Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know by Adam Grant helps you think critically, reevaluate and gain fresh perspectives - highly recommended for adults and teens!
Quite often you see my girls and me writing book reviews but what you don't know is my hubs is also an avid reader who reads fiction and non-fiction, and across genres (probably reads more widely than me 😆). We recently got from Experal Singapore Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know by Adam Grant and my husband highly recommends this for adults and teenagers.
In our rapidly changing world, the cognitive skill of being able to rethink and unlearn might matter more than intelligence and that is what Grant - an organisational psychologist at The Wharton School - examines in his book: the art of rethinking. By learning to question our opinions, we learn to prize mental flexibility, humility and curiosity over consistency.
These are skills that can serve us and our children well, especially in a world whose current state of affairs we're all trying to make sense of, no? Here's my hubs' review:
"Adam Grant uses data and storytelling techniques to help you rethink and relearn. From updating one’s views, opening other people’s minds to creating communities of lifelong learners and escaping tunnel visions, his book helps you think critically, reevaluate and gain fresh perspectives.
When reading this book, I found myself nodding and agreeing to the points and views laid down on the pages. It’s not only good for self-improvement but also provides the tools to influence others to open their minds."
Thank you Experal Singapore for sending this to us! It's high on my TBR list and one I'm definitely getting my teenager to read. I find our secondary school education now is very different from back when I was a teenager. Students are now required to do a lot more critical analysis and thinking once they start secondary school whether it's in English, humanities subjects and/or elective subjects - it's definitely the case for Big E who is in Secondary One this year.
So if you have teenagers, I think it's good for them to explore non-fiction that helps to expand and challenge their thinking, especially for the younger teens whose world view may not be as wide as adults, yet are already expected to write and discuss about world issues like they are experts. I know some parents also share the same view as us, as in how much it is a challenge for their teens to write opinions about world and social issues. And it's not the kids' fault for not being able to do so; they already have so many subjects, projects, CCAs to tackle such that it's hard for them to keep up with everything that is happening in the world, let alone form opinions on them. I mean even for adults, we don't know everything or have the facts to form opinions on every issue as well.
So, whenever I see good commentaries or analysis in the news on important and/or current world issues, I send them to Big E to read, not just for her to keep up to date with current affairs but also to let her see how commentaries and opinions are written and formed. I know I'm digressing a bit but the bottom line is, I think it's beneficial for teens to explore non-fiction that helps them expand and challenge their thinking. I think such knowledge and skills will serve them not only in their education but also in their life as they grow older.
Do check out Experal Singapore's website www.Experal.com, and Shopee and Lazada stores for more good fiction and non-fiction reads - they have an awesome variety at reasonable prices and really fast delivery service 😉
Happy weekend y'all!
Disclaimer: The book was provided by Experal Singapore for my review. My opinions and reviews here are strictly my and my family’s own.
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