Thinking
"The systems that fail are those that rely on the permanency of human nature, and not on its growth and development." – Oscar Wilde
Today we are awash with self-help and guidance books which will tell us what to think, eat, create and anything else you care to imagine. So, for this week's design + culture entry I have made a selection of books which, instead of telling you what to think, help you understand how to think.
Book 1 : Pragmatism - by William James
"Our minds thus grow in spots; and like grease-spots, the spots spread. But we let them spread as little as possible: we keep unaltered as much of our old knowledge, as many of our old prejudices and beliefs, as we can. We patch and tinker more than we renew. The novelty soaks in; it stains the ancient mass; but it is also tinged by what absorbs it. Our past apperceives and co- operates; and in the new equilibrium in which each step forward in the process of learning terminates, it happens relatively seldom that the new fact is added RAW. More usually it is embedded cooked, as one might say, or stewed down in the sauce of the old."
Book 2 : The Soul of Man under Socialism - by Oscar Wilde
"Anybody can sympathise with the sufferings of a friend, but it requires a very fine nature—it requires, in fact, the nature of a true Individualist—to sympathise with a friend’s success."
Book 3: The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin - by Benjamin Franklin
"I never arrived at the perfection I had been so ambitious of obtaining, but fell far short of it, yet I was, by the endeavor, a better and a happier man than I otherwise should have been if I had not attempted it"
Book 4: A Technique for Producing Ideas - by James Young
"If you ask me why I am willing to give away the valuable formula of this discovery I will confide to you that experience has taught me two things about it: First, the formula is so simple to state that few who hear it really believe in it."
Book 5 : Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind - by Shunryu Suzuki
"It is difficult to have good communication between parents and children because parents always have their own intentions."
