Rethink the Way You Think In hindsight, every great idea seems obvious. But how can you be the person who comes up with those ideas? In this revised and expanded edition of his groundbreaking Thinkertoys, creativity expert Michael Michalko reveals life-changing tools that will help you think like a genius. From the linear to the intuitive, this comprehensive handbook details ingenious creative-thinking techniques for approaching problems in unconventional ways. Through fun and thought-provoking exercises, you'll learn how to create original ideas that will improve your personal life and your business life. Michalko's techniques show you how to look at the same information as everyone else and see something different. With hundreds of hints, tricks, tips, tales, and puzzles, Thinkertoys will open your mind to a world of innovative solutions to everyday and not-so-everyday problems.

Contents Preface to the New Edition    xiThe Barking Cat (Introduction)    xvii initiation    1 Chapter One: Original Spin     3Chapter Two: Mind Pumping     11Chapter Three: Challenges     22Chapter Four: Thinkertoys     35 Part One: Linear Thinkertoys     41 Group AChapter Five: False Faces (reversal)     43Chapter Six: Slice and Dice (attribute listing)     53Chapter Seven: Cherry Split (fractionation)     60Chapter Eight: Think Bubbles (mind mapping)     66Chapter Nine: SCAMPER (questions)     72 Group BChapter Ten: Tug-of-War (force-field analysis)     111Chapter Eleven: Idea Box (morphological analysis)     117Chapter Twelve: Idea Grid (FCB grid)     126Chapter Thirteen: Lotus Blossom (diagramming)     132Chapter Fourteen: Phoenix (questions)     137Chapter Fifteen: The great Transpacific Airline and Storm Door Company (matrix)     144Chapter Sixteen: Future Fruit (future scenarios)     150 Group CChapter Seventeen: Brutethink (random stimulation)     157Chapter Eighteen: Hall of Fame (forced connection)     170Chapter Nineteen: Circle of Opportunity (forced connection)     179Chapter Twenty: Ideatoons (pattern language)     184Chapter Twenty-One: Clever Trevor (talk to a stranger)     190 Part Two: Intuitive Thinkertoys    199 Chapter Twenty-Two: Chilling Out (relaxation)     203Chapter Twenty-Three: Blue Roses (intuition)     210Chapter Twenty-Four: The Three B’s (incubation)     218Chapter Twenty-Five: rattlesnakes and Roses (analogies)     223Chapter Twenty-Six: Stone Soup (fantasy questions)     239Chapter Twenty-Seven: True and False (janusian thinking)    248Chapter Twenty-Eight: Dreamscape (dreams)     256Chapter Twenty-Nine: Da Vinci’s Technique (drawing)     261Chapter Thirty: Dali’s Technique (hypnogogic imagery)     268Chapter Thirty-One: Not Kansas (imagery)     273Chapter Thirty-Two: The Shadow (psychosynthesis)     281Chapter Thirty-Three: The Book of the Dead (hieroglyphics)     287 Part Three: The Spirit of Koinonia    293 Chapter Thirty-Four: Warming Up     299Chapter Thirty-Five: Brainstorming    311Chapter Thirty-Six: Orthodox Brainstorming    323Chapter Thirty-Seven: Raw Creativity    341 Part Four: Endtoys    363 Chapter Thirty-Eight: Murder Board     365Chapter Thirty-Nine: You Are Not a Field of Grass    374 Index    381About the Author    395