Thought and Knowledge: An Introduction to Critical Thinking

Rating:
Summary: excellent textbook
Review: I felt I had to answer the 2 irresponsible reviews above. This is an excellent introduction to critical thinking. It is thoughtful clear, and enjoyable to read. Each chapter contains puzzle-like, challenging exercises which reinforce the lessons. It is easy to improve your thinking skills by reading this book and working through the exercises.

Rating:
Summary: excellent textbook
Review: I felt I had to answer the 2 irresponsible reviews above. This is an excellent introduction to critical thinking. It is thoughtful clear, and enjoyable to read. Each chapter contains puzzle-like, challenging exercises which reinforce the lessons. It is easy to improve your thinking skills by reading this book and working through the exercises.

Rating:
Summary: Comprehensive yet readable
Review: I have collected a library of books on critical thinking, but this is by far the best. It is comprehensive and intellectually honest, yet very readable. I bought it, started looking through it, and wound up reading it completely in that one sitting. It's rare to find such a scholarly book so compelling!

Rating:
Summary: Comprehensive yet readable
Review: I have collected a library of books on critical thinking, but this is by far the best. It is comprehensive and intellectually honest, yet very readable. I bought it, started looking through it, and wound up reading it completely in that one sitting. It's rare to find such a scholarly book so compelling!

Rating:
Summary: An Appalling Lack of Critical Thinking
Review: The book is easy to read and moderately informative but useless as a textbook for a course in critical thinking. About a third of it is just incomprehensible because of the "folksy" writing style. Ex: Ch 4 opens, "Reasoning is often taken to be the hallmark of the human species. Colloquially, reasoning tells us 'what follows what.'" That's the best definition of reasoning you're going to get in that chapter! Errors of reasoning are rampant throughout the book. The first chapter opens with a barrage of statistics to show that CT is not adequately taught.Ex: You will live into your '70's so what do you need to know to be prosperous (as if all knowledge for the entire future needs to be acquired today.) The book is riddled with wrong definitions and erroneous information. The chapter on hypothesis testing is especially egregious in that regard. There are few references later than 1991 (in the 3d edition). Finally, the chapters do not speak to each other: There are completely unrelated chapters on memory, logic, and probability theory, for example. The book might be useful in a course on rhetoric or communications, but critical thinking it is not. The chapter on analysis of arguments is the one good one, but it doesn't redeem this... paperback.