The Critical Mind by Zoe Mckey

 

There is no doubt that Critical Thinking is one of the most essential skills of the new world and “The Critical Mind” by Zoe Mckey is an insightful book for readers to understand the key aspects of this new world skill.

The book that concentrates on giving insights into ways of enhancing one’s problem solving and problem evaluation skill, is a quick read comprises of around 120 pages with some pages dedicated to tag the reference source material that has been referred in various case studies and concepts all through- out the book.

The core concentration of the book is in and around providing strategies for action to improve one’s analysis, questioning and evaluating techniques in relation to all forms of information which they come across. Information and data are the most valuable asset of the new world and to be able to dissect and interpret this information and data is already one of the most sought- after skill.

The concepts and aspects as stated in the book may appear to be a little general for some and very complex for many. However, if one reads the book curiously and inquisitively enough, they would come across that major concepts that are stated in relation to Critical Thinking is actually very practical and perhaps already in use by us. However, we just don’t tag them as critical thinking in practical life.

One of the highlights of the book is the chapter where the author dwells deep into the Piaget’s theory of thinking formulated and collated by Jean Piaget, a known name in psychology. The book smartly and cleverly summarizes the theory which has four stages of thinking in humans from birth to old age. These four stages namely comprise of; The Sensorimotor Stage (when the child is born to when they are two years old), The Pre-operational stage (between the age to Two and seven), The Concrete Operational Stage (between seven to eleven) and the formal operational stage (from 12 years through entire adulthood). The understanding of various stages of thinking will surely enlighten the reader to a whole lot of answers about the behavior of their own kids.

The book further digs deep into the main process of developing the critical thinking. The book in a simple and understandable language explains the key steps as established by the guidelines by Wade & Tavris in their two books named Psychology and Psychology in perspective. These include; how asking good questions, articulating the questions well, examining the evidence, avoiding emotional reasoning, avoiding over-generalizations, considering other interpretations, and tolerating uncertainty. The individual explanation under each of the sections will help understand the concept in a detailed manner.  These steps form the most inevitable part of the process of developing critical thinking. Practicing on a routine basis would ultimately make this into a habit.

Another interesting subject covered in this book are that of Universal Intellectual Standards, Elements of thinking and Valuable intellectual traits. These concepts are used by people in general daily life without understanding the fact that they actually form an important part of the process of critical thinking.

The book takes a step ahead into the constraints to the process of Critical thinking. The key barriers for readers to focus in this section would be that of Egocentrism and Sociocentrism and how these limit the minds to apply critical thinking. However, one also needs to be careful as to not go overboard in using critical thinking.

The Critical Mind by Zoe Mckey would be a delightful read for the readers who are new to practicing critical thinking. Applying the simple techniques would help one develop the skill in a more positive and productive manner. The book is good collection of some of the most important concepts in the field of Critical thinking that has been collated into a simple and reader friendly one.