The book explores the relationship between idea-sketching and imagination and is full of strategies, drawings, diagrams and photographs. The way to use the book is to use it actively and repeatedly to solve problems that interest you. At the end of the book is a strategy index presented visually (of course!) as well as in recipe card format. An example:
ABSTRACT Defocus/withdraw from details/generalise Look at the big picture/seek overall pattern Induce principles from particulars Think with broad brush Group/classify/symbolise Diagram/chart/schematide Analyse/repattern Expand viewpoint/think divergently View problem as part of a system/see problem's context Refer to: 10-2/grouping 10-4/focus 10-5/da Vinci's device 2-4/categorising 2-14/visual induction I Imagine 14-4/phosphene projections 18-4/abstract word-images 18-5/synectics excursion Draw 10-1/fingerpaint patterns 21-2/pattern language
Background Thinking by Visual Images Images in Action Ambidextrous Thinking Learning to Think Visually Preparation Tools Materials External Environmental Conditions Internal Relaxed Attention Seeing Externalised Thinking Recentering Seeing by drawing Pattern-seeking Analytical Seeing Proportion Cues to form and space Imagining The mind's eye Visual Recall Autonomous Imagery Directed Fantasy Structures and Abstractions Foresight and Insight Idea-sketching Express/Test/Cycle Out of the Language Rut The strategy approach