The Seventh Sense: How Flashes of Insight Change Your Life

by William Duggan

Flashes of insight―the "Eureka!" moments that produce new and useful ideas in a single thought―are behind some of the world's most creative and practical innovations. This book shows how to cultivate more and better flashes of insight by harnessing the science and practice of the "seventh sense."

Drawing from psychology, neuroscience, Asian philosophy, and military strategy, William Duggan illustrates the power of the seventh sense to help readers aspire to and achieve more in their personal and professional lives. His examples include Gandhi, Joan of Arc, Starbucks founder Howard Shultz, and executives and students he has taught in his classes. His book presents specific steps in the form of three practical tools to help prepare the mind, see and seize opportunity, and follow through on one's resolution. Based on Duggan's perennially popular Columbia Business School course, this book teaches the mental skills and discipline that power the seventh sense.

Genres: Business

192 pages, Hardcover

First published May 19, 2015

Reviews

[Darren · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot is promised with this book: you will become more insightful and thus more successful thanks to more “Eureka”-type moments. This is a brave promise and it is questionable whether such delivery can be guaranteed.

Nonetheless, it is an interesting and relatively short walk in the park to follow the author’s objective of showing you how to cultivate your “seventh sense”, a flash of insight that can give you a boost in your professional and private life. The author says that this sense is enhanced thanks to three practical tools that help prepare the mind, see and seize opportunity, and follow through your resolution.

This reviewer is not entirely convinced or sold on the idea, yet the author must know his onions as he teaches this stuff in graduate and executive courses at Columbia Business School. It just did not entirely gel with this reader. It felt like a series of well-meaning fireside chats rather than a clear, actionable roadmap that you could jump on, all guns blazing. The book’s price felt a little high, at least for something one wasn’t entirely sold towards, so it wasn’t something you may want to take a gamble on. Yet it could work for you, and a skim through in a bookshop or library might convince you.

It is not a bad book and it has the potential to deliver greatness if you just get on with it. For this reviewer it was a bit too easy to put down. Maybe one is doomed never to discover the seventh sense, at least this book failed to deliver the flash of insight it promised.

The Seventh Sense: How Flashes of Insight Change Your Life, written by William Duggan and published by Columbia University Press. ISBN 9780231169066, 192 pages. YYY

http://syndicate.darreningram.com/the...

[Pedro Anjos · Rating 3 out of 5]

The idea of the "Seventh Sense" is a good framework for thinking about how new ideas which are innovative and creative come into being, but at times it feels like a bit of a stretch. I would have enjoyed further detail into the scientific basis of this idea (e.g., from neurology or psychology).

I really enjoyed the tools for developing a "Personal Strategy" that are included in the book, namely the Map and all the examples from the author's MBA students.

Would recommend as it is a short and easy to read book which will prompt you to think about your life goals and how they can be achieved.

[Kat · Rating 5 out of 5]

How can I cultivate creative genius? For someone unfamiliar with the difference between intuition (6th sense, based on what we know) and insight (7th sense, based on presence of mind, examples from history, and execution), this short read is an excellent addition to the bookshelf. Simple tools, actionable advice, and awareness of shortcomings leave the reader with new, useful frameworks to tackle ambiguity and reach for their goals.

[Alice · Rating 3 out of 5]

This review is mainly for me to remember reading the book: this book had a few good parts which included keeping an open mind, problem solving using 4 steps, and idea networking. Definitely check it out again for life problems.

[Clay · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just read chapters 1, 8 and 9

[Álvaro E. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting and easy to read, with some useful tips.

[Cannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thought it was good! It offered an interesting perspective on the so-called sixth sense--something you do enough that it becomes like second nature to you--vs. your seventh sense--the "flashes of insight" referenced in the title. I definitely want to try the personal strategy map idea; I think it's great as a way to organize thoughts about what you care about and want to pursue in some manner in your life, especially for those of use with interests that vary widely. I would've liked to see more information about the idea networking concept, because I thought it was an interesting but slightly vague idea. The book was also pretty anecdote heavy, which seems to be par for the course in terms of "change your life" type of books, but did offer some psychological backing in parts (i.e. the "free your mind") section.