Problem Seeking and Solving

Ah, the wondrous profitability of self-help. Maybe it's just the Concepts and Critical Thinking section of the text that really does it, but Stewart manages to say a lot and yet not really say that much. She says many, many things that are important and useful, though generally well-known and universal. The ultimate question is: what does she offer that is new and fresh? Many of us, as art students or as students as general even, are familiar with the majority of these concepts. We have been utilizing many of them for years, or else we probably wouldn't be here. The one big thing that Stewart continues to offer in this chapter as well as the previous chapter we read is the organization and clarity with which she describes the concepts and the aptness of the examples she provides. The story of the Eames chair, for example, was interesting to read as it followed a story worth reading and made reading about "problem seeking" a little less drab. So her examples and presentation are still top-notch, but it seems like we're still on the introduction to a very good text even though we're smack in the middle of a pretty good text.