Think Like Einstein & Learn Like Einstein

by Peter Hollins

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Genres: Nonfiction, Self Help, Audiobook, Productivity, Personal Development, Psychology

300 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2017

About the author

Peter Hollins is a bestselling author, human psychology researcher, and a student of the human condition. He possesses a BS in psychology and a graduate degree.

Reviews

[Piyush Bhatia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Remember the legendary "Farhanitrate Prerajulisation" scene from the iconic movie 3 Idiots? It was, without a doubt, one of the most memorable and hilariously biting moments in Dr. Viru "Virus" Sahastrabuddhe’s teaching career—one that left him visibly rattled. His indignant response, "Nonsense! Aise padhaoge engineering?" was met with Aamir Khan’s cool and cutting reply:
“Sir, main aapko engineering nahi padha raha, main to aapko yeh bata raha hoon ki padhate kaise hain.”


Now, coming to the relevance, this book "Think Like Einstein" echoes a similar philosophy. It isn’t about what to think (something we've all been conditioned to follow blindly) — but about "how to think". It encourages you to question, reason, and analyze critically. A great source to ameliorate your line of reasoning and being self-aware for (accurate) judgment.
Period.

4/5

[Γιώργος Δάμτσιος · Rating 3 out of 5]

Κακό δεν είναι σίγουρα, ούτε κακογραμμένο. Απλά εγώ δεν πολυενθουσιάζομαι στην παρούσα φάση της ζωής μου με τέτοιου είδους βιβλία. Βρέθηκε μπροστά μου, το διάβασα. Το ίδιο θα συμβεί και με δύο ακόμα παρόμοια βιβλία που ακολουθούν. (Αυτοβελτίωσης δηλαδή).

Από εκεί και πέρα... Δεν είναι από τα βιβλία που μπορείς να τολμήσεις να προτείνεις. Σε άλλον θα μιλήσει βαθιά, σε άλλον καθόλου. Είναι καθαρά υποκειμενικό... Χαμένος πάντως δεν βγήκα με την ανάγνωσή του...

[Mahbubul · Rating 5 out of 5]

When 2017 began, I made a resolution that I would read more books this year than the previous year. So much distraction these days! Endless applications, Facebook, Instagram, news from every corner of the globe, forums of any kind -- where is the time to read good quality books? From my childhood I have always liked reading but noticed that I have been reading less and less in recent years. So that was the reason I made the resolution to give an honest effort to read more.

As part of this effort, the latest book I have completed reading earlier this morning is Peter Hollins' non fiction book, title: Think Like Einstein. I am writing this review as detail as I can, hoping that someone will get some benefits reading this review and hopefully will be inspired to read this particular book and overall to read more good quality books for rewarding feat.

Einstein's intellect is legendary. His contributions to the realm of science is widely known, even when I was growing up I heard his name uttered in reverence from my paternal grandfather who was an avid reader.

It took me some time to get into the rhythm of the book though it started with two good riddles. The writer then unfolds various techniques that if used well can help thinking better. Almost like Einstein! I wish it were true. In my humble opinion, the intellect like Einstein is a rarity, though I agree with the premise of Peter Hollins that with dedicated efforts one can enhance one's intellect many folds.

Chapter 1 talks about "Obstacles to Clarity of Thought". The writer gives 4 main reasons for why thinking clearly is not as easy as it should be for many. These are:

1. Inertia and Sloth
2. Incorrect Logic
3. Incorrect Perception
4. Rigid Thinking

Inertia and Sloth - means we humans (most of us) by design are very lazy. We don't want to work more than what is needed to achieve our goals and after achieving the goals we abandon the efforts altogether. The writer gives an analogy here. It is like two scenarios: a ten minute car trip and a ten hour car trip. For a ten minute ride, the planning can be non existent, in most cases, but for a ten hour trip one must plan well. The problem is that most of us use the same strategy of 10 minute car trip into 10 hour car trip, so obviously causing problem. Peter Hollins writes: "we are taking the path of least resistance and only picking the lowest hanging fruit in the hopes it will get us where we need to be. We might solve the immediate problem we are facing, or get through to the next moment, but it definitely isn't the way of clearest or optimal thinking". Here is one more good quote on Inertia and Sloth: "Just because you were able to make an immediate problem go away doesn't mean you actually know how to solve it." This type of thinking lead to "close-mindedness" and stubbornness.

