The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-03-29
Business Thinking
By N. ADDINGr0N BRUCE

Today I would say something about new book for business workers, How to Think in Business" It is book of exceeding practical helpfulness, albeit written by a professor of philosophy, Matthew Thompson Mcclure, of the University of Illinois.
 Long has it been standing reproach against philosophers that they write too un- intelligibly for the average man to profit from the counsel they ought to be qualified to give This reproach cannot be applied to Professor Mcclure. As witness his straight forward statement of the purpose of his book: H sS
 "This book aims to place before the busy man of affairs such information as will be of use to him in increasing the fertility and effectiveness of his thinking.
 "It describes in words as simple and direct as I can find just what we do when we think, and offers specific recommendations for the training of thought.
 Everyone knows that the ability to do clear thinking is important; what every one does not know is how to think.
 I've all know that intelligence is valua. ble asset. What we all do not know is how to utilize the resources of mind as meanf to freer and more successful exercise pf life's activities z3R. .l@ss,' And the fact of the matter is that innsl. merable business workers-yetefans as well dS OCSluutTe-IOT ldCk OL pEOpeE br0iuIuE' uu their thinking in haphazard, hit-or-nniss fash ion. z,
 They actually guess rather than think Or they depend too much on the thinking of other people. Or they confuse inference with facts. Or they let. desire determine decision. Or perhaps they make all these mistakes and many more.
 come to conclusions which are more or less costly to them, and from which they would have been saved had they known really how to think. Professor Mcclure undertakes to teach just this, and in language nobody can misunderstood.
 In addition he offers host of other eff ciency-raising. success-winning hints. Con- slider, for example, this hint to the many business workers who labor under the delu- sion that success depends on unremitting at. tention to the work one has to do. k
 Suggestions come after a period of incuba. tion. Often, when we first attempt solu- tion to a problem, no results are apparent It is then necessary to keep going over the details, giving them time to soak in.
 There is such a thing as unconscious learning. Connections are being formed and associations are being developed in your brain which may suddenly come to fruition in the form of just the suggestions you need. II is well to table certain problems. It takes time for suggestions to nature Give them a chance to ripen''
 And for many there is specially needed lesson in Professor McClure's insistence that
 Learning is not passive soaking in of rules and methods about thinking; it involves an active and vigorous effort on your part to think. .. To learn, requires a conscious and deliberate intent backed by deep-seated passion and interest,"
 This last passage may discourage some lazy-minded workers from undertaking a study of his book. We'll, so long as they re- main lazy-minded they can hardly derive much from it. The active-minded and the eager-minded will t%4