The art of being able to reach conclusions and to make judgments using facts and information in a rational manner is known as reason. This requires the ability to think clearly and coherently. As with any skill, practice improves one’s abilities and capacities for success. Why bring it up? Keep reading.
Some authors take exception to what they perceive as a wave of anti-intellectualism that has swept across 
American culture. In her book The Age of American Unreason, Susan Jacoby combines historical analysis with contemporary observations in order to dissect what is described as “an anti-rationalist landscape extending from pop culture to a pseudo-intellectual universe of junk thought.” In The Assault on Reason, Al Gore chronicles how a presidential administration fostered a culture disinterested in fact-based reasoning, and challenges us all to do what we can to restore the role of reason in the public and political spheres in order to safeguard our future. The famous humorist Steve Allen examines the symptoms of the problem and offers some thought-provoking ideas on self and collective progress in the recently updated version of his work Dumbth: The Lost Art of Thinking: With 101 Ways to Reason Better & Improve Your Mind.
These concepts may be alarming. True or not, it never hurts to exercise the mind and take on a mental challenge, and there are many works at the Chatham Area Public Library that dare us to do so. In the classic 1951 book The Art of Clear Thinking Rudolf Flesch, drawing upon a diverse range of scientific disciplines, offers up useful, easy-to-read approaches to mental and emotional conditioning. The author noted that “It would be impudent to tell intelligent, grown-up people how to think. All I have tried to do here is assemble certain known facts about the human mind and put them in plain English.” Maggie Greenwood-Robinson wrote 20/20 Thinking: 1000 Powerful Strategies to Sharpen Your Mind, Brighten Your Mood, and Boost Your Memory. She advocates strategies from foods and dietary supplements to physical and mental 
exercises. In Sherlock’s Logic, author William Neblett draws the reader into the world of deductive demonstrate the principles. David Gamon and Allen D. Bragdon co-authored the book Building Mental Muscle: Conditioning Exercises for the Six Intelligence Zones. Information on how the brain functions is presented alongside puzzles, exercises, and self-tests for each of the executive and social, memory, language, emotional, mathematical, and spatial areas of the mind. Robert J. Sternberg’s Successful Intelligence: How Practical and Creative Intelligence Determine Success in Life demonstrates how creative, practical, and analytical thinking, as opposed to IQ or emotional intelligence, are the keys to achievement in life’s most important endeavors, and offers ways to improve upon these skills.
As a reminder, while you’re thinking about thinking, don’t forget to remember that Sunday is Mother’s Day. And to quote a song by Ronnie James Dio, “Hanging from the cobwebs in your mind, looks like a long long way to fall.” But it doesn’t have to be if you land at the Chatham Area Public Library.
