56 books like Six Thinking Hats

By Edward de Bono,

Here are 56 books that Six Thinking Hats fans have personally recommended if you like Six Thinking Hats. Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of The School And Society

Anthony Weston Author Of Teaching as the Art of Staging: A Scenario-Based College Pedagogy in Action

From my list on to provoke the impresario in every teacher.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve taught Philosophy graduate students at the same time as assisting in kindergartens when my kids were in community co-op schools... staging both classes the same way. Proud to be named Elon University’s 2002 Teacher of the Year, I have led classes “on the edge” ranging from “Millennial Imagination” and “Life in the Universe” (students just called it “Aliens”) to a Philosophy of Education course taught with a totally different pedagogy – embodying a different philosophy – every single session. I also work in environmental philosophy and am deeply involved in designing and building Common Ground Ecovillage in central North Carolina.

Anthony's book list on to provoke the impresario in every teacher

Anthony Weston Why did Anthony love this book?

An even-tempered yet provocative sketch of the philosophy and design of a school “where actual & literal constructive activity shall be the center & source of the whole thing”... as when history students in Dewey’s experimental elementary school in effect recreate the industrial revolution, for instance reinventing crude cotton gins and looms and eventually even making some of their own clothes. What school could be! Dewey’s vision (first published in 1899!) is still radical (alas) and still topical and richly suggestive to scenario-staging pedagogy today.

By John Dewey,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The School And Society as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The Title 'The School and Society written/authored/edited by John Dewey', published in the year 2017.


Book cover of Minds on Fire: How Role-Immersion Games Transform College

Michael A. Barnhart Author Of Can You Beat Churchill? Teaching History Through Simulations

From my list on history books for teaching and learning.

Why am I passionate about this?

Gaming led to my career as a history professor. When I was about ten, I discovered some of the first commercial board games, Gettysburg or Diplomacy. Hooked, I delved into the history behind such games and discovered a passion for delving deeper. After I began teaching, I thought I could share that passion with my students through historical simulations. My “sim” courses became among the most popular in the university. 

Michael's book list on history books for teaching and learning

Michael A. Barnhart Why did Michael love this book?

Carnes wrote this book about ten years ago as a reflection of his experiences in using role-immersion games—simulations—since the 1990s. It recounts the tremendous enthusiasm of students as a result. Perfect attendance, coming long before and staying long after classes. Student reflections on how much deeper their learning experiences were. It inspired me to write my book based on my use of simulations in the classroom. 

By Mark C. Carnes,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Minds on Fire as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A Choice Outstanding Academic Title of the Year

In Minds on Fire, Mark C. Carnes shows how role-immersion games channel students' competitive (and sometimes mischievous) impulses into transformative learning experiences. His discussion is based on interviews with scores of students and faculty who have used a pedagogy called Reacting to the Past, which features month-long games set during the French Revolution, Galileo's trial, the partition of India, and dozens of other epochal moments in disciplines ranging from art history to the sciences. These games have spread to over three hundred campuses around the world, where many of their benefits defy…


Book cover of Theatre of the Oppressed

Anthony Weston Author Of Teaching as the Art of Staging: A Scenario-Based College Pedagogy in Action

From my list on to provoke the impresario in every teacher.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve taught Philosophy graduate students at the same time as assisting in kindergartens when my kids were in community co-op schools... staging both classes the same way. Proud to be named Elon University’s 2002 Teacher of the Year, I have led classes “on the edge” ranging from “Millennial Imagination” and “Life in the Universe” (students just called it “Aliens”) to a Philosophy of Education course taught with a totally different pedagogy – embodying a different philosophy – every single session. I also work in environmental philosophy and am deeply involved in designing and building Common Ground Ecovillage in central North Carolina.

Anthony's book list on to provoke the impresario in every teacher

Anthony Weston Why did Anthony love this book?

Inspired by Paolo Freire’s classic Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Brazilian dramatist and activist Augusto Boal makes active participants of audiences, staging oppressive interactions and then repeatedly re-staging them as “spect-actors” step up to intervene and remake the interaction. Anyone can join! A stunning synergy of empowering revolutionary theater and improvisational role-playing that has not even begun to be adapted to classrooms. You figure out why. Then figure out how to adapt and bring it on now.

