Genius Thinking by Peter Hollins

 

Genius Thinking by Peter Hollins : Thoughts on the book.

When can a person be referred to as a “Genius”? Or, when can a mind be referred to as a “Genius”? Peter Hollins tries to decipher these age- old questions through his book “Genius Thinking” that showcases lessons from history’s greatest minds on innovation, creativity and intelligence. What makes this book interesting is that the author dives deep into the lives of some of history’s best -known minds and tries to analyze what made them the so -called genius minds, which were the key qualities that distinguished these gentlemen and how these qualities can be utilized by the reader in the current world.

The book starts with a deep insightful quick chapter into the key constituents that make a genius mind. The author effectively describes how intellectual curiosity, intellectual honesty, willpower and discipline and the most important one, polymathy, shapes a genius mind. The concept of polymathy will enlighten the reader into hidden benefits of being skilled in diverse areas and having interests and curiosity in multiple domains and how cross -referencing different areas of knowledge help’s one to come up with novel approaches and theories.

Post the first chapter, the subsequent chapters concentrate on the key traits of some of history’s greatest minds.

The second chapter showcases Einstein’s trait of Combinatory play, the “what if” analysis to all real- life events and problems & showing the power of the possible and imagining hypotheticals, and finally his belief in being non -conventional. In Einstein’s experience, combinatory play is referred to taking pieces of knowledge and insights from different disciplines and combining them in contexts to derive something creative or innovative.

In the subsequent chapter, the author concentrates on the life of Socrates’ and especially the Socratic method that concentrates on asking questions upon questions to inspect a statement for greater understanding. The author describes the nature of questions under the Socratic method:

·        Clarification questions – introspecting the reasons as to why exactly does it matter?

·        Probing assumptions – looking out what hidden assumptions might exist?

·        Probing rational, reasons and evidence in relation to evidence of existence.

·        Questioning view points and perspectives- searching for alternative perspectives and introspecting the same.

·        Probing implications and consequences –searching for the meaning, understanding the significance, and connecting it to other information.

·        Questions about questions – understanding the importance of this question?

The chapter on the Socratic methods further dwells deep into each of the questions showcasing a different aspect to a possible day to day conversation and how this method can also be used as thinking technique to understand what one thinks about one own-self.

The author then touches upon Darwin’s rule that was based on facts that deliberately paid attention to material that countered his beliefs, assumptions and expectations. Though the chapter on Darwin is fairly short, however, it showcases some important traits of the naturalist, primary among them was information that challenged his own beliefs.

The next part concentrates on a somewhat interesting personality considered to be the founder of the western philosophy. Rene Descartes. The key part of this chapter is the description of the Meditations on first philosophy which was published by Descartes in 1641, The meditations cover;

·        Meditation 1- use the method of doubt to rid of all beliefs that could be false.

·        Meditation 2- Arrive at some beliefs that could not possibly be false and this must be true.

·        Meditation 3- Articulate criteria for true knowledge.

·        Meditation 4- Prove that the mind is distinct from the body.

·        Meditation 5- Prove the existence of God.

·        Meditation 6: Prove existence of the external physical world.

The chapter covers each of the meditation in detail bringing out the core concept to the reader. The chapter on Descartes is fairly big in comparison to the other chapters.

One of the best chapters of the book is the one that brings Tesla and Edison together. It is no coincidence that Tesla and Edison will always be spoken together. Nicolas Tesla and Thomas Edison were two inventors engaged in the direct and alternate current wars in the late 1800’s. The chapter brings out how Tesla and Edison, both genius and innovators, had contrasting approach to their skills and talent. The chapter also showcases how Edison might have unknowingly used a method abbreviated as “SCAMPER”- Substitute, Combine, adapt, magnify or modify, put to other use, eliminate and rearrange or reverse.  An insightful chapter on the contrasting geniuses of two great innovators.

The chapter on Copernicus and Galileo is equally interesting, if not insightful in comparison to the previous chapter. Unlike, Tesla and Edison, who were competitors, Copernicus and Galileo were separated in decades in which they operated. The chapter concentrates on uncommon originality and independence of thought that both Copernicus and Galileo possessed.

The next two chapters, concentrates on historical figures who were more of leaders than geniuses. Napoleon and Abraham Lincoln. In case of Napoleon, the chapter focuses on “informational triage, used effectively by the Napoleon in his leadership and management. The author draws a parallel to the current world leaders where informational triage can be used effectively. In case of Abraham Lincoln, the chapter focuses on his unique trait showcased by him when he was elected to presidency – Lincoln went on to assemble his rivals in his own cabinet to deliberately use their talents in the government. This part of the story in the Lincoln chapter is extremely insightful. 

On an overall basis, the book is a fairly quick read with a takeaway section at the end of each chapter and short summarizations of the each of the chapter at the end of the book. The content of book is insightful for most of chapters, barring one or two, and there are a lot of unknown facts and lessons in majority of the chapters. The author has done a brilliant job in the research and subsequently compiling key concepts in a compact manner to facilitate better understanding for a general non -technical reader.

Genius Thinking by Peter Hollins is a highly productive reading experience.