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The Private Eye (5X) Looking/Thinking by Analogy: A Guide to Developing the Interdisciplinary Mind, by Kerry Ruef. We discovered this book when another homeschooling friend special ordered it from us, right around the time I was rediscovering the Powers of Ten (see above). Serendipity seems to play a big role in our learning!

With the help of magnification (see loupe on this page), the book takes the reader on a journey of discovery that develops the thinking mind. By looking closely at a magnified object, the observer asks questions such as “what else does it remind me of?,” and “if it reminds me of that, might it function like that in some way?” This type of analogous thinking leads to theorizing and is an important tool of any learner. This kind of musing is useful to the scientist, poet, mathematician, inventor, artist, and writer in all of us and leads to further research. The authors says that “thinking by analogy has been considered the hallmark of genius.” My husband must be brilliant since he uses analogies all the time!

The book takes you step-by-step through the process of loupe-plus-analogies-plus-theories and offers over 200 activities to utilize this new way of looking at the world.

Lots of photos and illustrations throughout. Paper, 230 pages.
 
#3414 $24.95 $21.99