I was taking a class at University named "Creative Thinking"; and I started to like the subject, so I decided to find a related book at Amazon.com

This book was one of best rated, so I ordered one. I have been reading it for a couple of days and until now all ideas are easy to understand and they encourage you to be creative and not think in the box.

This book is great for people who would like to open their minds.

i just got this a few days ago and my first impressions, without actually trying any of the techniques, were that it wasn't looking very practical. but the author cautions not to just go through each technique (among dozens) in the order presented but to try a couple that look like they might interest you most and play around with them and then go on from there.

so after scanning awhile i saw what is supposedly salvadore dali's image generation method. yeah right, i thought. well, that worked the first time i tried it. and i sketched it out and it didn't look like a dali, but it was the most imaginative sketch i've ever come up with. it was a man riding through the air on a hobby horse above a pavilion tent. and he was thinking about how glad he was that he didn't crash into the tent. i added more adults in the air playing with childrens' toys (jump rope, pogo stick, tricycle etc.) and the children down outside the pavillion wanting their toys back. beats going out to the park and 'copying' as van gogh called it.

so next i took those words associated with the image and i plugged them into a technique that looked to me like one of the most impractical in the book. and i got an idea that i've been looking for. that idea rendered a cool poem. most of the examples in the book look to be "business/career challenge" oriented but at least some of these techniques will also inspire raw creativity. be creative about using the toys.

take it from a skeptic. this stuff rocks. but you have to actually use it, not just read about it. i'm so thrilled that i have this book. YAY!

This book, together with my treasured Roger von Oech books, sit prominently on my bookshelf when working on a variety of problems - software development, film production, creative writing for scripts or novels, and developing opportunities in this mediacentric age. These books break open your mind from the restrictive fences imposed on our thinking by the conventional world that we are surrounded by. These fences need to be torn down. If you are an older person (probably older than 30!), then your thinking will become ossified. Just like using your muscles, you need to rework your brain and your thinking with effort to create opportunities and connections to emerging technologies and new developments.

As a consultant, I am regularly engaged in combined sessions with clients. This book gives an excellent overview of the tools and techniques to use, but is more broad than deep. For me, it works fine. For someone who wants to do very specific creative activities, it doesn't give enough examples and practical application.

I have about 400 books in my library and Thinkertoys (with Thinkpak) is the best book I've read so far. The book is full with creative tools and puzzles to play with. The book comes to me at the right time since I am about to start my own business and the book provides a lot of insight, ideas and techniques. Thank you Mr. Michalko for creating the "toys".

This book is a must for anyone in business who is in need of fresh, limitless ways to create the ideas and creative strategies businesses need these days of uncertainty and complexity. I got my copy from my manager who gives one to all new employees.

I loved the CRACKING CREATIVITY while THINKERTOYS was simply too much good for me. Soo many (great) tools i simply got lost. I need a few mental models that i can work with daily which CRACKING CREATIVITY did provide. This book provides soo many tools ... it's not for daily usability, at least not for me.

This is very interesting reading. It has a lot of facts that make you realize how much more you could be doing or how much better you could be thinking. I haven't done any writing, which is essential, but i've already put it to use in my daily life. If you want another perspective as for creaticity, this book is for you.

This book doesn't offer any insight into the true nature of creativity. At best, it can expand the box in which one thinks (Although, personally, some of the methods seem quite ridiculous and meaningless). If this is all you are looking for, then by all means, this book is for you. I've come to realize, however, that true creativity in which the proverbial box is all together destroyed comes only from self knowlege and self understanding.

So I was reading one of the many great books by Jeffrey Gitomer. In his books about Sales and the one about Yes!Attitude, he stresses the importance of exercising the mind and being creative in your approach to relationships, both professional and personal.

And one of this top, oft repeated recommendations is Thinkertoys by Michael Michalko. It's clear within the first few pages that Michalko was challenging me to step out of my comfortable protective shell of assumptions about the world around me and see it in whole new ways.

The combination of Gitomer's motivation to master a positive attitude with Michalko's advice on creativity have transformed my life.

To check out one of Jeffrey Gitomer's book, consider Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude: How to Find, Build and Keep a YES! Attitude for a Lifetime of SUCCESS (Jeffrey Gitomer's Little Books)

I've always thought of myself as highly creative, even iconoclastic (I have a background in avant-garde theater in New York City), so I was a bit miffed that there is a book containing most of the treasured techniques I thought I had invented. I can't say enough good things about this book, I had "Aha!" moments about every second page.

