Beautiful Mind

Just started on a new book. "How to Have a Beautiful Mind" by Edward de Bono.

The title captivated me.


"Edward de Bono's instruction in thinking has been sought by many of the leading corporations in the world such as IBM, Microsoft, Prudential, BT (UK), NTT (Japan), Nokia (Finland) and Siemens (Germany). The Australian national cricket team also sought his help and became the most successful cricket team in history.

A group of academics in South Africa included Dr de Bono as one of the 250 people who had most influenced humanity in the whole course of history. A leading Austrian business journal chose him as one of the twenty visionaries alive today. The leading consultancy company, Accenture, chose him as one of the fifty most influential business thinkers today."

Hmm. Very impressive.

Let's see if I can pick on some of his brains.

*****

Great physical beauty with a boring mind is boring. You might get attention but you will never keep that attention.

You are born with a certain shape of face and body. There is only a certain amount you can do to make them more beautiful. But there is very much more that you can do to make your mind beautiful.

If you have natural physical beauty it is a tragedy to waste this beauty by having a boring mind. It is like buying an expensive car and then not putting fuel in the tank. (I like this.)

If you do not have great natural beauty, one of the things you can do to make yourself attractive is to develop a beautiful mind.

As you get older, physical beauty tends to fade. But beauty of mind is independent of age and can actually increase with wisdom and experience.

What is beauty? Beauty is something that can be appreciated by others. The beautiful mind described in this book is a mind that can be appreciated by others. It is not the mind of a person who sits in a corner and solves very complex puzzles. It is a mind that can be appreciated by others - usually through conversation.

The beauty of your mind shows in your conversation. The beauty of your mind should show in your conversation.

Just as people can look at your physical beauty, they can listen to the beauty of your mind.

If you want to make your mind more beautiful, you can. It is not a matter of innate intelligence or great knowledge.

It is how you use your mind that matters.

*****

Hmm.

So far, so good.