BRILLIANT DEDUCTION, SHERLOCK! THINKING LESSON # TWO.

Think about thinking. It is your most important skill. Learn how to evaluate ideas and decide if they are reasonable. Deductive reasoning is what Sherlock Homes used to solve all those mysteries. This method of thinking starts with a general principle and then explains an individual point by reference to the general principle. It is only one of many ways to think. Sometimes, it can lead you down a wrong path. Example: If people from Poland are called Poles, then people from Holland are called Holes. Are you a backward thinker? Maybe you should be! With conventional thinking, you move forward one step at a time. Each step arises directly from the preceding step in a straight line. With "backward" thinking, the steps are not sequential. You jump ahead to the conclusion and fill in the gaps afterward. Visualize and imagine where you want to end up. Then work backwards from your goal. Nikola Tesla, the genius who ushered in the age of electricity, would think of something as a given and work backward to the question. He imagined a turbine and ran it in thought. Later, a real turbine was built like his imaginary one. His ability to imagine the future helped him to create astonishing devices. Tesla's discovery of rotating magnetic fields is the basis of alternating current. This made it possible to distribute electric power. Imagine a perfect solution and then list the factors that would make it possible. Then make a graph to find out where you are at present and what you need in order to make your solution a reality. That is how a genius thinks; you can do it, too. Just takes some work and some practice. Until next Wednesday, keep an open mind and keep on thinking!