List of books dealing with problem solving
"When the brain fires up the network of neurons that allows us to empathize, it suppresses the network used for analysis."
Instead, do something mildly distracting, and then come back to the problem.
Overcoming functional fixedness - good examples of problem solving.
Overview of reasoning and problem solving models - 2009
History of split brain surgery, the stories we tell ourselves to explain what's not explainable, problem solving with two ropes, and a little on Freud and a comment on the unconscious mind.
Hearing a joke, watching a funny video, can increase the ability of people to solve puzzles by insight, several researchers report. Also don't miss the Multimedia presentation of identifying pixelated objects as the pixelation gets finer and finer.
Good trick illustrating several aspects of cognition. Win a few bar bets with this one, too.
Illustrates overcoming functional fixedness (and a really bad day)