The Lost Art of Thinking

by Neil Nedley

The Lost Art Of Thinking

Genres: Nonfiction, Psychology, Philosophy

400 pages, Hardcover

First published December 31, 2011

Reviews

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I first started my current job our CEO told us there was one thing you can't train: character. The Lost Art of Thinking really strikes at the heart of thinking flaws that affect our character. Of course, one needs to be willing to change, but if you bring your willingness this book will set you on the right path to changing the mindset you bring to work situations and other challenges in life.

What got me interested in this book is Nedley's work with the depressed. He brings that experience from that realm to help the general public who holds on to thinking fallacies that, though more socially acceptable, can be very detrimental to our way of life. Beyond the mental habits he also addressed how physical habits, like diet, exercise, and sleep can hamstring our efforts to change our way of thinking.

I read through this rather quickly, so I didn't take everything out of it I could. I'll be starting a shorter, more thorough read through shortly to pull out all the details, and put into practice all I can.

[Christie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very in depth! I really appreciate all the science behind how and why our bodies function the way they do...and how everything impacts the brain. Every parent must read this book.

[Marius71 · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book is titled “The Lost Art of Thinking: How to Improve Emotional Intelligence and Achieve Peak Mental Performance”. ‘Great’ I said, a book about emotional intelligence, also written by an actual doctor. And the “Dr.” matters for later on. So, Dr. Neil Nedley, as I was about to find later from the back of the book, is board-certified in Internal Medicine, specializing in gastroenterology, mental health, and lifestyle.

The first ten chapters are solid, based on CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) principles. He starts every chapter with one or more short stories about some Johns and their problems. Then dives into CBT theory and concepts. His main arguments, lines and ideas align with CBT, but I observed early on that his anecdotes aren’t entirely spot on for the CBT stuff he later tackles in each chapter. I didn’t like that some of his examples are pretty much off; like I could've come up with better examples myself for certain points. But I said to myself, ‘Well, he’s probably oversimplifying stuff so everyone can understand the ideas, or something. He must be a certified therapist or something.’ (Yes, I only read the back of the book after the first ten chapters).
Another subtle thing I observed early on was that he is using Biblical examples, but it didn’t bother me, because the examples made sense in context. I remember thinking, ‘oh, he’s a Christian doctor, I see’.

The second part of the book moved from CBT to lifestyle and health: vitamins, foods, toxins, pollution, etc., along with a bunch of studies and references. He has those throughout the book, but here especially, and logically so. Good, right? His conclusions were backed by science, and those numbers for vitamins and toxins looked like numbers. The ideas seemed alright. (I didn’t have the energy to check any of the studies presented and took them as legitimate).

But then, as the book went on, I started to have questions. He would throw his opinions here and there without the actual scientific support. I said, ‘Well, he’s a doctor after all. He must know his stuff from experience.’ But then I started to pause at the way he was using some of these studies to confirm his ideas. This became obvious when the book moved further into lifestyle topics and I started having a better idea about what he was talking about. Luckily for me, I had the privilege of completing a master’s degree focused heavily on research papers, so I got a small clue on how data and conclusions work. And he is doing a lot of stretching, even with the studies themselves.
“This study made on X people over 65 years old shows Y, so Y is generally true.”
“This study shows that mice get brain damage from listening to rock music, so it’s surely bad for humans too.” Uhm... This is not how it works... (God, the music chapter was so bad it felt like pure misinformation. Using music theory terms to sound like you know what you’re talking about while calling nearly any type of music, rock, blues, jazz, reggae, anything except religious music and classical music, bad in different ways). After the “mice listening to rock beats” thing, I realised he actually had a handful of animal studies to back up claims about the HUMAN brain in other chapters too.

A lot of correlation = causation, selection bias, and overgeneralization. And when I say ‘a lot’, I am not talking about ‘the majority of’, but enough to matter.
The religious examples also started to increase more and more, and finally, in the final chapters of the book, the curtain fell. The final chapters are pure religious teachings. The chapter about truth? There is only one truth, found in the Bible, of course. With all the immorality and the state of the world today, we need to seek the Bible for truth because our minds are no longer capable of distinguishing it. Also “Is it any wonder that the truth has become a blur, when our lives are so filled with fictional entertainment?”, he concludes, after a paragraph in which he states that movies are “technological wonders that stimulate our senses and try to trick our minds. How come people who aren’t married act like they are married, people who are alive play dead, surgeons who are not surgeons performing miracles with a scalpel?” Yes, they are called actors and, according to this book they are bad and trying to trick our minds.

He also started comparing CBT with biblical material. Look, Jesus used CBT principles here, see? We didn’t invent it; we just discovered it 2000 years later. Check how “The following chart demonstrates how the biblical "Love chapter" (1 Corinthians 13) effectively corrects the ten cognitive distortions central to CBT”. The overall feeling I got is that he is saying that CBT derives its validity from Scripture. He validates the CBT principles through a biblical lens in the final chapters, completely disregarding the science and theory from the first chapters.
The last two chapters felt like I was reading my weekly Bible study. (Yes, I am a Christian as well, but what was that?)
Why does my book about Emotional Intelligence end up sounding like a Bible study? Isn’t this a textbook definition of bait and switch? The book presents itself as science-based, medical, psychological, and written by a doctor. Then it slowly shifts from CBT → lifestyle → theology. Feels like an ugly move. Not very ethical to camouflage the message like this. Ironic too; if God is truth, why hide Him behind science?

