Sunday, September 30, 2018
Outside the box (maybe)
I just took a look at these lateral thinking exercises. Some of them I got, some I didn't, and one is so hoary it wouldn't even be fair to score myself on it. But on a couple I didn't get I did come up with plausible alternatives, which seems like it should count. That's a criticism I've heard of these exercises in general: that they don't really encourage individual problem solving, but just guide you to a predetermined outcome. Which, who knows, maybe is just an inherent limitation on the form.
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2 comments:
Lateral thinking appears to involve taking a situation and finding a solution that is not at all the most obvious. Usually the most logical answer depends a lot on making deductive leaps. I don't seem to be very good at doing this as I had to look up all the answers.
Personally, I tend to think analytically, going step by step to tease out potential answers to a problem. It's likely why I enjoy mysteries so much even though I don't always anticipate the solution to the more complex ones. I'm beginning to think I have a lazy mind.
You probably have come up with a solution in real life that wasn't all that obvious. Different contexts. I kind of enjoy these "leap of intuition" exercises but sometimes I see the solution and say "No, that doesn't quite work."
I've been reading this book about crosswords where the author talked to a bunch of the top crossword compilers. Some are really good at solving crosswords as well. Others aren't really into that side. I suspect it's the same with mystery writers. I enjoy them and sometimes can grasp the solution ahead of time, but it's more a matter of style than anything else.
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