The latest book from Europe's "old master" of creativity, Edward de Bono, focuses on values and their importance to business and individuals. After a recent attempt at selling a book for 250 euros a copy (see our article on Why So Stupid), de Bono is back to his more common quick-to-write (he once made a big thing of writing an entire book on a plane journey), quick-to-read business books.

Quick-to-read is not a bad virtue. In a world of limited time, who wants to wade through a three inch doorstop just to extract a few key messages? Having said that, there's the distinct feeling here that one of the reason it's quick to read is relative lack of substance.

It's not that the main idea behind the book is bad. Values are important to us, especially in the very broad sense that de Bono interprets the word. The book emphasizes that these are the criteria we use to make decisions, and the valuable idea at the heart of the book is that these values can be conveniently lumped into six headings, each of which de Bono gives a material to identify it (gold, silver, glass etc). The six headings, like human values (gold) or environmental values (wood), are very useful rallying points in assessing what the important criteria are in making a decision. I strongly disagree with de Bono that it's a good idea to actually refer to his headings explicitly ("let's discuss the gold medal values represented here.") That's just going to make people feel silly. But having the headings, and the materials, as mental focal points is great.

What's less effective is the practical content of the book. de Bono points out that there are many - perhaps even hundreds - of values that can come under each heading. And he offers a couple of simple methods for rating a decision based on the six value sets, but doesn't tell you how to extract from the morass of values the ones that are going to be important to you and to a particular decision. What's more, his methods (the value triangle and the value map) fall down because, unlike the good option evaluation methodologies that have been around for a long time now, it doesn't make a clear distinction between the weighting given to the different values and the scoring of an option against that value.

This highlights, perhaps, a failing that de Bono has always had - he doesn't recognize anybody else's work in the field. Just as he used Alex Osborn's creativity techniques but rarely credited Osborn, so his value scheme is devised without reference to the large existing knowledge base on decision making and values. It's fascinating, in fact, how much this approach and other aspects of de Bono's character come through in the writing. Given his psychology background, it's hard to imagine he's not aware of this, yet the urge to mention his possessions and accomplishments is rarely suppressed for long. Best of all is the wistful comment "In the UK, when a businessman is given a knighthood or other honour, the general perception is that he has donated funds to the party in power. It is only rarely that the award is seen to be based on individual merit. This perception is soundly based." You don't need a psychology degree to read between the lines of that one.