The Art of Organizing Thoughts
- Author Shigehiko Toyama
- Narrator Mark Takeshi Ota
- Publisher Penguin Books Ltd
- Publish Date 1 October 2026
- Run Time 6 hours and 8 minutes
- Format Audio
- Genre Philosophy of mind, Popular philosophy, Popular psychology.
Flexible Pricing & Rewards For Listening
At xigxag, the more you read, the less you pay* on select audiobook and x-book® titles, as in the table below. Pricing updates automatically in the app and resets one year after your first purchase. And you can always find a selection of brilliant titles available for only £3.99.
Titles Purchased
- 1-5
- 6-10
- 11-15
- 16-20
- Over 20
Price per title
- £8.99
- £7.99
- £6.99
- £5.99
- £4.99
*Only the full price titles you buy count toward your personal pricing tier. Full price titles don’t include Listen for Less or other books bought with a voucher or discount code.
Listen to a sample
What to expect
The quietly radical Japanese classic on the art of cultivating creative thought - it's Marie Kondo for the inside of your head.
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.
© Shigehiko Toyama 1983 (P) Penguin Audio 2026
| Author | Shigehiko Toyama |
|---|---|
| Narrator | Mark Takeshi Ota |
| Duration | 6 hours and 8 minutes |
| Release Date | |
| ISBN | 9781405997232 |
| Format | Audiobook |
| Publisher | Penguin Books Ltd |
| Genre | Philosophy of mind, Popular philosophy, Popular psychology |
| Availability | AU, GB, IE |
More from the same
About xigxag
xigxag is an independent, UK-based audiobook platform and the UK’s only B Corp certified audiobook company. We offer nearly 150,000 audiobooks, all with professional human narration. No AI-generated voices. xigxag is rated an Ethical Consumer Best Buy for audiobooks and a top-rated ethical bookshop.
There is no subscription. You buy the audiobooks you want, you own them permanently, and prices start at £8.99. The more you listen over the year, the less you pay per book, and there is always a selection in Listen for Less from £3.99. You can also send audiobooks as gifts using our audiobook gift cards or in-app gifting.
Every audiobook on xigxag has honest reviews covering both the book and the narration, and our community features make it easy to share what you are listening to, discover what others recommend, and find your next listen.
Download or stream on iOS, Android, or in your browser. Browse the full catalogue at xigxag.co.uk.