is about creating habits of thought that re-enforce good thinking.

First, stop overestimating yourself. You are probably not as good at thinking and being open to alternative ideas as you think you are. You are impacted by the community around you, there is no ‘independent thinking' that comes to your own ideas. All ideas are shared.

Start actually listening. Make sure you can not only understand others, but understand them in a way that they would agree with your assessment. And then surround yourself with good thinkers that think differently than you do. Assume people are not evil because they have different ideas. That doesn't mean all ideas are equally good, just that people rarely adopt different ideas because they are intentionally trying to be evil.

Much of this is about breaking down tribalism. Tribalism is part of how we are created. But we don't have to only by tribal. Jacobs uses the phrase, ‘by that you mean' as an example of how we have tribal interpretations. Often using a few words or metaphors to communicate far more than they were intended.

I am going to read this again in print. I listened to the audiobook in a day. (It is short). But if you are thinking about picking it up, I would skip to the back and read the 12 point checklist about how to think better. If that checklist makes rough sense, this is probably a good book to pick up.

It is not intended to be a definitive treatment of logical thinking. Nor is it claiming to be super innovative. But it is well written, clear and helpful.

My full review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/how-to-think/