I am in the process of reading this book, and much like anything I've read from Edward De Bono, it really opens up my mind and shows me alternative ways of thinking.

Edward de Bono's text is a must read for teachers who wish to foster independent thinking in their students and show them that seeing problems in new ways can lead to creative, worthwhile solutions.

In my view, this is the best of the de Bono series of more than 30 books. It is as advertised: A step-by-step introduction to the art and science of creative thinking.

It shows the reader with a staple of de Bono's -- his graphs and diagrams - how to get over the threshold from just ordinary (right brain thinking) or "linear thinking" to (left brain thinking) or "lateral thinking," that is to pure creativity; and most important, how to consistently find the "launch pad" to ones own creativity.

Critical to the organization of this book and to making his points here (the same as in his other books), is giving the reader a basic understanding of how the mind works. This provides the framework for setting up and recognizing the special situations in which ones creativity is most likely to come into play.

Like, others in the de Bono series, these techniques work so well that it is scary.

Well, I have to admit I was a bit disappointed, but maybe that's just from erroneous expectations. I'm an artist & designer, and a graphic designer I admire had this on his list of the most important books he'd read, and that was my motivation to pick it up.

My conclusion is that this is a great book for non-'Creative' types (not to mean that they're not creative, just that they're not in a 'Creative' field such as the arts) such as scientists and engineers, who are looking to round out their thought process, or young adults in jr. high or high school who are exploring the nature of creativity.

It is intriguing to hear someone dissect the creative process in a cold, calculating, scientific sort of way, and de Bono does this job quite well without coming off as too fatuous (a common fate in that endeavor it seems).

Ultimately though, the creative thinking de Bono discusses is a very specific and fairly limited type, namely problem-solving. It's telling that almost all of the examples & figures he gives are geometric puzzle-solving. This would be a great book to read right before you take a IQ or SAT test.

Isn't it amazing that for hundreds of years no one thought about creative thinking till de bono and lateral thinking came along.