I definitely subscribe to the author's viewpoint that creativity is a talent that we are all born with, even if we don't all know it; further, that there are definable, learnable skills that can help anyone develop their creative faculties. This book is crammed full of thought experiments and exercises that do just that--help you become reliably, even systematically, creative.

The book is both a comprehensive and systematic evaluation of what creativity is and a practical workshop. It is like you have attended an intensive course on creativity enhancement. The techniques which are introduced are well written and you can exercise each and every one of them while you are actively reading the book: Not a second spent on off-the-topic subjects. The optical illusion illustrations that accompany the techniques are enjoyable and really tuned in with the subjects, and they are very well chosen. A must have for educators, entrepreneurs, students, and anyone minding any problem.

If a significant portion of your life requires creativity that is attached to solving real-world problems, this book is tremendous. It offers tons of techniques with great details on how to get the ideas you need. It's a wonderful and useful read. In fact, it is, without a doubt, the most useful book I have ever read.

Thinkertoys has proven to be an excellent resource guide and valuable addition to my library on creativity. Not only does it provide a variety of different brainstorming techniques, but it lays them out with an easy writing style. I have used this book in an applied creativity workshop taught to graduate management students and have found it to be very helpful.

My method of creativity: Take something you're not satisfied with. Start thinking what in it is unnecessary, what could be removed. Compare it to other such things and incorporate their features if necessary. Start combining the parts to all kinds of wholes that match your inner models of their ideal function. Keep on evolving, adding branches, developing, destroying. Ultimately you have arrived at something completely different.

In my opinion the only worthwhile creative practices are:

1. Being aware that you can be a creative person and that you have creative modes of thought that can always be accessed. Basically doing things that are weird and creative helps. Like I've been developing new writing systems for English and Finnish. There's no practical use for them really (even though they're already a lot better than the Latin alphabet). Just for the sake of being creative. You don't have to be artistic. That mostly means learning self expression and technique. The trick is to see that anything at all is really helpful in moving you towards new things. You just have to keep moving in all possible ways, use all areas of thought, and ultimately you'll arrive at something. Creativity is your friend.

2. Practicing knowing what your customers/target group are looking for. You have to be there earlier than they even know what they actually want. What this means in practice is just things like watching TV and being on the net and reading and following the trends. Be like they would be in 5 years. Have a sense of design that's better than their taste.

3. Practice things that have nothing to do with creative problem solving like dancing or whatever. Whatever you're motivated to do at the moment. Be familiar with all cultures, not only what's mainstream or popular at the moment. It all affects the way you think and generally you should be able to do and like and be confident of just about everything possible.

What this book does is make you aware that it's possible to ask questions from yourself and to work towards solutions from perspectives that seemingly have nothing to do with it. After a few pages you'll get the formula. Basically doing something like watching cartoons to solve your problems works just as well as any single thinkertoy. The key is that whatever you're using for inspiration, it cannot be too complicated. It has to be something that can be reduced to simple concepts. And the area that is in need of creativity also has to be reduced to simple concepts. So it's useful not to look at the whole thing at once, but identify some key areas and issues and work on them.

There's a practically infinite number of thinkertoys you can use. You can come up with them yourself too whenever you want to. Maybe this book will make you aware of the fact. If you already are, there's no use to refer to it really. You're already carrying a lot better and easier to customize thinkertoys inside you.

After working with creative problems for a while you'll develop a routine. It helps to keep you sane and flowing all the time. There will never be a dead end where you'll have no way of moving forward. Just abandon, restate, do something dramatic like macroevolution. But keep your ideas manageable at all times. You don't have to really memorize any creative thinking techniques. There are about a 1000 questions this book tells you to ask yourself when you need to be creative. And it's far from complete. Opening a random page when you encounter a dead end hardly gives you the best new approach. It's like dancing about architecture.

So I'd like to stress that the function of this book is to rather make you aware of your creative intuition than to provide techniques of surpassing it. There are no such techniques and you can't memorize them. This book is not the environment you'd like to be at when faced with a creative task. It's mainly useful for clearing blocks in your mind about the limits of what can be used creatively. If you know how it's done already, this book will be rather repetitive.