The second obstacle to clear thinking is "Incorrect Logic". Here Peter Hollins gives examples of Logical fallacies as the prime reason of Incorrect Logic. What are logical fallacies? These "are errors in thinking that occur because we see an argument and don't necessarily examine it deeply enough to see that the argument isn't actually very convincing".

The third obstacle to clear thinking is "Incorrect Perception". "Incorrect perception, typically known as cognitive bias, makes people think 1 + 1 = 3 and believe it to be true. Incorrect logic lies in the end result, where incorrect perception lies in the thought process."

The fourth obstacle to clear thinking is "Rigid Thinking": it is also known as being "close minded" that leads to the unwillingness to consider different points of view. Looking at the polarized world of ours, where many of us abhors the thought of being disputed of our firm belief on any particular subject, may that be philosophical, political, social or economical outlook, Peter Hollins does good job driving this basic point well: "these harm your clear thinking because people tend to create a subjective worldview out of wholly objective events. Events themselves are neutral, and are only positive or negative based on the worldview one holds towards them. It's imperative to be able to see both sides and step outside the box of your rigid thinking."

In the second chapter of the book, Peter Hollins presents three frameworks of thinking: The Facione Six Part Model of Critical Thinking, The RED Model of Thinking and the Paul-Elder Model of Critical Thinking. I found this chapter has good information but mostly a dry chapter comparing to the other ones in the book. Don't get me wrong though. I have highlighted some important terminologies and their meaning as a kind of refresher, though basic concepts, but still good to re-read.

Some of these quotations I've saved from this chapter are:

Interpretation asks, "What am I seeing exactly, and am I missing anything?"

Analysis asks, "\What does this mean to me and why?"

"Inference is the ability to read between the lines and understand that information is missing, and make an educated guess about what it might be."

"Evaluation asks, "Is this information good, valid, and reliable, or do I not trust it?""

"Explanation is the ability to present and break down information in a simple way such that almost anyone can understand it."

"Self-regulation is the ability to think about your own thinking. It's to take a step outside your own head and determine if you are comprehending, or thinking about something, effectively."

In third chapter of the book, Peter Hollins writes about "Creative Problem Solving". I like the definition he presents: "It's typically about making a connection between unrelated concepts, or suddenly understanding the underlying concepts that make a problem solvable". He also contrasts between problem solving and creative problem solving with good examples.

He also has good advice about committing and producing as "committing is one of the options that are milling around your head will inevitably get you closer to a solution than thinking about your options, even if you end up being wrong. When you walk down a path, you will gain tools, knowledge, and experience to help you understand the problem as a whole and what might be missing from your solution." - good observation. If I'm remembering it correctly I had read similar observations from two other books in the past, first one was The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch and the second one is "Wait...What? And Life's Other Essential Questions" by James E. Ryan.

In Chapter 4, the writer describes The Socratic Method - it is basically following ancient Greek method named after the famous philosopher Socratis - where one asks many questions to understand the true meaning of an assertions and while doing that finding any weakness and gap in the assertion. Here is a good quote: "if you are mercilessly questioned and picked apart with Socratic questioning, what remains afterwards will be heavily tested, validated and rock solid".

In Chapter 5, Peter Hollins gives pointers on how make smarter decisions in life. Many of us feel indecision when facing crossroads in life, "We're indecisive because we don't want to be judged negatively. It's often a confidence issue as opposed to a pickiness issue." The techniques to be decisive and making good decisions are:

1. Know that almost every decision is reversible
2. Apply good filters and boundaries to help making the decision

In Chapter 6 the writer describes the way to find one's intelligence type. One good point that he observes that I also had read in other articles is that a high IQ score might be correlated with traditional type of success and higher education, but it certainly doesn't cause success in itself.

8 intelligence types that are provided in this chapter are:

1. Linguistic and verbal
2. Logical - mathematical
3. Visual - spatial
4. Body - movement
5. Musical
6. Interpersonal
7. Intrapersonal
8. Naturalist

In Chapter 7 the writer gives some pointers on how to make our brain run in optimal levels.

