这本书原本是教美国的大学生如何写作的。但其实教了很多 critical thinking 的东西，写得很赞，就是略啰嗦。
如果你平时思考或表达意见有这样的问题：
- 只有感受：电影怎么样？很棒啊
- 宽泛的观点：剧情不错
- 个人化的观点：我很喜欢啊
- 发表每个人都能想到的观点
- 等等
那你应该看看这本书。
首先，我们要有一个好的心态：
很多时候，对于生活中很多问题，我们不去探究清楚而急于下结论，是因为我们害怕被认为是无知的。我们要调整心态，享受不确定性：
- capable of being in uncertainties
- remain calm (rather than becoming irritable) in a state of uncertainty.
接着，再讲讲方法论：
洞察力：如何获取信息
信息可以是一幅画、一本书、一次演讲、一次对话等等。
适用场景
- 除了感受，信息是什么？
- 除了内容，未表达的信息是什么？
方法
The Method
找重复、找对比、找反例（Competition/Contrast /）
- 重复：同样的信息，归为一类，不断给其命名以获得见解
- 对比：可以关注二元对立，不仅看内容的对立，还需关注 implied meanings
这个方法表明：信息可能隐藏在信息被安排的结构中（信息的关系，信息的排列）
Notice And Focus (Ranking)
- What do you notice?
这个问题可以去关注信息本身，减轻急于下结论的压力 - Which three details (specific features of the subject matter) are most interesting (or significant or revealing or strange)?
- Why the three things you selected struck you as the most interesting？
10 ON 1
make ten observations or points about a single representative issue or example
Seems to Be about X, but Could Also Be (IsReally) aboutY
如何评价观点/信息
词汇<=概念<信息块<假设<=推理
概念
理解概念的方法：Paraphrase *3
对某个吃不透的词/概念，尤其是抽象的，换3个同义词
假设和推理
找出隐含假设
Tax laws benefit the wealthy.
- 用其他语言陈述这个论断。
The rules for paying income tax give rich people monetary advantages.
The rules for paying income tax help the rich get richer. - key terms
看作者是如何定义的 - 用相反的角度去看（反逻辑）
Tax laws benefit the poor
Tax laws do not benefit the wealthy.
如何对待 Argument
二元对立问题 （Binaries）
非黑即白、同意/不同意的问题
几个危险的点
- 有些事情不能被精确地分为2个方面，可能有其他分支
- 二元的其中一元可能有价值倾向（如文明和原始）
- 可能二元都有一定道理/都没道理
如何思考？
例子：Does the model of management known as Total Quality Management (TQM) that is widely used in Japan work in the American automotive industry?
- 找出所有对立的类别
除了 work/not work 的对立，还有美国/日本、 TQM/传统美国管理方法的对立。 - 定义 key terms
What, for example, does it mean to ask whether TQM works in the American automotive industry?
Does work mean "make a substantial profit"?
Does work mean"produce more cars more quickly"?
Does work mean "improving employee morale"? - 质疑二元的精确性（是不是能做成对立面？）
You might consider, for example, the extent to which American management styles actually differ from the Japanese version of TQM - 提问To What Extent?" ，替代 "Either/Or"
Was the Civil War fought over slavery or economics?
可以思考：
To what extent did economics, rather than slavery, cause the Civil War?
以上的二阶思维
Why did I choose this word?
What ideas are implicit in the language I have used?
Where does it make claims?
What kind of evidence does it provide?
Does the writer overtly reveal his or her premises?
How and when does he or she use metaphors or analogies?
如何形成/表达有见解的观点
如何避免宽泛的论述，表达有信息量的观点。
例子： The economic situation is bad
- 把“is/are”这样的词替换为活跃的动词 ( active verb )
Is/are 表示前后关系/权重一致，用其他的动词去给你的信息区分权重，去阐述概念间的关系 - 不要用宽泛的名词
修改为：
(The) tax policies (of the current administration) threaten to reduce (the tax burden on the middle class) by sacrificing education and health care programs for everyone
如何避免 first response,人人都能想到的无新意的论点
- Seems to Be about X, but Could Also Be (IsReally) aboutY
可以默念这个公式 - 不断ask why
二阶思维问题
Judgement Reflex
当我们遇到一些论断，尤其是指示性论断的时候，例如应该/不应该做x，应禁止/恢复x，会缺乏思考，只考虑做或不做x, 判断x 是对是错，而不去先考虑 x 是什么，为什么会有x，如何做x（what why how)
我的理解，出现这种情况的原因
- 指示性的东西代表了某种方向，大脑判断是更清晰的。而“弄清楚x是什么”对大脑来说是更模糊的。所以大脑偏爱去处理指示性的问题。
- 屈从于别人判断的怂人倾向
如何解决
- 重复别人的意见，直到你可以用自己的话复数
- 检测自己或他人语言里指示性的词汇（如应该）和评价性的形容词。（如优秀的等等）
Intention
当我们对某个作品或某个信息块解读时，不能把意图（作者的或产品本身的）当作高于其他解释的信息，应该把意图理解为需要被解释的信息。（ the intention, whatever its source, does not outrank or exclude other interpretations. It is simply another context for understanding.）
Cliche
By using rock music to sell a wide range of products, the advertising agencies, in league with corporate giants such as Pepsi, Michelob, and Ford, have corrupted the spirit of rock and roll.
- 时间维度考虑
that rock and roll was highly commercial long before it colonized the airwaves. - 如果cliche表达的是A对B的作用，考虑B对A的作用
that rock has actually improved advertising, not that ads have ruined rock—or, alternatively, that rock has shrewdly marketed idealism to gullible consumers.
其他
一些有用的练习
1 观察力练习：对任何东西表达一个印象 impression 然后说出至少3个理由。
2 防止作出陈词滥调的第一反应：
Seems to Be about X, but Could Also Be (IsReally) aboutY
Keep asking why
金句：
Emily Dickinson
A word is dead/When it is said,/Some say./I say it just/Begins to live/That day.