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Rating: 
Summary: Profoundly affected my life
Review: I bought and read this book shortly after it was originally released nearly twenty years ago. After reading it, I referred to it as "My Bible". Yes, I was much younger, yet to this day, I feel it had greater impact on me than any other book I have read. And, the bibliography lead me to several more books that lead to an improvement in my thinking and my life. There are two reasons why I came to ... today and looked up this book. First, I was hoping that there might be a new edition of the book. Sadly, it doesn't appear so. Secondly, I am going to give this to my 21 year old niece as she begins her career and adult life.
Rating: 
Summary: Just to balance
Review: I give one star to this book because I want to lower the five stars rating it had, a rating which pushed me to buy this book, to then be deceived.When I read a book, I usually, after a few pages, start to have a glimpse of what the author is made of, and what he was thinking as he wrote that. I say usually, because good books, non-fiction that is, are not tainted by the author's personna, the subject is exposed in a clear, concise and timeless way. On the 300 pages or so this book has, a quarter of it is filled with critics and age old revelations like just how bad TV can be for your brain activity, and the poor state of the public school system, another quarter is filled by reference to the original authors who first brought those opinions to the public arena, another quarter is filled by "what this book is not" and "what this book could be" and the rest is filled by quotations and practical ways to impliment his techniques, techniques that he can't express clearly, other than "problem solving", a technique that can be found more clearly and concisely written in other books and filled with necessary exercises for you to grasp and impliment that technique, "How to solve it" by Polya is the best example. You get a few exercises at the end, typical brain teasers taken from other books, and a bibliography of the books he has used to build his system, but he warns you, "don't take these books as the last word on the subject", I think this phrase alone resume the overall shadow that floats over this book as you read it, here's more hints of why I found that book a desolation: He complains a few times about the low quantity of books on the subject of "thinking" he repeatedly wonders that it's maybe because there is no specific vocabulary attached to this "discipline" and he proceeds, you might have guessed, to create one, so that his book might one day become the reference of this "discipline" and be quoted by others in future generations, just like he quoted some from past generations. This guy is sick, don't buy this book, unless you're looking for a friend to hold your hand.
Rating:
Summary: Gives you meat. Enjoy the feast !
Review: Reviewing this masterpiece is a challenge. The breadth of coverage, the depth of content and the time-tested durability of the ideas never cease to amaze me (I am still not able to find fault with or criticize any of the ideas presented in the book). One reason why this book has not got the popularity it deserves might be the rather mudane and unimaginative title "Brain Power". When I first saw the unattractive cover and commomplace title, I almost ignored this as another pot-boiler promising impossible feats with the mind. It is my good fortune I bought it (and read it !). Quoting from page 14, the six fuctional thinking skill categories covered by Albecht are: 1. Fact finding 2. Crap detecting 3. Thinking on your feet 4. Idea production 5. Problem solving and decision making 6. Happying. This list encompasses almost everything you would wish to do well in the mental plane (at least in the everyday life of a well informed person, let us exclude scientists etc.). Facts form your knowledge, crap detecting helps you filter out the pseudo-facts, thinking on your feet helps you use your knowledge in day to day living, idea production equals creativity, problem solving and decision making is the utility that works on your knowledge in the most efficient manner to make choices with respect to objectives and finally happying spans the cerebral with the emotional. For a few dollars, that is quite a lot! Other books cover similar ground (But I don't think they cover ALL of this). Albrecht's achievement is to bring together in one place the results of reserach and strong common sense thinking on each topic. Although the ideas may not be entirely original (thinking skills is an area where everyone might have said something correct), I found many of them for the first time here and didn't find them in so many other similar books I have read. Instead of just being a collector of ideas, Albrecht polishes the ideas and adds fertiliser with quotations, anecdotes, cross-references, puzzles and exercises, that eventually the dry core of the result of an academic study or a familiar common-sense approach becomes a powerful, high-horsepower thought vehicle which you can marshal the next time you have a problem. Also, you learn to recognise situations in terms of the categories discussed. This is invaluable in helping you apply the ideas on a regular basis. Albrecht also takes the distinguishing approach that intelligence and emotions are NOT meant to be two water-tight compartments. All along he emphazises how good thinking skills can lead to a better quality life, better relationships with others, higher self-esteem and more happiness. In fact, he only discusses ideas that will be of use in the real world of a common man. The book has a brief but very relevant bibliography and Recommended Reading List. I love the quotations before the start of each sub-topic (for example, "Wisdom is knowing what to do next", "Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as you please"). You will want to read many of the recommended books. So, if you want to get a grip on this thing called thinking, if you want to figure out what your mind is doing most of the time, and then do those things better, then this book is a great starting point. 5 Golden Shining Stars ! - Muthukumar
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