By Augusto Boal, Charles A. McBride (translator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Theatre of the Oppressed as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"Boal and his work are marvelous examples of the post-modern situation-its problems and its opportunities. Twice exiled, Boal is 'at home' now wherever he finds himself to be. He makes a skeptical, comic, inquisitive and finally optimistic theatre involving spectators and performers in the search for community and integrity. This is a good book to be used even more than to be read." - Richard Schechner

"Augusto Boal's achievement is so remarkable, so original and so groundbreaking that I have no hesitation in describing the book as the most important theoretical work in the theatre in modern times - a…


Book cover of Instead of Education: Ways to Help People Do Things Better

Anthony Weston Author Of Teaching as the Art of Staging: A Scenario-Based College Pedagogy in Action

From my list on to provoke the impresario in every teacher.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve taught Philosophy graduate students at the same time as assisting in kindergartens when my kids were in community co-op schools... staging both classes the same way. Proud to be named Elon University’s 2002 Teacher of the Year, I have led classes “on the edge” ranging from “Millennial Imagination” and “Life in the Universe” (students just called it “Aliens”) to a Philosophy of Education course taught with a totally different pedagogy – embodying a different philosophy – every single session. I also work in environmental philosophy and am deeply involved in designing and building Common Ground Ecovillage in central North Carolina.

Anthony's book list on to provoke the impresario in every teacher

Anthony Weston Why did Anthony love this book?

Holt writes that the best learning experience in his life wasn’t a “learning experience” at all, but serving on a submarine during World War 2. Success – and sheer survival – manifestly hinged on quickly bringing even the rawest and supposedly least educable of the crew to function at the highest level. In such purposive settings, everything about “teaching and learning” is different. School as we know it, Holt argues, is hypocrisy-inducing and soul-crushing, plus stupendously inefficient, but you can take this angry book as also a provocation to rethink pedagogy in a radical but still constructive way... even in, yes, something like school.

By John Holt,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Instead of Education as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Instead of Education is Holt's most direct and radical challenge to the educational status quo and a clarion call to parents to save their children from schools of all kinds. In this breakthrough work Holt lays out the foundation for un-schooling as the vital path to self-directed learning and a creative life.


Book cover of The Mind's New Science: A History of the Cognitive Revolution

James Blachowicz Author Of The Bilateral Mind as the Mirror of Nature: A Metaphilosophy

From my list on the nature and capacities of our bilateral minds.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve always had equally balanced interests in the arts/humanities and the natural sciences. I like to think that I inherited much of this from my analytical “algebraic” mother, who was a nurse and tended to our family finances, and my holistic “geometrical” father, who was a carpenter. It’s probably no accident that my double major in college was in physics and philosophy...and, down the line, that I should develop a focused interest in human brain laterality, where the division between analysis and holism is so prominent.

James' book list on the nature and capacities of our bilateral minds

James Blachowicz Why did James love this book?

A comprehensive account by a pioneer of the discipline.

This book provides an overview of the relatively new discipline (in 1975) of “cognitive science,” so much so that I wondered whether I should have switched over from philosophy (I did not). It displays the breadth and depth of the discipline, which convinced me that one could no more be an expert in cognitive science in general than an expert in physics in general, biology in general, or philosophy in general.

This book is certainly a must-read for anyone interested either in the discipline itself or even in a corner of it, such as human brain laterality. (Be sure to see “hemispheres” in the index of this book.)

By Howard Gardner,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Mind's New Science as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The first full-scale history of cognitive science, this work addresses a central issue: What is the nature of knowledge?


Book cover of How to Think Like Shakespeare: Lessons from a Renaissance Education

Gerit Quealy Author Of Botanical Shakespeare: An Illustrated Compendium of All the Flowers, Fruits, Herbs, Trees, Seeds, and Grasses Cited by the World's Greatest Playwright

From my list on Shakespeare's shelf to grow your mind and garden.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve had myriad careers in my life but the through-line has always been Shakespeare. I became smitten with the “words, words, words” seeing a production of Twelfth Night in 3rd grade and it’s been a passion ever since. Acting led to being a “Journalist, Editor, Speaker, Spy” but everything I’ve done was to fund my secret joy of being in a dusty old archive, transcribing manuscripts. Even though my first favorite book was Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden (that was already taken here!), I wasn’t that ‘outdoorsy’, but when the wonderful Japanese artist Sumié Hasegawa showed me her Botanical Shakespeare drawings, I got excited about approaching Shakespeare in a totally new way.

