Random House Books for Young Readers How to be More Interesting: Change how you see yourself and how the world sees you

I've always found de Bono's writing style somewhat boring, so seeing a book by him called "How to be more interesting" seemed a paradox worth investigating! I wondered if de Bono had finally discovered how to be more interesting! Alas, it seems not; this book is no more interesting than the most tedious of his outchurnings. But more annoyingly, the title is misleading! The book does not really teach us how to be more interesting. It is just a collection of brainstorming exercises on random, irrelevant topics. Each short chapter begins with a question or conundrum, to which we are asked to brainstorm as many different answers or explanations as possible. De Bono's rationale: "Part of being interesting is the ability to 'play' with ideas." I wonder what the other "part of being interesting" consits of! I reckon de Bono hasn't yet worked it out yet! So for his benefit I will offer some suggestions: (1) Introduce a modicum of verve and humour into your writing. (2) If you're born into aristocracy, be careful not to seem out-of-touch and self-opinionated. (3) Don't write books with misleading titles. (4) Write books that contain mostly fresh new ideas, rather than rehashing the same old stuff that wasn't very original in the first place. (5) Have a careful rethink about what it really takes to become more interesting!This book merely consists of a series of brainstorming exercises about random, irrelevant topics. Here are a couple of examples:Exercise 1: "A frog. On a piece of paper, write down the different things that are interesting about a frog. What are the channels of thought that open up?" (The next couple of pages list de Bono's own ideas on what makes a frog interesting.)Exercise 61: "This is a very difficult exercise and you can skip it if you wish. Choose any three words from the following list and construct a story: sheep, bell, prison, snake, laundry."The "very difficult" comment made me wonder if this book was intended for infants! Perhaps it was even thought up by one! A child could easily have made up a similar set of exercises; so you could do the same, thereby avoiding the cost of the book! However, I think most people would agree that spending time practising brainstorming on irrelevant subjects is hardly the key being a more interesting person! In a nutshell, I think this is a poor-value book that doesn't deliver what its title promises.

This was disappointing. It's interesting I suppose because he is not in the same spheres of thought as I am but it is irritating. De Bono says it would be predictable and therefore boring to call this book boring. I don't call it boring - there are enticing exciting insights, mainly revealed in the outline structure headings, the cover and in little moments of lyrical visionary expressiveness -'a good conversation is like Jazz'.But there is a heavy tediousness, and lack of science and emotional sympathy with me as a modern woman, nor contextual awareness to much of the writing. I am prone to tedious abstraction myself, it almost goes with the territory of thinking as a pastime, career and identity.But he's so 'Boys Own' old-school mannish; the thinking exercises have repetitive themes of exotica and foreign climes, animals (frogs,sharks, mating habits), anthropomorphism, evolutionary psychology, engineering, sport, so many many provocative but odd suggestions in reference to sexual politics. He also targets religion, culture, conventional intellectualism, but in the way of a nineteenth century scholar. His 'interesting' is not very originally free-thinking. Sexist in a way which is sad without being terribly repugnant. Self-important but somehow disconnected from the world as I know it."I have known beautiful women who are very boring. I am sure there are beautiful women who are very interesting." - from the forward, page 6.I hate his invention of the word 'po' to signal a conversational provocation for the sake of stimulus.So! What if we didn't have the phrase 'what if', well then, theoretically speaking, in a hypothetical situation, you might like to invent the word 'po' -except it would sound too silly - there is a children's character - a Telly-tubby- called Po! And, as I demonstrated, it is completely unnecessary. De Bono is wrong when he says the English language lacks the forms and words. He almost talks as if chat is the only form of conversation and seems entirely independent of linguistic analyses.I still like the man. Worth looking through, this book. It has some interesting ideas about 'interest' and socially-entertaining conversations and it's an insight into this influential thinker so I'm glad I bought it; but...!

How To Be More Interesting is a curious book. It really demands a lot of input from the reader; there are 74 exercises to 'undergo'.It's not that I don't mind participating in the book, indeed getting involved with the material is to be extolled in some cases. I enjoyed the first two thirds of the exercises, (and, yes, I did complete the book), but found my attention waning nearer the end.I felt that I wasn't learning anything from comparing my answers to the suggestions of the author; were mine less valid than his, if I was off the mark?I really think this material is covered in  How To Have A Beautiful Mind , and actually prefer that book, combined with  De Bono's Thinking Course: Powerful Tools to Transform Your Thinking .As suggested, you need a workbook of some form to record your answers. How To Have A Beautiful MindDe Bono's Thinking Course: Powerful Tools to Transform Your Thinking

the legend needs no explanation

Un livre très pratique sur la Créativité que je recommande vivement. Facile à comprendre et les concepts sont simplifiés au maximum..