good books on critical thinking

tepidpoultry

Hi, wanting to improve my thinking. Thanks, Tepid.

I have all the books shown below (none of which I've read completely) (most obtained at library sales, etc.). See especially the ones highlighted in yellow. The Chaffee book seems to be your best bet - it's been through at least seven editions. You can probably get cheap used copies through Amazon.

Logic Made Easy. Bennett

Beginning Logic. Lemmon

Deductive Forms: An Elementary Logic. Neidorf

Introduction to Logic (12e). Copi/Cohen

A Concise Introduction to Logic (6e). Hurley

Introduction to Logic. Suppes

The Way of Words: an Informal Logic. Munson

Language, Truth, and Logic. Ayer

Practical Logic. Beardsley

Symbolic Logic & The Game of Logic (two books bound as one). Carroll

Arguments: Deductive Logic Exercises. Pospesel

Fundamentals of Symbolic Logic (revised ed). Ambrose/Lazerowitz

The Art of Reasoning (3e). Kelley

Argumentation and the Decision Making Process. Rieke/Sillars

Elements of Argument: A Text and Reader (4e). Rottenberg

Advocacy and Opposition: An Introduction to Argumentation (3e). Rybacki/Rybacki

Writing Arguments A Rhetoric with Readings (6e). Ramage/Bean/Johnson

Perspectives on Argument (4e). Wood

How to Argue and Win Every Time. Spence

Persuasion and Social Influence. Trenholm

Persuasion, Social Influence, and Compliance Gaining (2e). Gass/Seiter

Persuasion: Reception and Responsibility (9e). Larson

Coercion: Why We Listen to What “They” Say (uncorrected proof for limited distribution). Rushkoff

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion (revised ed). Cialdini

Thinking Critically (7e). Chaffee

Creative and Critical Thinking. Moore

Critical Thinking (3e). Moore/Parker

Practical Thinking. de Bono

de Bono’s Thinking Course. de Bono

Think Clearly: A Guide to Personal Effectiveness. Moxley/Fife

Success with the Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense. Elgin

Labyrinths of Reason. Poundstone

Strategic Debate. Wood

Negotiation: Readings, Exercises, and Cases (2e). Lewicki/Litterer/Saunders/Minton

Mum

Chaffee also wrote a book called The Thinker's Way. It has step by step strategies for thinking through situations and figuring out what to do. I recommend it. I also recommend any of Wayne Dyer's books, particularly his first one, entitled Your Erroneous Zones. It's not specifically about critical thinking, but about setting yourself free and not being manipulated.

Happy reading!

LV101

Mum - Appreciate your info about Dyer's "Your Erroneous Zones." I remember that best seller and must have bought more than once always loaning out never reading myself - not smart! It's probably pricey now. Might have to check out on Amazon. I'm laughing because my girlfriend(s) and I use to call it "Erogenous Zones."

villagegirl

Please add to your list:

The Tyranny of Words, by Stuart Chase

snare&racket

Tepid,

I developed critical appraisal skills as I was required to appraise scientific literature, that was a ramp to my critical thinking. If you google 'develop critical appraisal' it will provide many resources on how to do this.

I think you have asked a great question, but a hard one to answer. It may be that there is a gap in the market exactly for this. In an information age that arrived acutely, many of us were not are skilled to sift through the information and be usefully skeptical.

For me it is about evidence. The better the evidence the more reliable the idea is PROBABLY. The less evidence the less time or interest it has from me. Some people confuse skeptisism and critical thinking with being close minded, it is quite the opposite. Sure question EVERYTHING, but promoting mysticisim because it is close minded to reject the supernatural is not focusing on......evidence.

I wish I could give you a better answer, if I think of one I will come back to you. I must add that watching hundreds of intellectual debates will help you see how others are figuring out their way through life, it isn't the data in these debates that I found useful but approaches to the data, the thought process.

Before long you see where honesty and truth (very scientific) becomes hope and comfort (believers) as people sit on a spectrum of reliance on evidence.

The it is about deciding where you sit on the spectrum.

It is an exciting, protective and interesting journey , if not tiring, to figure everything out for yourself, enjoy it x

John_Mann

Critical thinking is a very simple process (and you will never find a step-by-step manual. Even though some books claim that like the bible and every WT literature), basically:

- Scientific method.

- Logic (in a nutshell: two true statements can't contradict one each other).

- Occam's razor.

- Fallacy detection (see some list of fallacies).

- Reality check.

If your worldview needs some flaw in evidence, internal logic, simple explanation and fallacies, you can be sure (99.9999%) you are being fooled.

And when this happen sooner or later your worldview will be crushed by the supreme judge of all worldviews: the reality.

Reality destroy every flawed worldview, like "1914 generation that will not pass away" and "communication with dead people", for instance.

Phizzy

A good book that I read prior to reading more "technical" works as mentioned above, was "Believing Bullshit" by Stephen Law, available on Amazon .

It really helps to see how we all did as the book's Title suggests, and why we did so.

More importantly, the book will ensure we never fall in to similar traps again.