Product Description

People spend a fortune on their bodies, their faces, their hair, their clothes. Cosmeticism plastic surgery, diets, gym membership - everyone's trying to be more attractive. But there's an easier way to become a beautiful person. It doesn't have to be physical. No matter how you look, if you have a mind that's fascinating, creative, exciting - if you're a good thinker - you can be beautiful. And being attractive doesn't necessarily come from being intelligent or highly educated. It isn't about having a great personality. It's about using your imagination and expanding your creativity. And it's when talking with people we make our biggest impact. A person may be physically beautiful, but when speaking to others a dull or ugly or uncreative mind will definitely turn them off. In clear, practical language, de Bono shows how by applying lateral and parallel thinking skills to your conversation you can improve your mind. By learning eg, how to listen, make a point, and manoeuvre a discussion, you can become creative and more appealing - more beautiful.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #76804 in Books
• Published on: 2004-06-03
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

The Good Book Guide
'A clever, instructive guide ... Highly recommended'

Independent on Sunday (Sunday Review)
'Mercifully free of the trite techniques offered by many publications promising to save us from social awkwardness, the book succeeds in doing just that'

From the Publisher
From the inventor of lateral thinking and bestselling author, an exciting new way to develop your thinking skills, make yourself more interesting and so change your life

Customer Reviews

Want to be irresistible?
Well, so asks the blurb on the back of the paperback edition. Well, Edward, yes indeed I do so I put my money down and started reading - wondering what new information you could provide to fulfil this promise.
Alas, such information didn't seem to exist. The ladies still resist my charms so you lose on star right there.
As for the book: well, it's not a bad read at all. I discovered the Mr De Bono has enjoyed ground coffee on his pasta and that he enjoyed it. The power of lateral thinking, indeed.
I've read many of De Bono's works and the real issue is that they each contain some good ideas but are so repetitious that one can quickly despair of finding anything new.
Hence, there are two clear ways to recommend this book:
1. If you've not read De Bono's other books then this is the single volume that contains most of his ideas. It's very light on specific techniques of creativity however so perhaps you'd want to add 'Serious Creativity' as the additional 'must have'.
2. if you've read many of De Bono's other books then this isn't going to add too much as this is typical De Bono - clear, succinct, important but ulitmately it's hardly information that people who have read his previous works (and therefore likely to pursue similar titles) aren't going to have come across elsewhere.

Guide to splendid conversation
De Bono defines the beautiful mind as one that can be appreciated by others and claims that the beauty of the mind increases with the wisdom and experience of age. In this book he leads the reader through a series of chapters on conversational techniques, providing a summary of the main points at the end of each chapter. Anyone can apply these, as the beauty of the mind is not dependent on a high IQ, voluminous knowledge of natural charm. Any discussion ought to be a genuine attempt to explore a subject rather than a battle of egos. The chapters include How To Agree, Disagree Differ, Be Interesting, Respond, Listen, How To Phrase Questions, plus Concepts, Alternatives, Emotions and Feelings, Values, Diversions, Opinion, Interruption and Attitude. Many techniques for creativity, imagination and empathy are provided. The book is really about simple conversational tactics based on common sense, good manners and is full of illuminating observations on various conversational situations.

Lacking in specifics
Although well-written and covering a reasonable amount of ground, this book doesn't really offer very much in the way of practical advice, preferring to state the obvious, albeit in a comprehensive and interesting way. Whereas his other work 'Teach Yourself To Think' gives a framework and ideas for how to approach tasks such as problem solving and creativity which can be applied to real situations, '...Beautiful Mind' instead focuses on a vague overview of how to be slightly more interesting in conversation.

Maybe a few readers will benefit from the small quantity of directly applicable tips, such as how to word objections to an argument without causing offence, but too often in this book the advice is either too obvious to be worth pointing out, or too vague to be applied by anyone that doesn't already know the fact.

This might be a good introductory book for anyone who feels that his other works are a bit too intellectual or who just wants a brief overview of the different aspects of conversation.