Study Guide T/A Critical Thinking

I first read this book more than ten years ago and I identify it as one of the biggest educational impacts of my entire life. I was about 18 at the time - brilliant, cocky, a member of Mensa and certain there wasn't anything a 'critical thinking' course could teach -me-. *laugh* I took it because I thought it would be an effortless A. An earlier edition of this book was the text, and as other reviewers have pointed out, it teaches you to identify fallacies in rhetoric. If I were ruler of the world, I too would insist every citizen read both this book and "How to Lie With Statistics." I didn't know how much I didn't know until after we'd studied this book. It's the only college text I kept and reread occasionally.

What an awesome textbook! As a critical reasoning, reading, and writing instructor for twelve years, I have used this textbook, off and on, and I always return to it. There is no other textbook like it, but there are a lot of imitators. It infuses humor, pertinent political events, and very clear critical thinking concepts (like claims, fallacies, credibility, etc.)and presents those ideas in ways that make it a pleasure to read and learn from this book.

Like Andrew Hallock, it did not escape my notice that all the political references were Republicans or conservatives, and I've grown weary of that bent in academia and would have preferred a more balanced look at politics. Nonetheless, this book was hugely enjoyable for me. While I bought it for a class, I would have read it just for a fun. But then, I'm kind of stickler for critical thinking anyway. Fellow students hated the class and had a hard time with it. IMO, critical thinking skills are woefully lacking in today's world and if I were king, this book would be required reading for everyone.

Much of what we read, hear and see in today's media reflects the assumption that, since everyone is entitled to express their opinion, all opinions are equally ready for prime time. This book grants the first premise but challenges us to consider whether all opinions are actually created equal. I strongly recommend this text for students, teachers and even talk show hosts who'd like to sharpen their opinion-expressing skills and to understand why they might need some tuning up.For the most part, the philospher/authors use conversational but not patronizing (and frequently witty) language, sharp examples of effective as well as falacious reasoning drawn from contemporary debates and rants, and provide exercises useful for classroom and self-study.It doesn't matter where you stand on the ideological spectrum-- radial anarchist,neo-facist racist or any point between, frequent use of this book will help you to persuade others of your beliefs or convince you to re-examine yours. That's what Critical Thinking (and critical thinking) does.

A very good "textbook" on critical thinking, written with humor. It covers the main aspects of every-day logic, teaching us to think for ourselves and to avoid being manipulated by politicians, religious proselytes and/or the media (people who want our ballot, our money, our "head"). I recommend it to everyone concerned with free thinking. I use it even in my lectures on Chemistry, occasionally. I only regret that the support material (The Logical Accessory and the Instructor's Manual), as usually, is not available for the common reader: could be the availability of these teaching and learning aids the only difference between lecturers and students?