Thinking (3rd Edition)

This book about thinking presents readers with a systematic, practical, and friendly approach that encompasses all fields of study and business. It explores a valuable skill that will inspire and enlarge people's ability to think through life. Chapter topics cover what thinking is, personal barriers, sensing, brain and memory, language, feeling, creative thinking, organizing, logical thinking, scientific thinking, persuasive thinking, problem solving, evaluating, decision and action, and the challenge to go on thinking. They draw ideas on thinking from every period of history—from the philosophers, poets, scientists, psychologists, linguists, and neuroscientists. For thinkers of the new millenium.

From the wellspring of classical wisdom to the pages of contemporary research, authors Gary R. Kirby and Jeffery R. Goodpaster offer a comprehensive, interdisciplinary approach to the study of critical thinking. Based on the premise that thinking is not exclusive to any one discipline, they draw on ideas from philosophy, literature, the natural sciences, psychology, and from many periods of history. From classical thinkers like Leonardo Da Vinci—"Just as iron rusts unless it is used ... so our intellect spoils unless it is used"—to contemporary brain researchers—"The brain is just like a muscle—use it or lose it"—real-world critical thinkers guide readers through the process.

Hailed by reviewers as one of the best written critical thinking texts on the market, Tkinking, Third Edition, is designed to challenge your mind and to strengthen your thinking ability. As such it is organized into interrelated thinking bases treated in chapters on Sensing, Feeling, Language, Creativity, Organization, Logic, Judgment, and Decision/Action. Additional chapters explore our Personal Barriers, ask What is Thinking?, probe the Brain and Memory, and examine Scientific Thinking, Problem Solving, and Persuasive Thinking. Thinking, Third Edition interweaves hundreds of thinking challenges throughout the book to invite students to adapt and personalize the concepts, and to actively engage, enrich, and enlarge their thinking.

In this new edition the authors have expanded and revised selected topics (including thinking at internet speed), incorporated new research, and introduced more classical thinkers than in previous editions. They have retained the successful format that has helped and delighted thousands.