The most recommended problem solving books

A Spoonful of Frogs is a fun and silly picture book about a witch on a cooking show who is teaching her audience how to make Frog soup.

It starts out pretty tamely, but the events soon escalate as she tries to add the key ingredient: the frogs. The story is hilarious! It was so unexpected and had me laughing out loud. The text is simple, but brilliant. The illustrations are gorgeous and add the perfect old-time cooking show vibe. Both kids and adults will be grinning through the whole book. Just pure fun!

Paraphrasing: A group of picnickers rush to a nearby river to pull struggling kids out. There are more and more kids coming downstream, almost too many for the group. Suddenly, while overwhelmed with too many kids, one takes off. “Where are you going?” “I’m going upstream to tackle the guy who’s throwing all these kids in the water.”

I found the concepts in this work to apply to almost all aspects of life, personal and at work. Who hasn’t had a persistent problem in their life? The problem with many problems is we tend to get so focused or busy with them that they never get solved! Or worse, papered over with band-aids.

I found the Three Barriers discussion insightful. Epiphany: Search upstream for causes of problems.

I have been in love with the apparently simple wisdom of Nancy’s approach since I first read this book…and delighted to see this in action when I was privileged to attend several courses with her. Nancy is the real deal – funny, empathetic, perceptive, and respectful of the latent brilliance in others that we can bring forth through creating a ‘Thinking Environment’. She writes in a way that is straightforward and accessible – as you go through her 10 components of a Thinking Environment, (a client of mine refers to them as the 10 commandments!), you think, ‘Oh yeah, I get that!’. There is a deceptively simple truth behind each that is obvious when she points it out – and I have been privileged to see how inspiring and transformational others have found her approach when I have introduced them to it. Nancy has transformed how I work with others… show more.

Too often, too many of us, ask “Victim Questions” like “When are they going to train me?” or “When are they going to tell us what’s going on?”

Instead of asking “Victim Questions” John teaches us to ask  “QBQs” (The Question Behind the Question).  For example, “What could I do to get trained?” or “How could I find out what is going on?  Asking QBQ’s has consistently moved me from being stuck to having a way forward! 

I have carried The Universal Traveller with me for decades and it sits next to my desk in my office. Any time I get jammed about next steps to take toward a worthy goal, I dip into this quirky, useful book. The authors look at life and all our efforts to live it with dignity and value through the lens of design and problem solving, by which they mean “making dreams come true.” The most meaningful life is one lived with a stoked imagination and the willingness to try on new ideas and methods. The UT is quaint because it was written before we were all digitally connected, but its wisdom stands the test of time.

My daughter loves this book because Jabari’s little sister Nika wears a different fun costume in each scene.

All three of my children have learned from this book what to do when they’re frustrated: Take a deep breath and try again, just like Jabari, they like to say. And I love this book because it offers strong yet subtle representation along with awesome life lessons!

I love the heroine in this book. She’s an unconventional young woman with a seemingly insurmountable flaw, or two. Her considerable knowledge about farming and her forthright nature discourages suitors in spite of her hefty dowry. If that were not enough, her eyes are two different colors and more than one person suspects her of being fey. Phoebe acts as if she doesn’t give a toss and lives her life on her own terms. When presented with an unusual solution, she acts and does not look back. I loved Phoebe, her feisty nature, and was reminded by her that there are solutions to the dilemmas in life if one holds a forward-looking attitude. This is a shorter read that left me wanting more. 

My mentor Peter Block taught me that the ultimate act of being an adult, the ultimate act of taking responsibility for your own freedom, was making choices. Some choices of course are easy—I’ll have a double espresso, please—but plenty are difficult. You don’t have all the data, it’s too close to call, and you can feel the combination of anxiety and guilt that can come with committing. This book adds some structure and discipline to how to make the best possible choice, and by doing so makes it easier to be more courageous and bold.

I often pose a simple thought experiment: “How many renowned 20th century CEOs created something new to the world? Now, how may renowned 21st century CEOs haven’t done so?”

The answer, in both cases, is near zero. Our organizations are moving from being productivity-focused (doing more with less) to creativity-focused (giving form to something that doesn’t exist). Most managers and aspiring leaders are clueless about this profound change even though they will probably fail if they don’t make this shift.

Roberto argues that six flawed beliefs—such as in benchmarking and in focused execution—preclude creativity and provides tools to help reinvent moribund organizations.

