Philosophy
Lateral Thinking
Edward de Bono, PhD
3.8 (9400) 8 min read 5 key ideas
The foundational text introducing 'lateral thinking' — deliberately generating novel ideas by escaping conventional logical thought patterns.
Key takeaways
- Lateral Thinking Provides an Alternative to Sequential Logical Reasoning
- Deliberately Challenging Assumptions Reveals Previously Unconsidered Alternatives
- Random Stimulation Techniques Deliberately Introduce Unrelated Concepts
- Provocation Techniques Use Deliberately Unreasonable Statements to Generate Novel Ideas
- Practice These Specific Techniques Deliberately to Develop Genuine Lateral Thinking Capability
Final takeaway
De Bono's closing invitation: deliberately practice the book's specific lateral thinking techniques — assumption-challenging, random stimulation, provocation — consistently across your own problem-solving contexts, understanding genuine lateral thinking capability as a learnable skill requiring this deliberate ongoing practice.
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