If you have trouble about seeing randomizing as a useful technique, read about dada. If you can't use things like sound in association to problem solving, become really interested about music. If you aren't comfortable with all areas of human experience, you can't really use them in problem solving either. Being aware that they can be used isn't enough. You have to have the intuition too.

That said, this book is really important to me too. But I just like to offer the other side. That creativity is like walking. There are no ways to reduce it to a successful formula that always works. But still, it's so essential that you really should read about it, a lot. I think if you're buying just one book from Michalko, Cracking Creativity might be better. Not entirely sure though. Just make sure you'll read and do a lot of other creative stuff as well, it really does pay off after some time.

Thinkertoys is a wonderful collection of tools for creative thinking. I am an engineer and purchased the book to help me stimulate new ideas. The techniques in the book open up places in the brain where one would not typically look for these ideas. I found the tools inside quite useful to stroke the imagination and, many times, look at old problems in new and different ways

Having read the Lateral Thinking book first few days back, I started looking for something similar, a resource that could help me in my field and even in general. If you read the reviews of Lateral Thinking, you would find comments of Michal Michalko where he recommends the book as a must read. That is where I came across his book and started exploring it over the internet.

I found this book as an excellent resource for creative thinking. The best part is the write up and the exercises use the "Power/Law of Simplicity" in a way that you would be surprised at many instances. His examples of rabbit and duck and about the staircase on page 52. They make you smile and the smile is actually a realization about the possibilities the life has in store for everyone.

This has helped me in changing my perception about many things. At least now I have more than one way to think about any situation. I firmly believe his theory of "Challenge Your Assumptions."

You might be aware of the concept of "Mind Mapping" by two British authors Tony and Bary Buzan. The mind mapping has helped me always, not just in planning my work but even my personal life. It's like you have all the things that is going on in your mind about a particular subject on just one paper. Once you have it in front of you, earlier I simply used to feel relaxed and follow my assumptions. However, now I simply explore the possibilities.

To be very brief about the book, your business, work, daily life, everything that you do, you would find yourself trying out as many possibilities as you can and you would choose from the best one.

Having read the Lateral Thinking book first few days back, I started looking for something similar, a resource that could help me in my field and even in general. If you read the review of Lateral Thinking by Edward D Bono, you would find comments of Michal Michalko where he recommends the book as a must read. That is where I came across his book.

The book is an excellent resource for creative thinking and the best part is the write up and the exercises use the "Power/Law of Simplicity" in a way that you would be surprised at many instances. His examples of rabbit and duck and about the staircase on page 52. They make you smile and the smile is actually a realization about the possibilities the life has in store for everyone.

This has helped me in changing my perception about many things. At least now I have more than one way to think about any situation. I firmly believe his theory of "Challenge Your Assumptions."

To be very brief about the book, your business, work, daily life, everything that you do, you would find yourself trying out as many possibilities as you can and you would choose from the best one.

Chandan Sharma

When a book goes into its second edition of its print run, you can be sure it have a solid message to convey.

Kishore Dharmarajan
Author of Eightstorm: 8-Step Brainstorming for Innovative Managers

Michael Michalko's "Thinkertoys" is aimed at businesspeople who want to stretch their creative muscles and come up with new and better ideas. Writers who are used to very playful approaches in their creativity books might find some of the business-speak off-putting, but the exercises are as valid and useful for them as they are for businessfolk or anyone else looking for a creative solution to a problem.

What amazes me most about this book is the sheer volume of ideas, exercises, suggestions, and entertaining anecdotes. Certainly it stands as a testament to the validity of Michalko's work that he can come up with this many pages jam-packed full of idea-generating goodness.

Michalko believes we're best served by blending the linear and intuitive when stimulating creativity, so he provides a great many Thinkertoys in both the linear and intuitive sections of this book and suggests that we go back and forth in our use of them.

Each Thinkertoy comes with a basic explanation of how it works, a blueprint for applying it to a wide variety of issues, and examples showing it in use. Many of these examples are real-world historical items that can give you great insight into how to apply seemingly abstract techniques to very real problems. There are more than 15 linear toys, each one a complete blueprint for brainstorming everything you need to tackle a problem.

