Baby monkey vs. Kitten - Thinkertoys: The Second Edition

To start off I thought it was very interesting that the first thing I read from the book Thinkertoys was "Warning...This book is for monkeys." In the introduction it talks about the difference between being a "kitten" and being a "baby monkey.” When we first went over the concept of the difference between a baby monkey and a kitten I thought it was a cool and creative way of thinking. I learned from Dr. Morris and the reading that a kitten is "confused or in danger, it will do nothing but mew until its mother comes and carries it to safety." On the other hand the baby monkey "will run to its mother and jump on her back at the first sign of trouble." As mentioned in class the baby monkey will do something active about the situation instead of just letting it happen like the kitten. I am sad to admit that I was in fact a kitten instead of a baby monkey. When Dr. Morris asked us what we would do if things happened such as your significant other breaking up with you, failing a course, etc. I answered that I would probably either cry or call my parents. While reading the introduction to this book I learned that through doing the exercises I could become a baby monkey. In addition to the differences between the baby monkey and the kitten I thought some of the exercises from the book Thinkertoys were very productive. The first exercise that I read about was "The Barking Cat." The demonstration that they showed was a word activity. I liked how it made you really look at the word to see another hidden word that you didn’t see the first time. I think this is a great way to incorporate creativity. Aside from that I thought the "tick tock" activity was very useful. I liked how this activity brought out the negatives in a person but then it overpowered those negatives with more positive reinforcements. I think that the "tick tock" exercise could make a person feel better about themselves and help them achieve their goals, whatever their goals may be. Sometimes its good to reassure yourself and I feel that this exercise definitely does that. Overall, I liked the readings and thought they were interesting. I'm very excited to hopefully gain some more creativity through this class.