The techniques described are:

1. Prevent burning out by doing nothing - like sleeping good number of hours everyday, for example eight hours a night. Practicing meditation and mindfulness can also bring tremendous benefit in this regard.

2. Do the toughest work/thinking at the right time of a day or night when the brain is naturally at its best.

3. Eat good food and drink plenty of water to stay hydrated. Avoid food like sugar, dairy and gluten (though I think meat and fish should have been included in this list by the writer) and good food list includes vegetables, ginger, green veggies and turmeric that fights inflammation in brain cells called miroglia.

4. De-stress. "Manage your stress; manage your brainpower. Diet, exercise, adequate sleep, hydration and meditation have all been tied to lower stress."


Chapter 8 gives good explanation on different types memories, like sensory, short term and long term and how we can retain more information in our memories for longer. Some of the techniques mentioned are spaced repetition, usage of flashcards, mnemonics, stories and using of senses, especially using smell to trigger memories.

In Chapter 9 the writer debunks some of the widely held notion (to him these are all lies). Here are the list:

1. The Mozart Effect: classical music like Mozart, Beethoven do not help think better
2. Chess can be helpful improving certain individual skills but it does not makes one smarter.
3. Brain training games like Neurotracer, Cogmed, Lumosity are useless. However, there is scientific evidence that aerobic exercise causes biochemical and hormone-related changes that literally increase the size of your brain. So there is some hope.


Chapter 10 gives some good primer on how humanity gets fooled by myriads of data centric opinion and news feed that bombards us everyday from zillion sources. Interpreting the world around us is increasingly dependant on how to evaluate data thrown at us. Most of us take data presented at a face value without asking the critical questions to check its validity or truthfulness. We get fooled by clever filters put by others to sway an opinion. Here are some of the pointers Peter Hollins makes:

"Correlation is not causation" - "Just because two things occur at the same time means absolutely nothing -- it's as good as a coincidence without actual evidence to say otherwise."

"The Gambler's Fallacy" - it's the feeling that there are predictable patterns in what are actually random and independent events.

"Selection Bias" - it happens when data presented is highly skewed and inaccurate because the data points involved aren't actually random.

"Margin of Error" - measures the accuracy of the sample data.


In Chapter 11 the writer describes how to generate good creative ideas. Here are the techniques:

1. Brainstorm ideas as prolifically as possible
2. Embrace outlandish ideas during ideation as it will open up new possibilities
3. Setting a deadline on generating ideas can be beneficial as it can be motivating
4. Use each letter of alphabet and come up with new idea that starts with a specific letter, it will give 26 ideas at the least.


In Chapter 12 the writer gives pointers on how to develop good judgement. Here is the list he covered:

1. Balanced Viewing: It's like seeing the forest and the trees with equal importance by not diminishing the significance of either.
2. Understand Deductive Reasoning - "operate on hypotheses to make sense of data".
3. Skepticism - never believe everything you hear - see evidence before forming a solid opinion on anything.
4. Recognizing our own bias: by recognizing our own bias we will be self aware more that will help making good judgement.

In Chapter 13, Peter Hollins describes, though briefly, how Einstein's thought process was. Einstein used thought experiment like "What If" scenario to its end to determine if a theory or hypothesis was true.

In the very last chapter, Conclusion, the writer provides the answer to the riddle that he presented in the first chapter and ends the book with a positive note to readers: "Sharpening your insight isn't just about being more observant or solving logic riddles. That might be where it starts, but it can have a very real positive effect on your life."

Peter Hollins' Think Like Einstein is a book full of good wisdom. Some of these may feel very basic to many, but even then refreshing these "basics" can bring benefits in one's life.

I heartily recommend this book.

[Christopher Augustinack · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall a mixed bag.

