Mistake Bank Bookshelf: "Intuition Pumps and Other Tools For Thinking"

This week’s entry in the Bookshelf is Intuition Pumps And Other Tools for Thinking, by Daniel C. Dennett. A philosopher and longtime teacher at Tufts University, Dennett has created a book with loads and loads of useful tips and hints for getting your head around challenging problems and arguing complex points. But one chapter alone makes it an essential tool for anyone who frequents this site: Chapter 1, “Making Mistakes.”

Dennett sees mistake-making as a means to explore ideas and move projects forward:

Sometimes you don’t just want to risk making mistakes; you actually want to make them – if only to give you something clear and detailed to fix. Making mistakes is the key to making progress. Of course there are times when it is really important not to make any mistakes – ask any surgeon or airline pilot. But it is less widely appreciated that there are also times when making mistakes is the only way to go…. I often find that I have to encourage [students] to cultivate the habit of making mistakes, the best learning opportunities of all. They get “writer’s block” and waste hours forlornly wandering back and forth on the starting line. “Blurt it out!” I urge them. Then they have something on the page to work with.

And this:

The chief trick in making good mistakes is not to hide them – especially not from yourself. Instead of turning away in denial when you make a mistake, you should become a connoisseur of your own misatkes, turning them over in your mind as if they were works of art, which in a way they are.

I marked highlight after highlight in this chapter. It alone is worth the price of Intuition Pumps. And then you get all the other dozens of “pumps” for free!