thinking about thinking

I feel a bit like Pooh for that title, but really that is what I mean.

Having just finished my first read through of "How to Think like Leonardo da Vinci" by Gelb, I find myself thinking about thinking. It really reminds me of a poem I once read.

The Centipede was happy quite, until a Frog in fun,
said, "Which leg comes after which?",
which raised her mind to such a pitch,
she lay distracted in the ditch,
considering how to run.

But seriously, I found the book the be quite full of interesting facts about Leonardo as well as an excellent book on exercises on thinking and using your mind. I found this book through recommendations on Amazon and found a local copy that same weekend.

In the book, Gelb provides a brief history of Leonardo himself, and some historical perspective on the great man. It is fairly obvious from the tone of this section that the author is a devout follower of Leonardo as the greatest genius that ever lived.
After the history class, Gelb divides the book up into chapters and exercises based on Leonardo's specific principles of Creativity, the Senses, Exploration, Demonstration, Arts and Sciences, the Body, and Connections. These all have their own unique elements and exercises but are all still interconnected in some way.

The exercises are quite a range from the simple and easy to the complex and challenging, each set leading to some amount of self examination.

I highly recommend this book to any one who is curious about how they think, and wants to improve their mind.