Becoming a Critical Thinker: A User Friendly Manual (3rd Edition)

Rating:
Summary: If You Are Intimidated by Critical Thinking, Try This!
Review: "Critical thinking" can seem like an intimidating task (and that is a shame, because the world would indeed be a better place if more people could learn to think critically!). This book was written for people with just such fears, as well as for beginning critical thinkers in general, and so I am grateful it exists.

There are very few books that can introduce a beginner to the thrill of critical thinking in a way seems fairly uncomplicated, and yet that fosters progressive competency. Just as the "user friendly" title implies, each chapter is easy to understand. Concepts are broken down into basic parts. Application of principles is invited through a wealth of interesting and brief articles within each chapter. Critical thinking concepts are assessed with relevant questions, as well as through diverse exercises which incorporate various learning styles.

I have utilized this text for community college classes since the book's first edition. What I love about this book is that its simplicity allows me to readily pull in related information without disrupting the flow (so even for a teacher, the book is user friendly, and able to accommodate creative explorations). Chapters need not be assigned in sequence in order for the book to work. Even the lay-out says to a potential student, "Come and try critical thinking; it is not scary, and you will soon become better at it than you think!" (Believe me, in contast, many critical thinking books are dense, and their lay-out can subtly add another layer of resistance for the beginning critical thinker.)

Every semester with this text, students catch the thrill of thinking for themselves. They see real life applications within every chapter, and that is what hooks them. Student feedback often indicates that the class (with this text as its core) has "opened up the world." Yes, the book is an excellent launching point to a systematic way of exploration. This way, once begun, eventually leads to everything (since all knowledge is connected).

I do not know what it would be like to use this book in isolation. I have used it only in a class setting, where critical thinking skills can be "tried out" within the context of group interactions. My guess is that practicing good thinking would be harder (and less fun) without this kind of dialogue and exchange. In saying this, I don't mean to discourage individuals from trying this book. However, if you have a chance to use this book at the same time as others are using it, that is what I would recommend. For example, I often assign my students to find "thinking partners" to dialogue with through-out the term. Likewise, any reader of this text could find a thinking partner, too, in order to have someone with whom to explore their unfolding understandings. As I so often tell critical thinking students, the best thinking is often done collaboratively. Together, we can help one another see past individual blind spots, and thereby enlarge one another's perspectives.

Rating:
Summary: If You Are Intimidated by Critical Thinking, Try This!
Review: "Critical thinking" can seem like an intimidating task (and that is a shame, because the world would be such a better place if more people could learn to think critically!). My guess is that this book was written for people with just such fears, and so I am grateful it exists. There are very few books that can introduce a beginner to the thrill of critical thinking in a way seems fairly uncomplicated, and yet that fosters progressive competency. Just as the "user friendly" title implies, each chapter is easy to understand. Concepts are broken down into basic parts. Application of principles is invited through a wealth of interesting and brief articles within each chapter. The book's concepts can be assessed with relevant questions, and diverse exercises which incorporate various learning styles. I have utilized this text for community college instruction since the book's first edition. What I love about this book is that its simplicity allows me to readily pull in related information without disrupting the flow (so even for a teacher, the book is very user friendly, and able to accommodate creative explorations). Chapters need not be assigned in sequence in order for the book to work. Even the lay-out says to a potential student, "Come and try critical thinking; it is not scary, and you will soon become better at it than you think!" (Believe me, in contast, many critical thinking books are dense, and their lay-out can subtly add another layer of resistance for the beginning critical thinker.) Every semester with this text, students catch the thrill of thinking for themselves. They see real life applications within every chapter, and that is what hooks them. Student feedback often indicates that the class (with this text as its core) has "opened up the world." Yes, the book is an excellent launching point to a systematic way of exploration. This way, once begun, eventually leads to everything (since all knowledge is connected). I do not know what it would be like to use this book in isolation. I have used it only in a class, where critical thinking skills can be "tried out" in the context of group interactions. My guess is that practicing good thinking would be harder (and less fun) without this kind of dialogue and exchange. In saying this, I don't mean to discourage individuals from trying this book. However, if you have a chance to use this book at the same time as others are using it, that is what I would recommend.

