Table Of Content

Creativity Step by Step --------\ EDWARD l 1 l i . _~I-I I deBONO Lateral thinking Other books by Edward de Bono The use of lateral thinking The five-day course in thinking The mechanism of mind Lateral thinking: creativity step by step Edward de Bono PEaENNIAL LI.aAay HARPER & ROW, PUBLISHERS, New York Grand Rapids, Philadelphia, St. Louis, San Francisco London, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto A hardcover edition of this book was published in 1970 by Harper & Row, Publishers. LATERAL THINKING: CREATIVITY STEP BY STEP. Copyright © 1970 by Edward de Bono. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quota tions embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information address Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc., 10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022. First HARPER COLOPHON edition published 1973. First PERENNIAl. LIBRARY edition published 1990. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOG CARD NUMBER 89-46085 ISBN 0-06-090325-2 94 RRD-H 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 Contents 7 Preface 9 Introduction 15 Use of this book 25 The way the mind works 39 Difference between lateral and vertical thinking 47 Attitudes towards lateral thinking 5 I Basic nature of lateral thinking 57 The use of lateral thinking 61 Techniques 63 The generation of alternatives 91 Challenging assumptions 105 Innovation 107 Suspended judgment 113 Design 123 Dominant ideas and crucial factors 131 Fractionation 141 The reversal method 149 Brainstorming 167 Analogies 175 Choice of entry point and attention area 193 Random stimulation 207 Concepts/divisions/polarization 225 The new word po 265 Blocked by openness 275 Description/problem solving/design 297 Summary Preface This book is intended for use both at home and at school. At school the emphasis has traditionally always . been on vertical thinking which is effective but incomplete. This selective type of thinking needs to be supplemented with the generative qualities of creative thinking. This is beginning to happen in some schools but even so creativity is usually treated as something desirable which is to be brought about by vague exhortation. There is no deliberate and practical procedur~ for bringing it about. This book is about lateral thinking which is the process of using information to bring about creativity and insight restructuring. Lateral thinking can be learned, practised and used. It is possible to acquire skill in it just as it is possible to acquire skill in mathematics. The book should be of use to teachers who are looking for a practical way to handle this type of thinking which is becoming ever more important. The book provides formal opportunities to practise lateral thinking and also an explanation of the processes involved. The teacher may either use the book for his or her own interest or, better still, as a basis for classroom work. Since the universal introduction of practical creativity into school education may take some time to come about, parents might not wish to wait for this. They might prefer to supplement the school situation with home instruction in lateral thinking. I t is emphasized that there is no antagonism between the two sorts of thinking. Both are necessary. Vertical thinking is immensely useful but one needs to enhance its usefulness by adding creativity and tempering its rigidity. Eventually this will be done at school but until that time it may be necessary to do it at home. The book is not intended to be read through at one 8 Preface sitting but wo,ked through sLowLy-over months or even years. For that reason many of the principles are repeated at intervals throughout the book in order to hold the subject together and prevent it fragmenting into mere techniques. In using the book it is important to remember that practice is far more important than understanding of the process. Introduction Lateral thinking is closely related to insight, creativity and humour. All four processes have the same basis. But whereas insight, creativity and humour can only be prayed for, lateral thinking is a more deliberate process. It is as definite a way of using the mind as logical thinking-but a very different way. Culture is concerned with establishing ideas. Education is concerned with communicating those established ideas. Both are concerned with improving ideas by bringing them up to date. The only available method for changing ideas is conflict which works in two ways. In the first way there is a head on confrontation between opposing ideas. One or other of the ideas achieves a practical dominance over the other idea which is suppressed but not changed. In the second way there is a conflict between new information and the old idea. As a result of this conflict the old idea is supposed to be changed. This is the method of science which is always seeking to generate new information to upset the old ideas and bring about new ones. I t is more than the method of science-it is the method of human knowledge. Education is based on the safe assumption that one only has to go on collecting more and more information for it to sort itself into useful ideas. We have developed tools for handling the information: mathematics for extending it, logical thinking for refining it. The conflict method for changing ideas works well where the information can be evaluated in some objective manner. But the method does not work at all when the new information can .only be evaluated through the old idea. Instead of being changed the old idea is strengthened and made ever more rigid. The most effective way of changing ideas is not from