Do you remember your school teacher asking you to read a book, and then review it, giving your thoughts and opinions about it? Do you remember hating that? I do.
It’s not that I did not enjoy reading – I did. But I just couldn’t see the sense in writing down my thoughts about the book in detail, and expressing my opinions about everything in the book.
All I knew was: I read it, good story, enjoyed it, done.
Little did I know at the time that the task of reviewing a book was in fact a powerful mental exercise, designed to unleash my hidden super power: critical thinking.
Of course I didn’t know, because no one told me. My teacher did not tell me why it was so important to do the book review. She did not tell me that it was to develop my critical thinking ability.
She did not tell me that critical thinking – the ability to take in information, process it in my brain, formulate my thoughts about it, and then communicate my thoughts in writing – was one of the most powerful skills that I could ever learn, a skill that would make me an unstoppable force in life.
I doubt even she understood the value of doing a book review, other than for some grade points.
Let me tell you something that sounds like an exaggeration, but isn’t: critical thinkers rule the world. Every great thinker, author, scientist, inventor, entrepreneur and revolutionary, had one thing in common: they were critical thinkers.
They are the ones who were able to analyse the world around them, see what was wrong with it, formulate their own ideas about it and communicate it to others.
Nelson Mandela was a critical thinker. So were Gandhi, Edison, Jobs and Einstien. And they all changed the course of history, each in their own way.
They were not sheep who followed the herd. They did not accept the staus quo. Nelson Mandela did not accept being treated like a lesser being by the arpartheid government. He said, “Nope, this ain’t gonna fly.”
Ok he didn’t actually say that, but you know what I mean. Whereas he could have been like the millions of others who just accepted the harsh treatment and went about their lives, he decided to stand up and fight for his rights.
And he had hell to pay for it – 27 years in prison. But in the end, he came out on top.
Thomas Edison took a critical look at the phenomenon known as “electricity”, something that had been discovered century and a half before his time, yet no one seemed to find any actually mainstream use for it.
He pondered about how he could put it to good use, and then a lightbulb went on inside his head. The invention of the incandescent light bulb changed our world forever.
In 1882 Edison set up the Edison Electric Illuminating Company of New York, which began to roll out light bulbs to streets and homes close by. Within a short space of just of 30 years, the whole of the United States was electrified, and the rest of the world was soon to follow.
Critical thinkers rule the world.