Before you even start reading this book, you know you’re in for an interesting experience when the first page note describes the author as someone who, “trained as a physicist, he has had a very elastic career, writing for television series such as Star Trek: The Next Generation and working in the gaming industry before becoming a full-time writer, while continuing to publish physics papers as a hobby.” And interesting it most definitely is.
This book really made me think about how we think. Mlodinow’s term,‘Elastic thinking’ is his way of describing the way that new ideas seem to pop up in our conscious mind, the opposite of ‘analytic thinking’ - more logical, conscious thought. Mlodinow argues that you need analytical as much as elastic thinking, “we are all, in a sense, two thinkers in one.”
Drawing on neuroscience, he explains how, through evolution, our brains have developed a desire to create ideas, explore and keep adapting. From there, he shares fascinating example after example of writers, innovators, musicians and artists who have had an ‘elastic ability’ to adapt. There are question sets and puzzles in here to test your own elastic thinking too.
As our world becomes increasingly challenging and demands for greater flexibility grow daily, this adaptability is, in turn, more important. It’s only by allowing elastic thinking’s capacity to “let go of comfortable ideas and become accustomed to ambiguity and contradiction,” that we’ll achieve this.
For me, one of the most important points he makes in the book, is around our addiction to technology and ‘info consumption’ and specifically, the impact this is having on the lack of time available for our brains to do nothing (when the brain is in its ‘default node’). This idle time with no phone, no podcast or audiobook or reading, allows our ‘bottom-up, elastic thinking networks the opportunity to search for creative, unexpected solutions to tough problems.”
This is a good, common sense read with some great ideas and loads of food for thought. There are some (unsurprisingly) unexpected ideas to help you with problem-solving ranging from alcohol – yes, really – to exhausting our ‘executive’ function with chores that gives us space to develop imaginative ideas.
So, next time you go for a walk, leave your phone behind and resist the temptation to squeeze in another podcast. With no other distractions, does your elastic thinking kick in?