There are some very practical boots in the middle, which are laid out very concisely. For example, the prescription for spaced repetition is excellent. There are a number of things that feel a quite meandering that don't seem to come to a nice point. The distinctions between the different parts of the systems if thought feel a bit muddled at points. The descriptions of the different logical fallacies are pretty approachable, though sooner of the examples are too trivial to flesh out the more subtle distinctions. My largest complaint is the often contradictory advice is not prescribed specifically enough. The author could do more to make clear that one must never use unrelated ideas and consequences when evaluation evidence and arguments, but that this can be appropriate when searching for new creative solutions to problems. The advice is in different chapters, but there is no mention of the fact that we had been told I'm a previous chapter that these practices are examples of unclear thinking to be avoided at all costs. While I have significant issues with some of the presentation, the underlying concepts in the book are quite good. If you're willing to reorganize it in your mind, and make sure you know when to apply the different bits, there is a lot of good stuff in there.

[Marouane | ‮مۘــرَۈانۨ‬ · Rating 4 out of 5]

كتاب جامد ومُفيد وهيساعد جدًا اي حد عايز يتخلص من التشويش في التفكير والمغالطات المنطقية إللي بنتعرض ليها يوميًا ف النقاشات، وفي تكنيكات لتعزيز الذاكرة والتفكير بشكل مُعمق وفعال أكتر.

أكتشفت ان انا already بستخدم تكنيكات تفكير كتير منه لوحدي.
ويمكن التشابه ده بيرجع لـ تشابه نمط الشخصية بتاعتي الـ {INTP} مع نمط شخصية أينشتاين

أهم تلات نصايح طلعت بيها من الكتاب :

1- أبعد عن مغالطة المُقامر، وهي ببساطة انك بتحط احتمالات بناءًا ع رغبتك ف حدوث الشئ وبتقنع نفسك أنها هتتحقق وبتتجاهل القوانيين والقواعد الرياضية والإحصائية الخاصة بالإحتمالات.

2- الشك الصحي بيشكل جزء كبير من العمود الفقري للتفكير النقدي، وهيساعدك ف ادراك الافتراضات، وتطبيقه بـ كل سهولة هو أنك كل ما حد يبيعلك معلومة اسأل عن الغرض منها والرسالة اللي وراها، ولو المعلومة كانت رأي لازم تتسائل عن دوافع وتحيزات قائل الرأي وهل هو مستفيد من الرأي ده بشكل شخصي ولا لا.

3- امشي ف حياتك بـ (مبدأ باريتو)، اللي بينص على ان 80% من وقت استمتاعك مش محتاج منك اكتر من استثمار 20% من طاقتك ومجهودك.

[Frank · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just another logic book. Helps you on your path toward thinking outside the box. Climate change deniers and flat-earthers should read this book.

[Chartokai · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mostly good topics, but with many mistakes.

Some of Einstein's essays are on my reading list, so I got this book expecting it to be helpful without much thought. As such, I missed that it's a self-help book, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. We would all want such books, provided their "help" wasn't so often synonymous with printed clickbait snake oil. In this respect, my hat's of to you. The book is well sourced, and the topics are good overall. Things like cognitive biases, data manipulation, logical principles, memory and more.

The reason I can't recommend this book beyond being a list of topics to look into is how poorly the author knows/describes them himself. Some examples:
-"typically, a 5% chance of a causal relationship is notable enough to be deemed statistically significant" No, a 5% possibility of chance (95% chance of a causal relationship) is the almost universal P value needed for statistical significance.
-Spaced repetition systems (SRS) are the most effective way to memorize material in most tested scenarios, wording this as "increase your memory" is slopy and can imply something else. SRS is also more than just the spacing effect of spreading out information, as it incorporates increasing delays. I would recommend checking out the Anki SRS app, as the overall point of 'SRS = good' is right.
-Putting "as much information about a single concept as possible" on a single flashcard is a recipe for disaster. It's the complete opposite of every SRS flashcard guide I have ever seen comment on this issue. Likewise, this can also be misleading for the concept of 'chunking'. It's more often thought about as braking a subject down into chunks then building it up, and said building is never as much info as possible on a topic.
-The burden of proof isn't just on the first person making the claim. The main point that rejecting a claim gives you no burden is fair, but to then state an equal claim (the colour of the sky in the example) requires equal proof.
-there are other points like brain waves and omega 3 fatty acids, but I think I made my point.

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good overview

Cover a lot of good topics. The only reason i have it four is because it didn't have truly practical examples. There a few, but didn't really have much meat to eat and very dull. It is also very choppy, the author does a poor job of linking concepts and how they work together. So your only left with a bunch of seemingly random topics on brain science pulled from a hat.

