The book starts with a character called the Wandering Salesman. He's lost, but only mostly lost. He actually knows where he is, and he knows where he's going. He's still lost because he doesn't know how to get there. This is the essence of effective problem solving. It's about having a clear goal, and knowing where you stand. Instead of giving in to that instinct to do the first thing that comes to mind, you try to imagine all the possible ways to solve the problem, compare them, and choose one.

This is a big part of what computer science actually studies. It's not about computers, they are just a tool. It's about how to generate those possible answers, those algorithms. How to characterize them so they can be compared. How to choose.
http://carlos.bueno.org/2012/08/pascals-apology.html