The intuitive section includes more than ten toys, ranging from relaxation techniques to analogies, hypnogogic imagery to psychosynthesis. These are the ones that might feel a bit funny to the dyed-in-the-wool businessperson, but they're well-formulated to walk you through the process and familiarize you with letting go.

The inclusion of both types of Thinkertoys is one of the things that makes this book truly stand out from others I've read. Most creativity books aimed at non-artistic types tend largely toward the linear exercises, while those aimed at artistic types tend largely toward the intuitive. It's very handy to have such a blend of both in one place, with tips on integrating them.

The book includes four chapters on brainstorming in a team-based approach, which is particularly useful in a business setting. These chapters include not only specific exercises, but also plenty of tips on getting folks to loosen up and produce their best work in these settings.

Finally, the book wraps up with some material to help you evaluate the ideas you've come up with.

I highly recommend reading the introductions to all of the major sections of the book, then skipping around to use various Thinkertoys as the mood suits you.

My only (very minor) quibble with the book was its occasional lack of clarity. Now and then Michalko off-handedly described something in a manner such that I really had no idea what he meant. Luckily this tended to occur in his examples, or in his instructions for viewing an optical illusion, not in the instructions for the actual Thinkertoys.

This is an incredibly handy book. The anecdotes are entertaining, the exercises are inspiring, and the wide variety will keep you busy for a very long time.

This book will stimulate you to think in a novel fashion if you are so inclined and would like to think out of the box.

This is thee book to bring you into the creative zone. With numerous strategies to choose from, you are sure to find one that works for you.

I love this book and it really does help you think in ways you may not have before. I enjoy the exercises (of which there are a lot so if you aren't going to do them, then don't bother buying this book) and I have learned a lot of how I think and what I can do to view things on a different level. I have always considered myself a creative person and a good problem-solver, but this book helps me awaken senses and perceive things in a whole new light.

It wasn't what I expected. I've read and enjoyed many books
on creative thinking, and I'm sad to say I was sorely disappointed
when I began to examine the contents this book. It was a surface publication.
Some books are better bought at a book store
where you can see what you are getting.

This book is full of easy to use ideas that are designed to get quick results. You don't have to read the entire book or even an entire chapter to come away with many ideas that you and your group can implement easily. The author knows that often what is needed is a new way to look at an old situation. He offers many suggestions that will spark creativity. I found myself reading several sections and then adapting them on the fly for various meetings.

This is a must read. Great mind opening experience to say the very least. I have applied some of the great tips in this book to my present job and continue to reap the rewards. This book screams out to all walks of life, however, if you're in sales then you need to get your hands on a copy NOW!

Thank You,

John

This is a must read. Great mind opening experience to say the very least. I have applied some of the great tips in this book to my present job and continue to reap the rewards. This book screams out to all walks of life, however, if you're in sales then you need to get your hands on a copy NOW!

Thank You,

John

Critical-thinking expert Michael Michalko has applied his talents to the service of the U.S. Army, the NATO military, and the CIA; now, he offers the updated second edition of Thinkertoys: A Handbook of Creative-Thinking Techniques, a jam-packed wealth of brain-twisting visual and verbal puzzles and exercises designed to stimulate new ways of solving problems and looking at situations. Exercises designed to stimulate logic and reason, intuition, brainstorming skills and much more are offered in accessible and adaptable terms, for self-study or use in a larger creative thinking workshop. Sure to captivate the reader with its thinking-out-of-the-box puzzles and even more important, advice for reexamining old problems with a fresh perspective, Thinkertoys is enthusiastically recommended for anyone striving to expand their creative mindset.

This is an awesome book to peruse. Very well done. It gives great tools that are lots of fun to work with. I found it a bit over-stimulating sometimes. My brain would not slow down if I worked with it to long. So I suggest it as a book to come back to periodically. One that can be used and enjoyed for many years.

How can I say how much this book has impacted my business life and my personal life? My employees have created ideas using this book that have made this year incredibly profitable. This book has made us believers that we are all creative. We just didn't know how to think in a different way. I also use the techniques to come up with original ideas for birthdays, anniversaries and so on. Without a doubt, this book is the best purchase I've made in decades.

Thinkertoys expands your imaginative capacities with easy-to-use techniques you can employ again-and-again in all your creative endeavors.

