In the last 2 days I’ve binge read Andy Hunt’s “Pragmatic Thinking and Learning”. Thought I could grab a non-technical book, and sure enough it is, but still somehow aimed at developers. Even though anyone can find extremely useful information in here. Years ago I read The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master by the same author and found it extremely valuable, especially because it was when I started programming.

Essentially, book covers two topics. The first is about how your brain works, using very light cognitive science language; while the second part is about utilizing it, knowing how and when certain tricks can help you. Most importantly, I understand what my brain is good at and why sometimes (just sometimes?) brain farts happen to me. Somewhere in the middle of a book there was a drawing part. Where you take 30-40 minutes, and just focus on the lines to try and re-create the drawing from the upside down. Each time you notice a familiar object, you dismiss that thought and continue working on the lines. It was impressive! Even though my drawing was… well, see it for yourself:

At least I made myself laugh, and figured I could probably do this more often.

Basically you will find lots of tools for “shocking” your brain, how to boost creativity and how to utilize the differences between the different aspects of your brain.

Tired of “think outside the box” usage, but I definitely think that this book provides a great framework for that.