Many people recognize wisdom as an important ideal, but the subject is rarely studied in public education or widely understood outside academia. Drawing from historical and contemporary research in psychology, philosophy, and education, Developing Practical Wisdom describes, in language accessible to any thoughtful reader, how people can intentionally learn to become wiser. The narrative provides a comprehensive set of pedagogical tools, including theories and practices, for developing deeply coherent perspectives on the world and the people in it. It explains how to cultivate coherent thinking and apply moral principles in daily life.
Michael A. Surkes has earned academic degrees, awards, and honors in psychology, philosophy, and education. His research focuses on how people develop deeply coherent sets of ideas about highly complex subjects.
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The book Developing Practical Wisdom written by Michael A. Surkes, is a very much needed book in our complex, interconnected and fast changing world, when people are struggling with global challenges, economic, political, environmental, moral and identity crises. This book helps us to understand what makes us human in a world with abundance of data, information, knowledge, technological advancements, robotics, and artificial intelligence. It helps us to understand the deep meaning of human life. We all want to live well, happily, and meaningfully.
The book addresses three important issues namely, what wisdom is as a leading human virtue, how wisdom manifests itself in peoples’ practices, and how and why wisdom needs to be enhanced. The book is logically organized in seven chapters that focus on the importance of wisdom in our everyday life. The author discusses why human purpose, moral motivation guides our thinking, our self-awareness, our relationships to other people, and our actions in the world. Then, he proceeds how practical wisdom could be developed by education, that fosters our self-fulfillment, happiness, and social flourishing
For emphasizing the key messages in chapters, Michael A. Surkes uses text-boxes to guide the readers’ attention. This book can be read from chapter one to the end, or it could be read according to the interest of the readers in specific topics. For example, as a higher educational practitioner, I was especially interested in the ‘Educating for wisdom’ chapter. I learned about the importance of developing critical thinking of learners in adult education; I learned about the importance of transformative learning when learners’ thinking, beliefs, feelings, values, and behavior are challenged during their education; and I learned also about the needs and the barriers to transformative education.
The book develops its arguments based on a wide range of relevant literature. I highly recommend this book because it is written in an engaging and clear style that speaks to all people, let them be scientists, philosophers, psychologists, scientists, leaders, educators, and learners.
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A rigorous, compassionate roadmap for anyone seeking clarity, coherence, and wiser ways of being
Surkes blends psychology, philosophy, cognitive science, and education to reveal how motives, beliefs, and mental habits shape the way we navigate the world. His chapters on cognitive flexibility, justification, and critical thinking are especially compelling. Surkes draws on research as well as his lived academic experience, arguing that wisdom is not just knowledge, but the disciplined application of evidence, reasoning, and moral values. One of my favorite quotes is, “Practical wisdom entails applying critically analytical cognitive skills and moral discernment in daily life.”
I believe that readers who appreciate Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking, Fast and Slow or Robert Sternberg’s writings on wisdom will find a familiar intellectual rigor within this book. I found the author's voice to be firm yet compassionate, analytical, and focused on human flourishing. His insistence on coherence (the alignment of values, beliefs, and actions) feels especially relevant in an age of fractured attention and rapid-fire decision-making.
If the book has a weakness, it lies in its density of material. Readers may find that the text occasionally reads like a graduate seminar heavily laden with terminology and theoretical frameworks. Some readers may find themselves working harder than expected to stay afloat among the textbook-like writing. It may have been helpful to include more real-life examples or add narrative case studies, which could have provided additional clarity and emotional resonance.
But don’t let this stop you from reading the book. Even with the dense terminology, Developing Practical Wisdom is successful in delivering a comprehensive, thoughtful, and highly relevant guide for anyone committed to personal growth, teaching, leadership, or lifelong learning. Surkes reminds us that wisdom isn’t inherited; it’s cultivated — through intention, reflection, and the courage to align our actions with our highest values.
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What is wisdom? How do we develop and apply wisdom to generate results that align with our ideal values? Find the answers to these questions and more in Developing Practical Wisdom. Drawing upon an extensive background in computer science, epistemology, and education, Michael A. Surkes presents a handbook that will help readers find the path to wisdom, focusing on its core fundamentals while traversing the fields of psychology, philosophy, and science. Nurture critical and creative thinking skills and use ethical reasoning to apply coherent justifications, learn the differences between subjective and objective experiences, beliefs and opinions, and take a deep dive into the concepts of coherence theory and cognitive equilibrium. You will also learn about applying objectivity in practice, generating empathy to find wisdom, navigating fallacies, cognitive biases, and prejudices, and much more.
Developing Practical Wisdom is your comprehensive guide to finding self-awareness and self-regulation through self-evaluation and self-correction. Using references, examples, and stories, Michael A. Surkes explores the key intangibles that drive human behavior and shape the course of our lives. The book explains in detail the intrinsic links between reality, human nature, and self-awareness, the rising significance of humanism and its impact on individual responsibility, the hurdles to transformative education, self-determinism, social consciousness, etc. Surkes uses an accessible writing style that makes even the somewhat more technical parts easy for the reader to grasp. Overall, this book will take you on a journey of self-discovery and introspection, and you will come out of it at least a little wiser. I found it very illuminating, educational, as well as motivational. Highly recommended.
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