irring melody of _Band of Gold_ and the lingering smell of peaches
and the gentle winds against my ears on a pleasant summer night.
Sequential Problem Solving is about memories and dreams, making them
come true, and keeping them alive.

Sequential Problem Solving is about becoming both a success and a
lifelong-learner. Problem solving has two aspects: physical problems
in a scientific environment and personal problems in a spiritual inner
world. This book uses well known classical literary selections as
models for personal decision making and character development. These
works were chosen primarily due to their ready availability.

Part of the fun of sequential problem solving is mentally rewriting
stories to have more favorable outcomes. We imagine favorable
outcomes naturally, but successful people do so in a more systematic
fashion, that makes logical outcomes more certain. Using realistic
logic rather than wishful emotion requires that we know ourselves,
know our values and where they came from, and know clearly what our
basic goals are in life. Sequential Problem Solving systematically
outlines those aspects of our spiritual inner selves that play a part
in our decision making and, largely, determine our success.

Sequential Problem Solving explores the nature of personal internal
conflict and how literary characters change in the course of stories
to overcome personal weaknesses. Successful learners learn to
recognize their own internal conflicts and learn that courage is a
skill anyone can learn to re-direct their own destiny.

The first step in the adventure of becoming courageous is to write
down a philosophy of life: what we want to achieve and how we plan to
treat other people. A few words will do: I want to be happy, healthy,
wealthy, have a loving companion, help others, etc.

Everyone should develop, write down, and periodically review their
philosophy of life. If we are going to be successful, we need to have
a systematic way of going about it. What do we know today about
effective ways of becoming educated and successful?

At this point in time, my own philosophy for education has 11 parts.

First, learning has three basic components: specialized knowledge,
basic thinking skills, and mature thinking skills.[1] In the study of
Dickens' _Great Expectations_, "specialized knowledge" includes Pip's
turbulent relationship to his sister and to her husband Joe. "Basic
thinking skills" include the stude