[Yordi Verbeeck · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having read a lot of these self-help and 'how to be a genius' books. I didn't learn anything new here, it was more just a refreshment of what other self-help books talk about.

However I give this book 4 stars for covering a lot of grounds on what it takes to be a great and logical thinker. Peter Hollins writes very short chapters and is to the point, that's what I loved about this book. I've listened to the audiobook in just 2 hours time (sped up) and it was an educational experience overal.

[Pía López Copetti · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a really insightful book on the thought development process and how do we make ideas to connect. As a personal recommendation, I'd say to read this book after reading "A Mind for Numbers", as you'd get some extra concepts more in detail - this book in particular makes emphasis on a diffuse thinking mode

[Andreus Reedus · Rating 3 out of 5]

People who should read this book won't, people who do read it will probably say, "yea, i knew all that." All well and good knowing the basics, it's applying it to daily life with which most of us have a problem.

A short, easy read, and a good book to have at hand to refresh the mind on what it probably already knew.

[Etienne K · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite a pretentious title, I found it as informative and enjoyable. Many practical tools. Although, as this book touch many subjects, it doesn’t go in the details of any of points covered.

I recommend this book if one is ready to do a massive complementary work about all key subjects presented in the book.

[Chris Mccollough · Rating 4 out of 5]

Would have saved me reading anumber of other books

This book is a collection oft Main ideas concerning thought and memory. If you are astute inthese areas this book may habe nothing to offer. If you are beging to investigate these topics this book may be agood place to Start.

[Tony Rebalbos · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great reminder to question everything. The importance of taking care of your health and the benefits it has on your brain. Proper rest, nutrition, hydration, meditation, exercise, and reduced amounts of stress. And finally the importance of those moments of solitude where you are daydreaming.

[Matt McMahon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid book. A few things that relatable to the way that I think and it showcases how I can improve that by tweaking my brain a little. Overall a fun read!

Cross-Posted on Amazon

[Carol Faris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting

Fast paced review of interesting concepts of memory, critical thinking, processing, etc. Great tips for improving your skills. Recommended highly

[Laverne Lopes · Rating 4 out of 5]

a lot of repeat.

[Preethi Venugopala · Rating 4 out of 5]

Liked it. Detailed review coming soon.

[Ngoc Anh · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very informative but not new much to me.

[حسين سليس · Rating 3 out of 5]

I may have not paid a lot of attention to the details.. as I have seen the same points/topics mentioned elsewhere.

[Chandan Sharma · Rating 2 out of 5]

Do not contain that much of good think.
May be 18-20 % good stuff.
There are some useful data but clearly lack explanation.
Very hard to comprehend if you are novie.

[Jérémy Veilleux · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was another great book who can help people to sharpen their decision making skills.., but It comes with a downside.., It will take time to master theses skills properly.

[Aiza Melorins · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just finished the book and I still don’t think like Einstein blah.

[heidi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Super interesting material burning and drab delivery and format.

[Shreya Rai · Rating 5 out of 5]

Opens up new dimensions of brain, improves critical and analytical thinking, Must read!

[Alan Akhondnejad · Rating 4 out of 5]

برای نوجوان ها بیشتر مناسبه ولی برای من که بزرگسالم هم خیلی مفید بود در هر صورت ما بزرگسال ها که اهل مطالعه هستیم این نوع فکر کردن هارو تجربه کردیم حالا بعضی ها ممکنه واقعا نیاز داشته باشن

[Haifa Busamra · Rating 5 out of 5]

لا أؤمن بوجود شخص غبي وآخر ذكي.. كل ما في الأمر أن هناك شخصا درب عقله أكثر من الآخر فأصبحت سرعة إدراكه للأمور أكبر مقارنة به

[Izzatul Haziqah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this in one sitting. Key takeaway for over-thinkers:
• set a deadline for decision making
• set a criteria list if you can’t choose

[Toofan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Suitable for older pre-teens and younger teens, but nothing that older teens, not to mention adults don't know.

[Krijayanth Krishnapillai]

Good insight and useful tips.