Quite honestly, this has been my "toilet book" for the past 1 year. I've had it for a while though, ever since 2005. I've probably read it cover to cover more than 3 times and still find it very intruiging.

Dr. De Bono came to UNSW I think in 2001 and gave us a lecture. I remember vividly that he drew straight on the projector glass instead of of the transparencies. Have you ever thought to yourself, why didn't I think about that???? He gave us a scenario whereby he was asked to think up of a solution to reduce pollution into a particular river by factories built along its banks. The most common reaction to this would be " ah, make some device that will filter this and that" or "come up with some device that will use less water etc etc" but Dr. De Bono thought of it not just as a design problem, but as a wider behavioural problem. This solution he gave to us:- pass a law that requires the intake of water into the factory be lower down the river than the expulsion of waste water. And in doing so, factories would naturally reduce pollution in their exhausted water in order to have a relatively clean supply of water intake.

Another of his teachings in his book is to use the word "po". Now there isn't really any meaning in this word, but using it seems to give possibilities to unlikely ideas. He describes "po" as a 'laxative of language and thinking'. E.g. if one were to say, "Why can't a pen write by itself?" then we can simply say "Po self-writing pen". That removes judgement or bias before a diarrhea of ideas is produced (excuse the pun).

This book contains heaps of thinking methods, and I recommend it as a good book to read when you've come to a mental block in a design project. Another book of his is the Six Thinking Hats. I haven't read it but I won't be far from getting a copy to add to my toilet collection :)

Now don't expect to become Einstein in a week.