The premise of the book “Lateral Thinking” is fascinating and captivating, both for the artist and the scientist.
Bono states that most of education has so far been focused on vertical thinking (also referred to as logical thinking), where you reach a conclusion on the basis of a series of logical steps, each of which can be well justified. In addition to vertical thinking, the author advocates for development of lateral thinking. Lateral thinking is the process that allows us to take ideas and concepts in our head, and restructure their connections in our brain. This restructuring creates new information, new ideas and even strengthens our insight into previously understood ideas. This restructuring and building new connections is often how some people might describe creativity.
While readily understood in the context of art, this theme of rethinking and changing how we connect ideas in our brain is seen in new insights in the sciences as well. As Bono says, lateral thinking lets us dig holes in different places, while vertical thinking helps us dig deeper in one place. A restructuring of ideas lends itself to uncovering new discoveries, that can then be dug deeply into using the logical approach.