Richard E. Nisbett

As someone who lives in the between the words of Western and Asian thought, I had to get my hands on this book. This book had some wonderful material but could have used some just never had that WOW moment where something just clicked. It's really a shame because this topic is really just up my alley.

The difference can be summarized as follows: Eastern thought tends to be more holistic, cyclical, and relationship-oriented. While Western thought tends to be more modular, linear, and object-oriented.

The book (unintentionally?) aims for a higher-brow audience who would appreciate a more PhD vocabulary and writing style. I found it off-putting. Though I don't think the authors intentionally wrote it that way, it's just the way they think. Perhaps, they should write a book on PhD thought process vs. common thought process.



… (altro)

Thinking: A memoir by Richard E Nisbett is a delightful blend of memoir and psychology, particularly as it relates to our cognitive processes.

While I have found his other books, well, the ones I read, quite accessible I think this volume takes some of the best parts of those and creates a wonderful new entity. I don't mean that it repeats what came before but that rather than scatter real life examples throughout a book of psychology we have psychology scattered throughout a personal narrative to both understand the writer and to understand the scientific principles. I know that many of the best lectures I've attended, whether on social psychology or physics, are most impactful when we are given some real-life examples of the principles discussed. So this book is like taking all of those examples and making an immensely interesting book.

This is far short of a textbook though it would make a great springboard for those who want to read more about certain topics. This is, first and foremost, a memoir and it succeeds as such. He has led a fascinating life and reading about it through a theoretical lens takes it from one man's story to something we can all, I hope, relate to. Which is why we did some of the things we did.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.… (altro)

How about 3.5? The premise is fascinating. However, the book is a tiny bit, well, dull in parts. Lots of retelling of experiments of various sorts and stripes. I loved the examples of divergent Eastern/Western thought when they came from history and literature, but those were few and far between. Basically, cultural differences create different world views and,more importantly, patterns of thought. Troubling was that most of the Western examples were U.S. While the East was represented by China, South Korea and Japan. Interestingly enough, certain Europeans were in between these two approaches in their thinking styles. If only some politicians and diplomats could read and understand his book, the world might be a better place. Not to mention the fact that we could all learn to move to the middle, as it were.… (altro)