WORKS BY T. SHARPER KNOWLSON THE ART OF THINKING Crown 8vo, paper, 1s. 6d. net THE ART OF SUCCESS Crown 8vo, paper, Is. 6d. net THE ART OF SYMPATHY Crown 8vo, paper, Is. 6d. net CENTURY STUDENTS' MANUAL Crown 8vo, cloth, 2s. 6d. net LEO TOLSTOI Crown 8vo, cloth, 2s. 6d. net A POPULAR STUDY OF THE BY T. SHARPER KNOWLSON “Every mind is different; and the more it is unfolded the more EMERSON, Essay on Quotation and Originality. FOURTH THOUSAND LONDON T. WERNER LAURIE LTD. PREFACE THE object of the pages that follow is, first, to show the importance of a study of creative thought and to develop an interest in it; next, to offer some suggestions as to the natural history of mind in its most inspired moments; finally, to institute a regime for the individual whereby he may secure the highest mental efficiency. That the programme is ambitious I know only too well, but I desire to draw attention to the limits imposed upon my treatment of the subject. I have addressed myself to general readers of the more thoughtful type, not to psychological students, except in so far as all intelligent people are nowadays included in that category. This, whilst compelling an observance of the scientific method, has naturally demanded a practical study of the mind at work-i.e. psychology caught in the very act, not the formal science of the text-book. Such a method, however, cannot be safely pursued without the assistance of experts, and my pages bear ample witness to the fact that I have consulted their views. But it is a method that selects practical values as the criterion of worth in preference to systematic treatment on theoretical lines. The civilised world appears to be preparing for a new era in which the strategy and tactics of war are to be applied to commerce. Will the race go to the swift and the battle to the strong? Possibly; but I should prefer to say that the race will be won by those whose minds possess the finer |