Rating:
Summary: If You Are Intimidated by Critical Thinking, Try This!
Review: "Critical thinking" can seem like an intimidating task (and that is a shame, because the world would be such a better place if more people could learn to think critically!). My guess is that this book was written for people with just such fears, and so I am grateful it exists. There are very few books that can introduce a beginner to the thrill of critical thinking in a way seems fairly uncomplicated, and yet that fosters progressive competency. Just as the "user friendly" title implies, each chapter is easy to understand. Concepts are broken down into basic parts. Application of principles is invited through a wealth of interesting and brief articles within each chapter. The book's concepts can be assessed with relevant questions, and diverse exercises which incorporate various learning styles. I have utilized this text for community college instruction since the book's first edition. What I love about this book is that its simplicity allows me to readily pull in related information without disrupting the flow (so even for a teacher, the book is very user friendly, and able to accommodate creative explorations). Chapters need not be assigned in sequence in order for the book to work. Even the lay-out says to a potential student, "Come and try critical thinking; it is not scary, and you will soon become better at it than you think!" (Believe me, in contast, many critical thinking books are dense, and their lay-out can subtly add another layer of resistance for the beginning critical thinker.) Every semester with this text, students catch the thrill of thinking for themselves. They see real life applications within every chapter, and that is what hooks them. Student feedback often indicates that the class (with this text as its core) has "opened up the world." Yes, the book is an excellent launching point to a systematic way of exploration. This way, once begun, eventually leads to everything (since all knowledge is connected). I do not know what it would be like to use this book in isolation. I have used it only in a class, where critical thinking skills can be "tried out" in the context of group interactions. My guess is that practicing good thinking would be harder (and less fun) without this kind of dialogue and exchange. In saying this, I don't mean to discourage individuals from trying this book. However, if you have a chance to use this book at the same time as others are using it, that is what I would recommend.

Rating:
Summary: Arsenal For Attacking Flawed Presentations
Review: A presentor is usually happy when people pose questions, as long as they are not critical questions. Most of the time the audience doesn't pose any questions because they simply don't know what questions to ask or how to formulate those questions.

The prinicipal points of this book:

Establishing the issue and the conclusion.
- Knowing and agreeing with the counterpart on the issue prevents us from veering off away from the subject of discussion. People like chaning the issue when they feel trapped.
- Listening to the person's conclusion about the mentioned issue which will indicate the person's opinion.

What are the reasons for their arguments on a certain suject?
- Reasoning takes many roads but often we don't know how to counter weak reasoning. Key words that give way to faulty reasoning with no substance to back up the argument.

Finding words that are ambiguous
- Counterparts discussing a subject, saying the same thing with several key words but some words have many meanings. Make sure you are talking about the same thing.

What are the value conflicts and assumptions?
- Value conflicts are explosive because of different political, religous and moral beliefs. A speaker who is devoutly religious will try and bring biblical arguments in to reasoning which for someobdy who is an athiest, would mean absolutely nothing.

How good is the evidence: Appeals to authority and testamonials.
- Probably one of the most abused factors in supporting an argument. How often have you heard, "Experts on the subject state 70% of medical doctors say x,y and z habits are great for your health". Don't forget to ask who the authority is. The more general authority and testamonials are the weaker the argument. The authors of many surveys make them biased. e.g. If scientific study has proven that smoking is good for your health and the author of the article is a lobbyist for the tobbaco industry, could it be possible that the author has something to gain from the study? If so ask what other authors or experts say about the subject. The so called industry specific gurus who give their testamonials are in most cases biased, because they have something to gain with the report.

Deceptive statistics are also factors that need to be examined closely. When a presentor starts talking about averages and percentages, ask which average and how large the sampeling was on people who took the survey. You would be surprised about how many presentors do not know anything about the facts they are presenting.

The author does not only wirte about critical thinking but has included many exercises to acitvate the reader to look for faulty reasoning and how to build up questions to counter evidence being presented. It is a great introduction text to critical thinking.

Rating:
Summary: Teaching Students to THINK!
Review: I first utilized this excellent book in undergraduate classes about a year ago.I enjoyed using it and it received accolades from the students, (once they realized that sometimes, thinking is WORK!)

It is "user-friendly", and the segments in each chapter are short but concise. There are numerous exercises after each section so that the student can put to immediate use, their newly acquired knowledge.

But I believe the highest praise came from the students that jokingly complained, "I can't think the same way anymore!" They had become "Critical Thinkers". And we can certainly use all of those that we can get!

Rating:
Summary: Maybe "user-friendly" makes it average...
Review: It took my a while to read through the book... a sign of boring content... I would say the book is good for a beginner in this field, it provides many examples, which are easy to grasp, but which I found too basic for the more advanced reader... or which even constitute common sense.
It may be well suited to be covered in High School ... not much more to add (sorry).
While I haven't looked around, I am convinced there a better titles out there.