The Art of Organizing Thoughts

Name: The Art of Organizing Thoughts
Price: 32.99 AUD
Availability: PreOrder
ISBN: 9780241839270

Shigehiko Toyama, Arthur Reiji Morris

$32.99

Hardback

Forthcoming
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Japanese

Penguin Life
06 October 2026

Oriental & Indian philosophy

The quietly radical Japanese classic on the art of cultivating creative thought

We live in an age defined by accelerating automation, polarized discourse, and constant cognitive overload. In The Art of Organizing Thoughts, first published in 1983 and newly resonant in the age of artificial intelligence, renowned scholar and teacher Shigehiko Toyama offers a humane and timeless reminder- thinking well is a distinctly human art, and one that must be cultivated, protected, and practiced.

Toyama argues that knowledge alone is not wisdom - in fact, the more we accumulate, the easier it is to stop truly thinking. The Art of Organizing Thoughts explains how to move from overloaded to clear-minded, not by consuming more information, but by learning how to organize what you already know. Toyama explains that schools and workplaces overwhelmingly produce \""gliders,\"" people who move only when pushed by external instructions, while what society desperately needs are \""airplanes,\"" or independent, self-propelled thinkers.

His classic book shows how to cultivate that airplane mentality through simple practices- letting ideas ferment over time, learning when to sleep on a problem, and using selective forgetting as a tool to keep your mind clear and creative.

Part philosophy, part practical handbook, the book offers a calming alternative to hustle culture through concrete practices for busy, intelligent readers who feel scattered and want a mind they can trust. The Art of Organizing Thoughts invites a return to analogue habits and deep attention - not to do more, but to think better and live more clearly.

By: Shigehiko Toyama
Translated by: Arthur Reiji Morris
Imprint: Penguin Life
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 204mm, Width: 132mm, Spine: 40mm
Weight: 750g
ISBN: 9780241839270
ISBN 10: 0241839270
Pages: 304
Publication Date: 06 October 2026
Audience: General/trade , College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , ELT Advanced , Primary
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Shigehiko Toyama (1923-2020) was a celebrated Japanese critic, essayist, and Doctor of Literature who taught at Tokyo University of Education and Ochanomizu University. His scholarship ranged across English literature, rhetoric, textual studies, thought, and the Japanese language, and he became renowned for bringing academic insight to everyday life. Toyama's other major works include Hints for Intellectual Creativity, The Logic of Proverbs, The Art of Reading, The Art of Forgetting, Habits for an Intellectual Life, and The Art of Communication.