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Powell's Q&A: Norberto Fuentes

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   The Autobiography of Fidel Castro

   Norberto Fuentes

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carlcallmer, March 2, 2007 (view all comments by carlcallmer)
I picked up this book while on my way to my winter holiday this christmast, having just checked in my bags and waiting for my gate to open. seeing on the front page the phrase "why crucial decisions cant be made in the blink of an eye"

-something which i belive is crucial to so mouch in life, and is too often overlooked and is certainly undervalued in the world (in my experience) ,
many people seem to think that great thoughts or ideas are most often arrived at or given by some sort of 'magic' or 'inspiration', 'hunch' or 'feeling' rather than as a product of mostly reasoned thought and critical thinking.

as you might have guessed, -i agree with the basic point of view presented in this book.
beeing a somewhat senior software engineer and therefore having as part of my dutys the task of introducing my newly graduated colleguest to the business, i am often surprised to find this mindset, because that is how i would describe it, missing in them, there is a big difference between "a hunch" and "a conclusion".

and while Mr LeGault on the whole makes a persuasive case for why this view of things, or however you would describe it, this approach perhaps, is essential, he does make some (at least to someone from my background) staggeringly innacurate statements.

the first one that stuck with me was very early on, where he states that since the average scores of students tested in ( in i can't remember which test specifically) problem solving were down, that would mean that the average scores of the best group of students were also down.
-this does not follow, this is not implied by that fact alone, it is certainly possible that the best students score as high or even higher than in previous years, and the average could still be lower now. With due respect, Mr LeGault should read up on his math, and not infer things from concepts he does not fully grasp.

now, in most books this would not be a problem, this form of sloppy reasoning can ofttimes be excused.
but in a book whose primary goal is to promote "critical thinking" and "deductive reasoning" -this is in my opinion a major flaw. -major.

he after that goes on to make som very sweeping statements about "the decline in critical thinking" in europe and america respectively, without any proof or examples, just as a stated fact, something that sounds plausible, but has no proof, no examples, its just a statement. (thinking in europe has apparently declined because of "sacrosanct postmodern, left-of-center principles" and in america the reason is said to be that america is becoming reliant on "a class of elite thinkers produced at our top universities" (presumably the same ones whose average score on that test must be lower)) this is a mode of reasoning that i would expect from a tabloid, not from a book that lauds the use of reasoned thought and informed decisions.

now, in a book with this stated purpose this is a very strange stance to take, and one that made me read the rest of the book with flagging enthusiasm and frankly, skepticism.

in short, this book can probably teach one to reason more, rely less on intuition and form more reasoned opinions, but i would suggest that you start by forming souch an opinion about this book.


P.S. i'm not sure if this is relevant or not, but since this will most likely be read mostly by people residing in the united states i should perhaps point out that i am not from the us, but from sweden, perhaps this might give me a different view on some things. also since this is not my mother tongue, it is somewhat hard to express nuances properly, i think perhaps i came off a bit more sarcastic then intended. (but at least math is math, and that logic should hold^^)

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Product Details

ISBN:

9781416523789

Subtitle:

Why Crucial Decisions Can't Be Made in the Blink of an Eye

Author:

LeGault, Michael R.

Author:

Legault, Michael R.

Author:

Legault, Michel

Author:

Hudson, Deal

Publisher:

Threshold Editions

Subject:

American

Subject:

Decision Making & Problem Solving

Subject:

Intellectual life

Subject:

Marketing - Research

Subject:

Thought and thinking

Subject:

General Current Events

Copyright:

2006

Edition Number:

1st

Edition Description:

Thresholdtions

Publication Date:

January 2006

Binding:

Hardback

Grade Level:

General/trade

Language:

English

Pages:

368

Dimensions:

8.36x5.66x1.30 in. .98 lbs.