I always find myself applying algorithmic thinking in my everyday life—it affects the way I put away dishes, navigate to the store, and organize my to-do lists. And I think others could benefit from that mindset.

So, when I read this book, my reaction was "Yes! That's what I want people to know. I just wish I could have said it that well!" The authors (who I know, but didn't know they wrote a book together), did a fantastic job of selecting algorithms with deep human connections. Really! And they explain them just right, without getting too mathematical but while still hitting the key ideas with clarity and accuracy. Fantastic!

This is a delightfully wacky book with endearing characters. Zinnia is having a bad hair day, literally. A hive of bees takes up residence in the wild and curly mane of her hair to add to her troubles—a missing brother and a mother who doesn’t seem to care. I fell in love with this book on the first page when I learned that Zinnia was about to yarn bomb a statue of her school mascot. (I’m a knitter and have fancied taking up yarn bombing myself.) Quickly-paced chapters alternate between Zinnia as narrator and the bees discussing their own perilous situation. Told with both humor and empathy, this is a book where you can’t turn the pages fast enough in order to find out how things resolve.

The Logic of Failure explores why leaders make bad decisions – and how to make better ones. Whenever I am asked for a book recommendation, this is always the first one I mention because I have learned so much from it, and what I have learned has helped me make better decisions every single day. This is an amazing, evidence-based effort to understand the root causes of failure and the pathways to success. It will help you understand how your plans can fail so that you can ensure they succeed.

Polya was a great mathematician who knew what counted (after all, he made major contributions to combinatorics, the mathematics of counting). He thought hard about what he was doing when working on problems in mathematics, developing a mental process that lead to creative breakthroughs and solutions. Polya’s problem-solving method is broadly applicable to domains other than mathematics, and this book features many nice puzzles to improve your thinking.

Algorithm design is challenging because it often requires flashes of sudden insight which seem to come out of the blue. But there is a way of thinking about problems that make such flashes more likely to happen. I try to teach this thought process in my books, but Polya got there first.

If any book can explain why there’s always more than one way to solve a visual problem, this is it. The book shares a compendium of 13 experimental projects, each designed to teach conceptual thinking and problem solving to art and design students.

Leonardo da Vinci was arguably the most creative person who ever walked the earth. He is known by many as an artist but his most impressive contributions came in the form of inventions. Imagine in the fifteen hundreds conceptualizing tanks, automatic weaponry, and parachutes. He was so far ahead of his time that people thought he was crazy.

Imagine being able to feel a peace so deep that you never knew existed; a love so profound that it transforms you and your whole life… Well, by reading the wonderful words of Dr. Wayne Dyer and by following his wise guidance, you will get to experience all of that and even more. In fact, at the end of the book you will have this profound feeling that you no longer are the same person you were when you first started reading this book and that you have become better, wiser, more peaceful, and far more loving and trusting than you used to be.

There are so many “patterns” in this book about breakthrough thinking. One that has stayed with me is thinking of failure as “tuition.”

I have become a student of “metta.” I was never very good at meditation, but this practice has helped me through some rough times. It might work for you. You’ll enjoy the stories and the quirky way the authors lead you to better thinking.

A very practical guide on how to unlock yourself from the inevitable battle of wills that crop up in the parent-child relationship, and instead become the “captain of the ship” who is able to co-regulate your child through the ups and downs of difficult moods and behavior. Stiffelman explains in clear language how co-regulating in this way, over time, helps your child build skills of self-regulation and problem solving - bringing a natural feeling of peace of harmony both in your child and in your relationship.

I read a lot of books for my podcast (nearly one a week), and Both/And Thinking was the perfect mix of brainy insight and business acumen.

In its pages, the reader learns about how the brain really works and that we are wired to see binary solutions to the problems we face when, in reality, there are often many possible answers.

It teaches you to embrace everyday paradoxes and step out of the “either/or” to the “both/and.” This book has great stories, case studies, and scientific research that keep you reading and learning.

I recommend it constantly, and that makes it my number 1 read of the year!  

I love children’s books that teach values through the words and actions of believable characters. This is one of my favorites. Based on a true story, little Mila has cochlear implants, yet wants to prove that she is every bit as bright, as strong, and as brave as any other child. Her goal is to do everything herself and never ask for help. But when faced with a seemingly insurmountable challenge, she must prove how mighty she really is. Filled with bright, detailed illustrations that add so much to the story, this heartwarming tale is all about believing in yourself.