I feel like I’m making the book sound bad. Normally, this would be subjective, but in this current format, yes, it is objectively bad. If it were called “A Christian Perspective on Mental Health and Lifestyle” or something like that, I wouldn’t have such a big problem with it. But as it stands, it is actively, and probably intentionally, misleading.

(Not to mention how on the back cover it claims he treats resistant depression and anxiety and has written another book on depression, yet his handling of depression here is questionable. He also has some program treatment he keeps advertising throughout the book. Depression is discussed almost the way my mother would talk about it: drink water, get enough light and vitamins, exercise, and use these CBT techniques. It makes it sound like you can handle it yourself. The only times professional help is mentioned are when he directs you to his own program or website. From his whole ideology and ideas presented in the book, I wouldn’t be surprised if he is anti-medication for depression. Just my humble guess though.)

From me, it gets 2 stars for the first two-thirds of the book. The early CBT theory suggests he actually consulted proper CBT textbooks, which is a positive.

TL;DR
Solid CBT content at the start, then a gradual slide into weak science, stretched studies, and finally full Christian theology.
Some of the studies seem misused, correlation is treated as causation, and the book ends as religious teaching despite being marketed as science-based psychology. If it were honestly labeled as a Christian mental-health book, it would at least be an honest starting point — but as it stands, it’s misleading. 2/5 stars.

[Kelsey Mathwig · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wasted hours reading this book so you don't have to. At the risk of sounding too harsh, this book is simplistic to the point of being insulting. I can sum up the profound lessons briefly here: Eat healthy food, drink clean water, get enough sleep, engage in positive thinking, exercise, tackle thought distortions (and a few other CBT concepts), avoid social media, and believe in God. Yeah that last part threw me for a loop. There is no mention of religion until the last couple of chapters, when suddenly there is quite a large amount of "trust in God", "read the Word", and random bible verses and stories thrown in there. Don't waste your time on this one.

[Sabrina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really appreciate Neil Nedley's comprehensive approach to mental health. In this book, he spends time dealing with distorted thinking but also looks at health habits that impact the mind. Though it's a large book, it definitely isn't dry; I found the chapters to be not only well-researched but also engaging and practical.

[Dusty Whyte · Rating 3 out of 5]

Runs more like a textbook found in a high school pyschology classroom. I found a lot of the subject matter to be quite interesting and especially enjoyed reading about diet. However, as the book went on not only did it get redundant, but I also began to pick up on the authors biases. Happy to be finished it, and now I hope to put some of the useful knowledge to practice.

[Dijana Dixy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book when you have to change your life thanks Neil Nedley

[Nizar Hukic · Rating 5 out of 5]

5.0

Sadržaj
U preko 400 stranica stalo je mnogo toga, tako da je teško govoriti o svemu ali ću probati da nabrojim najvažnije.
Teme koje se prožimaju su :
1.Emocionalna inteligencija
2.Mentalne sposobnosti
3. Razmišljanje (ispravno, kognitivno iskrivljenje, etiketiranje, čitanje misli...)
4. Uticaj našeš načina života na mozak (hrana, voda, sunce, otrovi, muzika, socijalizacija)
5. Treće poglavlje (Život nakon gubitka, razumnije odluke, važnost istine, ljubav)

Iako niste ljubitelji ovakih knjiga, ovu knjigu bih preporučio jer ima za svakoga ponešto.

Zanimljivosti
Ovo je knjiga u kojoj ćete podvlačiti dosta, jer ima mnogo zanimljivih stvari kojima se treba vraćati. Ne želim mnogo da otkrivam ali evo nekoliko podvučenih stvari :
Ako imate prevelika očekivanja od drugih, možete se naći u iskušenju da pogrešno etiketirate nekoga kao sebičnog, oholog ili nezainteresovanog samo zato što vam nije posvetio svu svoju pažnju.
Istina je da način života sa previše slobodnog vremena nije najbolji način za postizanje maksimalnih umnih sposobnosti.
Istraživači su dokazali da se oštećenja mozga dešavaju kod životinja sa nedostatkom sna, a neka od tih istraživanja navode da je to oštećenje bilo nepovratno. (Lepo spavajte, vaš mozak će vam biti zahvalan.)
Studije iz osamnaestog veka pokazale su značaj bliskosti za preživljavanje ljudi. Nemački car Fridrih II vršio je eksperiment posmatranja sa namerom da odredi kojim bi jezikom deca progovorila ako im niko ništa ne bi progovarao. Negovateljicama je bilo zabranjeno da ih dodiruju ili im se obraćaju. Bebe nisu progovorile nijednim jezikom - zato što su sve umrle.

Utisak
Čitao sam ovu knjigu skoro pet meseci, svakoga dana po malo. Kako sam otkrivao funkcionisanje našeg mozga, osećao sam kako se menjam, primećujem greške koje pravim u razmišljanju, razumem svoje emocije i prohteve, znam kako da reagujem na njih i odredim koje su ispravne a koje su jednostavno kognitivna iskrivljenja i na kojima treba raditi.

[Kelvin Lomberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every now and then you read a book that truly changes your thinking on life, and helps you make positive change in practical ways. this is one of those books. It covers such a variety of topics, but Neil Nedley speaks to each as an expert with profound insights. Highly recommend to those looking to sharpen their thinking and lifestyle, all based on biblical wisdom. My only hesitation in recommending is the high price of the book, so it may feel out of reach to some.

[Mitsy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sweet book that is summed up by "live a healthy life, eat well, drink water, sleep enough" but well explained, what threw me off though is the fact that he keeps bringing up God subtly during the first part of the book, and then later on it's mostly about God and prayer and his word. If we ignore that, it's a nice book.