Thinking Tactics: A Journey in the Human Mind

I have always dreamed of a book that could teach me how to think and how to become more intelligent. While many great books out there can contribute to this goal, there isn't a single book that claims to do so.

This gap is acceptable because intelligence is still enigmatic. If a poet were asked, "How did you write that beautiful poem?" they wouldn't be able to describe exactly what was going on in their mind. A grandmaster chess player might say, to explain a genius move, "It just feels like the only right move." And a mathematician might comment, "It seems like connecting dots," when solving a puzzling equation. The truth is, we still don't understand the nature of thinking or where our finest ideas come from.

While science can outline the outcomes of intellectual thinking, we still lack a complete understanding of the underlying mechanisms. Even advanced imaging techniques provide limited insight into the workings of the brain. Nonetheless, we can tentatively define thinking as the intellectual activity of constructing a model of the world, which allows us to forecast the future, make plans, and achieve objectives. From this modest description, we extracted a set of twenty-one thinking method that trace the common patterns of thought used by great thinkers throughout history.

These twenty-one patterns have been extracted from Science, Philosophy, Art, and even Legends. No prerequisite knowledge is required to comprehend them; anyone can read, grasp, and utilize these patterns. They are presented through stories and riddles to ensure the book's accessibility to nearly everyone.

"What sets this book apart, something you might not come across elsewhere, is that it doesn't present the stories of theories in the usual manner. Instead, it abstracts the underlying thinking behind them."

The beauty of these thinking tactics lies in their modular nature - like Lego bricks, they can be combined in a multitude of ways to form complex new patterns of thinking. By experimenting with these tactics and exploring different combinations, we can unlock endless possibilities for problem-solving, creativity, and intellectual endeavour.

Admittedly, the patterns we have gathered do not adhere to a uniform framework and are far from being perfect. Achieving such uniformity is difficult because science itself has not yet reached a horizon of consensus.

Whether you're an entrepreneur, a student, a mentor, a researcher, or simply an individual seeking to enhance your critical thinking abilities, problem-solving skills, innovation, and creativity, this book has something to offer. It invites you to embark on a journey of intellectual enrichment, push the boundaries of our conventional ways of thinking, and yes, become more intelligent.