Gerit's book list on Shakespeare's shelf to grow your mind and garden

Gerit Quealy Why did Gerit love this book?

I can’t seem to recommend one book without recommending two but a teacher once told me, Shakespeare never said one thing when he could say two, and never two things when he could say three. I admit I’m a Shakespeare ‘pusher’ because I believe the works instill wisdom, humanity, and critical thinking skills—attributes that are disappearing as much as some of the natural world mentioned above. Having these tools are essential to saving ourselves and the world around us. We seem to forget how to be human in the same way exercise instructors tell us: Don’t forget to breathe. Newstok serves up a rich menu to digest the delicious process of thinking, so that ‘smarting up’ is as easy as breathing. But I also loved How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare, by Ken Ludwig for similar reasons (and it works well for adults too!).

By Scott Newstok,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked How to Think Like Shakespeare as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A lively and engaging guide to vital habits of mind that can help you think more deeply, write more effectively, and learn more joyfully

How to Think like Shakespeare is a brilliantly fun exploration of the craft of thought-one that demonstrates what we've lost in education today, and how we might begin to recover it. In fourteen brief chapters that draw from Shakespeare's world and works, and from other writers past and present, Scott Newstok distills enduring practices that can make learning more creative and pleasurable.

Challenging a host of today's questionable notions about education, Newstok shows how mental play…


Book cover of Is the Internet Changing the Way You Think? The Net's Impact on Our Minds and Future

Luc de Brabandere Author Of Be Logical, Be Creative, Be Critical: the Art of Thinking in a Digital World

From my list on how using computers influences the way we think.

Why am I passionate about this?

During my life, I’ve been told that I was not a true engineer, not a true banker, not a true CEO, not a true entrepreneur, not a true teacher… But one day an executive told me: “I want to work with you because you’re not a true consultant.” I then realized it is was a privilege not to be a true something! I like to call myself a corporate philosopher. Fellow of the BCG Henderson Institute, and co-founder of Cartoonbase, I split my time between the worlds of academia and business. I have published several other books on various subjects such as language, mathematics, humor, or fallacies.

Luc's book list on how using computers influences the way we think

Luc de Brabandere Why did Luc love this book?

John Brockman has composed 150 short essays on the dominant question of our time, how is the Internet changing the way you think? This sparked the basis of my book. 

From pessimistic to optimistic views, the experts bring together different perspectives in different fields.

Too early to tell? Is our thinking becoming more shallow? Some say the web is a work of genius and the greatest achievement of the human race.

By John Brockman,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Is the Internet Changing the Way You Think? The Net's Impact on Our Minds and Future as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Steven Pinker, Richard Dawkins, Chris Anderson, Nassim Taleb, and nearly 150 other intellectual rock stars reveal how the internet is changing our minds, culture, and future, in John Brockman’s latest compendium from Harper Perennial and Edge.org.


Book cover of 3 Seconds: The Power of Thinking Twice

Rebecca Halstead Author Of 24/7: The First Person You Must Lead Is You

From my list on discovering the leader within you and others.

Why am I passionate about this?

My passion for leading began as an athlete in high school, and being part of a team that depended on me showing up and leading myself. Attending the United States Military Academy as part of the second class of women, ignited my desire to earn the respect of those I would lead by being a person of character and competence. After 31 years of leading teams in the Army, I wanted to continue to serve and lead by sharing my leadership lessons learned and expertise gained from those years of service with the corporate sector. To whom much is given, much is expected.  

Rebecca's book list on discovering the leader within you and others

Rebecca Halstead Why did Rebecca love this book?

This book was gripping and persuasive. 

