Roundup: Strategic Thinking
Three books help us to think more clearly.

Between paying the bills, hitting the gym and managing the family, anyone can succumb to periods of chaos and intense stress. In Organize Your Mind, Organize Your Life (Harlequin, 2011), psychiatrist Paul Hammerness and wellness coach Margaret Moore offer six ways in which we can maximize our attention, forge new mental connections and step back to view the big picture.

Paralyzed by choice? In The Decision Book: Fifty Models for Strategic Thinking (W. W. Norton, 2012), journalist Mikael Krogerus and management consultant Roman Tschäppeler walk us through the decision-making process, presenting 50 tactics to structure and understand the challenges we face every day, including the Personal Performance Model to test whether you should change jobs and the Black Swan Model to help people cope with surprising events.

Intelligence does not necessarily come naturally—mental acuity must be developed, too. Smart Thinking: Three Essential Keys to Solve Problems, Innovate, and Get Things Done (Perigee Trade, 2012) draws on a range of studies to demonstrate the difference between smart thinking and raw intelligence. Author Art Markman, professor of psychology and marketing at the University of Texas at Austin, explains how memory works, how to learn effectively and how to use this knowledge to get things done.

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