Marina Kushner
Author
The Truth About Caffeine: How Companies That Promote It Deceive Us and What We Can Do about It

A must read for anybody in business!!
In today's world we need to think differently - it is changing so much.
This book is a catalyst to expanding our mind.

The first edition of this book became our bible for our brainstorming sessions which yielded incredibly profitable ideas for our company. We are true believers and are already reading and using copies of the new edition, though for the life of me I can't imagine how the book can be improved.

What is the point of calling this the 2nd Edition by just changing the colour of the book cover (instead of content!)from white to yellow? I read the 1st edition, but don't see this 2nd edition anything truly different from the 1st edition. Both author and publisher should be true to the readers and not to mislead the new readers, especially those who think this 2nd edition is updated or revised. For those who own the 1st edition like me, I may be misled to buy this 2nd edition, had I not checked out the so called 2nd edition page by page!!

The first time I encountered 'Thinkertoys' it was actually the first edition released during the early 90's, when it was also about the time I began to explore the various options with regard to my mid-life transition. In fact, I had initially spotted an interesting review in the Entrepreneur magazine.

I managed to trace the publisher & had immediately ordered the first 100 copies for my debut bookstore. It became the best seller in my store for many years. Then came 'Cracking Creativity' a few years later as well as the accompanying brainstorming card deck, Thinkpak, to 'Thinkertoys'.

What impressed me most is not so much the creativity tools outlined in both books. In fact, the most productive learning experiences I got out of both books are a few very important things, which I would like to share with readers.

Let's take a look at Thinkertoys. In the Introduction, the author started off with a visual puzzle: 'Can you identify the figure below?'

Only by shifting your focus, you can then see the hidden word within the figure.

In the author's own words, "...by changing your perspectives, you can expand your possibilities..."

Let's move to 'Cracking Creativity'. In the Introduction, the author introduced a simple arithmetic equation: What is half of thirteen?

The subsequent passages as outlined in Part I: Seeing What No One else in Seeing, & Strategy I: Knowing How to See, by the author revealed the secrets to getting many possible answers (or perspectives) to the above equation.

No creativity tool outlined in the above two books (or elsewhere in the world, for that matter) can help you to become more creative until you fully understand - & appreciate - what the author is trying to drive home in his two books.

In a nut shell, it basically boils down to one important thing: Use - & enhance - your power of vision! or power of observation!

The author may not be the first person to postulate this crucial aspect of creativity.

I would consider Leonardo da Vinci to be the first person to have understood & practised it religiously. He said, among a few other things, LEARN TO SEE THE WORLD. In fact, he put a lot of emphasis on using your senses, especially your sense of sight.

Edward de Bono had also broached this valuable concept in his groundbreaking series of lateral thinking books, starting with 'Mechanism of Mind' in the 70's.

I have always believed that you can't do things differently until you can see things differently.

Learning to see the world anew & from different perspectives is imperative if one wants to be more creative.

According to de Bono, creativity starts at the perceptual stage of thinking. He terms it, First Order Thinking. He added very beautifully: "This is where our perceptions & concepts are formed, & this is where they have to be changed. Most of the mistakes in thinking are inadequacies of perception rather than mistakes of logic."

The creativity tools, whether they are from the author's books or elsewhere, will then automaticlaly fall into place & make more sense when you have first exercised your power of vision or observation.

Using any tool is a piece of cake, but changing one's perception - & maintaining fluidity of perception as well as having multiple perceptions - takes concerted efforts.

It is also important to take note that when things (or tactics) don't seem to work out as planned, always remember to check out your observations of the world first. Simply ask:

- what do you CHOOSE to see?
- where do you DIRECT your attention?

The second most productive learning experience I got from the above two books is realising that all thoughts are simply feats of association &/or juxtapositions - & the crux of creativity (in fact, also learning) are making associations &/or juxtapositions. [Tom Peters, in his wonderful book, Liberation Management, drives home with this insightful nugget: "The essence of creation - in all endeavours - is chance connections between ideas and facts that are previously segregated. Entrepreneurship is the direct by-product of chance, of convoluted connections among ideas, needs and people." According to Leonardo da vinci, everything is connected to everything else. My question: CAN YOU SEE IT?] The creativity tools outlined by the author are specifically designed for this purpose.