How many times have you jumped to conclusions only to later find out that your perception was way off? Or, have you regretted saying or doing something too quickly? As for me, too many times to count. 

The thrust of this book is that if I took 3 seconds before I said or did something, I would be much happier with the result. Giving my first impulses reconsideration led to me being a more considerate person and effective, passionate, and purposeful leader. I was able to lead with emotion rather than being an emotional leader.

By Les Parrott,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked 3 Seconds as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Just three seconds. The time it takes to make a decision. That’s all that lies between settling for “Whatever” … or insisting on “Whatever it takes.” 3 Seconds shows how to unleash the inner resources that can move you to a whole new level of success. It comes down to six predictable impulses that most of us automatically accept without a second thought. You can replace them with new impulses that lead toward impact and significance. For instance, it takes Three Seconds to … Disown Your Helplessness: The First Impulse: “There’s nothing I can do about it.” The Second Impulse:…


Book cover of Small Teaching: Everyday Lessons from the Science of Learning

Jeff Gothelf Author Of Forever Employable: How to Stop Looking for Work and Let Your Next Job Find You

From my list on product management from an experienced product manager.

Why am I passionate about this?

Jeff has been a UX designer, team leader and product manager for over 20 years. His work in the field helped define some of the key practices product managers use today. Building a customer-centric practice is key to successful products and services and Jeff has demonstrated that not only in the products and companies he’s helped build but in the writing and thinking he’s contributed to the product managaement community.

Jeff's book list on product management from an experienced product manager

Jeff Gothelf Why did Jeff love this book?

Perhaps an unusual pick for product managers but this book breaks down how to teach successfully in a world of constant distractions. Think of it as “lean startup for classes.” Product managers are teachers, evangelists, and most of all communicators. Knowing how to break down ideas into pieces your teams and colleagues can digest is critical to your success.

By James M. Lang,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Small Teaching as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Employ cognitive theory in the classroom every day Research into how we learn has opened the door for utilizing cognitive theory to facilitate better student learning. But that's easier said than done. Many books about cognitive theory introduce radical but impractical theories, failing to make the connection to the classroom. In Small Teaching, James Lang presents a strategy for improving student learning with a series of modest but powerful changes that make a big difference many of which can be put into practice in a single class period. These strategies are designed to bridge the chasm between primary research and…


Book cover of Rationality for Mortals: How People Cope with Uncertainty

Helge Thorbjørnsen Author Of More Numbers Every Day: How Data, Stats, and Figures Control Our Lives and How to Set Ourselves Free

From my list on who and what influences our thoughts and behavior.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve always been fascinated and intrigued by human behavior and decision-making. What influences our thoughts and behavior and why? In hindsight, I probably should have majored in psychology instead of business, but as a business school professor I still get to investigate all the little quirks and biases of the human mind. I live in Bergen, Norway and devote much of my time researching and teaching consumer psychology and decision-making. I hope you find some inspiration in this list of brilliant books!   

Helge's book list on who and what influences our thoughts and behavior

Helge Thorbjørnsen Why did Helge love this book?

Ok: This is not an easy read like the other books I’ve recommended.

In fact, some parts of it require quite a lot of the reader. But it is a very smart and novel book on human reasoning, uncertainty, and probability.

Gigerenzer elegantly shows us how human behavior often is more rational than one might think, and his concept of “fast and frugal heuristics” is instrumental in understanding how we deal with probability and risk.

If you’ve read Thinking Fast and Slow by Kahneman and are open to some new and different perspectives on rationality and decision-making, this is your book.  

By Gerd Gigerenzer,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Rationality for Mortals as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Gerd Gigerenzer's influential work examines the rationality of individuals not from the perspective of logic or probability, but from the point of view of adaptation to the real world of human behavior and interaction with the environment. Seen from this perspective, human behavior is more rational than it might otherwise appear. This work is extremely influential and has spawned an entire research program. This volume collects recent articles, looking at how
people use "fast and frugal heuristics" to calculate probability and risk and make decisions. It includes the revised articles and newly written introduction that were first published in the…


Book cover of The School And Society
Book cover of Minds on Fire: How Role-Immersion Games Transform College
Book cover of Theatre of the Oppressed

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