The third most productive learning experience for me is understanding the differential between productive & reproductive thinking. To paraphrase the author: "...in productive thinking, one generates as many alternative approaches as one can, considering the least as well as the most likely approaches...in contrast, reproductive thinking fosters rigidity of thought..." More relevant aspects about the significance of & more specific strategies to develop productive thinking are excellently covered by the author in 'Cracking Creativity'.

To end this review, & in the light of what I have written, I would consider the author's two books as the dynamic duo...to be among the best in the genre!

The first time I encountered 'Thinkertoys' it was actually the first edition released during the early 90's, when it was also about the time I began to explore the various options with regard to my mid-life transition. In fact, I had initially spotted its review in the Entrepreneur magazine.

I managed to trace the publisher & had immediately ordered the first 100 copies for my debut bookstore. It became the best seller in my store for many years. Then came 'Cracking Creativity' a few years later as well as the accompanying brainstorming card deck, Thinkpak, to 'Thinkertoys'.

What impressed me most is not so much the creativity tools outlined in both books. In fact, the most productive learning experiences I got out of both books are a few very important things, which I would like to share with readers.

Let's take a look at Thinkertoys. In the Introduction, the author started off with a visual puzzle: 'Can you identify the figure below?'

Only by shifting your focus, you can then see the hidden word.

In the author's own words, "...by changing your perspectives, you can expand your possibilities..."

Let's move to 'Cracking Creativity'. In the Introduction, the author introduced a simple arithmetic equation: What is half of thirteen?

The subsequent passages as outlined in Part I: Seeing What No One else in Seeing, & Strategy I: Knowing How to See, by the author revealed the secrets to getting many possible answers (or perspectives) to the above equation.

No creativity tool outlined in the above two books (or elsewhere in the world, for that matter) can help you to become more creative until you fully understand - & appreciate - what the author is trying to drive home in his two books.

In a nut shell, it basically boils down to one important thing: Use - & enhance - your power of vision! or power of observation!

The author may not be the first person to postulate this crucial aspect of creativity.

I would consider Leonardo da Vinci to be the first person to have understood & practised it religiously. He said, among a few other things, LEARN TO SEE THE WORLD. In fact, he put a lot of emphasis on using your senses.

Edward de Bono had also broached this valuable concept in his groundbreaking series of lateral thinking books, starting with 'Mechanism of Mind' in the 70's.

I have always believed that you can't do things differently until you see things differently.

Learning to see the world anew & from different perspectives is imperative if one wants to be more creative.

According to de Bono, creativity starts at the perceptual stage of thinking. He terms it, First Order Thinking. He added very beautifully: "This is where our perceptions & concepts are formed, & this is where they have to be changed. Most of the mistakes in thinking are inadequacies of perception rather than mistakes of logic."

The creativity tools, whether they are from the author's books or elsewhere, will then automaticlaly fall into place & make more sense when you have first exercised your power of vision or observation.

Using any tool is a piece of cake, but changing one's perception - & maintaining fluidity of perception as well as having multiple perceptions - takes concerted efforts.

It is also important to take note that when things (or tactics) don't seem to work out as planned, always remember to check out your observations of the world first. Simply ask:

- what do you CHOOSE to see?
- where do you DIRECT your attention?

The other most productive learning experience I got from the above two books is realising that all thoughts are simply feats of association &/or juxtapositions - & the crux of creativity (in fact, also learning) are making associations &/or juxtapositions. [Tom Peters, in his wonderful book, Liberation Management, drives home with this insightful nugget: "The essence of creation - in all endeavours - is chance connections between ideas and facts that are previously segregated. Entrepreneurship is the direct by-product of chance, of convoluted connections among ideas, needs and people." According to Leonardo da vinci, everything is connected to everything else. My question: CAN YOU SEE IT?] The creativity tools outlined by the author are specifically designed for this purpose.

To end this review,& in the light of what I have written, I would consider the author's two books as the dynamic duo...to be among the best in the genre!

I've always thought about writing a book about creativity that would make sense and encourage people to interpret their own experiences through their own eyes and not the eyes of others. This is the book I wish I had written. It has everything a book on creative thinking should have. I used the first edition in countless workshops with great success and am eagerly ready to start using some of the new brainstorming techniques in the second edition. The other book I highly recommend is Michael's "Cracking Creativity," which is, I think, the best book on creativity out there.