Rating: 
Summary: It packs mucho info into a short space.
Review: In fact, it has so much info that I decided I had to summarize the book in my own words, sort of a Cliff's Notes thing. My summary topped off at 8 pages of questions and notes. The one shortcoming of the book is that it did not provide its own summary. Finally, beware: you will come across people who will misunderstand your inquisitiveness and label you as cynical and critical. It's already happened to me.
Rating:
Summary: This book is great.
Review: Issue: Is this book good?Conclusion: Yes, it is good. Reasons: 1. It heightens your ability to think critically about situations and controversies, which make it very valuable to any reader. 2. Dr. Keeley is a good teacher, and by good I mean he has a very effective teaching style that has a deep impact on students to critically think. (didn't want to be ambiguous there!) This book does have a profound effect on your ability to think more clearly and efficiently. Dr. Keeley and Dr. Browne make the book easy to understand, so that if you are not lucky enough to have them personally in a classroom setting as I do, you will begin to habitually ask the right questions and formulate better opinions on issues.
Rating:
Summary: Reading the Right Books
Review: Of the hundreds of books I have digested over the years, none to date have delivered as profound an impact on my ability to analyze, reason, or even listen, as Asking the Right Questions. Unlike books that merely teach facts, this book goes beyond instruction and delivers a robust set of skills that, when practiced, are not easily lost or forgotten. The title aptly describes the lessons to be learned between the covers. The reader is confronted with the Herculean task of learning how to listen to a speaker or author. Once the content of the message is understood, the reader is then provided with specific questions that are intended to help the listener critique the speaker's conclusions. The lesson does not stop there, however. The reader is consistently reminded to turn the skills of critique inward, so that we apply the same standards of criticism to our own thought. Why are any of the skills taught in Asking the Right Questions important? The lessons learned are invaluable for anyone who wants to be a critical participant in our economy or democracy. More specifically, however, Browne and Keeley give us a set of questions that are not restricted to any one discipline. Instead, the questions can be used, not only in everyday conversations, but can be broadly applied to many different domains (i.e. politics, science, or the humanities). If you are searching for a book that challenges you to become a more critical consumer of information, then delve into this readable guide to critical thinking.
Rating:
Summary: Asking the Right Questions : A Guide to Critical Thinking
Review: The Book has helped me enormously. It has given me structure to evaluate and formulate in order to make better decisions. I think poor structure is better than no structure, even if this book does not help you out as much as it did myself. This book has given myself a template to improve upon so that I might seek to understand what people are trying to influence me. If you are like me and believe the Masses are fickle, and you want to seperate yourself and really understand life then this book should be on your list.
The book has some practicals to help with the formulated structure.
I highly recommend this book for individuals entering college or graduate school.
Rating: 
Summary: Read it but not necessary to buy it.
Review: The issue is that we don't ask the right questions to understand a piece of information and form our independent opinion consistently. The conclusion is to form your own independent opinion by asking the following questions and evaluating the answers objectively:
1. What are the issues and the conclusion?
2. What are the reasons?
3. What words or phrases are ambiguous?
4. What are the value conflicts and assumptions?
5. Are there any fallacies in the reasoning?
6. How good is the evidence?
7. Are there rival causes?
8. Are the statistics deceptive?
9. What significant information is omitted?
10. What reasonable conclusions are possible? It is a good book because it gives a very good framework along with a lot of examples and practice work. There is also a companion website www.prenhall.com/browne. You need to get a copy of this from a library and practice the basic premise of the book. After that, you need to practice.
Rating:
Summary: Mediocre
Review: The previous reviewer already stated some of the weaknesses of this book, and I do not want to spend time to add too much of my own observations here. This book is insufficient as an accurate and comprehensive introduction to informal logic or critical thinking. The system of evaluating arguments proposed is itself illogical in many points. Also, the system of thinking proposed are too tainted with towards a "politically correct" ideal.
Rating:
Summary: Read This Book if You Think for a Living
Review: The problem often not the problem itself but how we see the problem. That is why highly effective people "seek first to understand," in Stephen Covey's words. And, the most important skill for understanding correctly, for seeing the real problem, is asking the right questions. This book, and others, such as Why Didn't I Think of That? - Think the Unthinkable - give your mind the tools it needs to fully satisfy its natural curiosity. They show you time-honored, incisive questions, demonstrate why they work with interesting examples, and give you an important opportunity to adopt them as your own so that you too will "Ask the Right Questions" in your thinking process and not end up having to look back asking "Why Didn't I Think of That?"
Rating:
Summary: Excellent book: it WILL improve your critical thinking.
Review: This book gives you the essential mental tools you need to think critically and it shows you how to apply them. The information is presented in a style that makes learning and applying the information easy and even fun. If you put the techniques in this book into practice you will become a much more effective thinker and problem solver.
Rating:
Summary: A must for anyone who wants to be a smarter thinker!
Review: This book has been a tremendously positive influence on my life as well as on the lives of those to whom I have recommended it! Before studying "Asking the Right Questions," I was well educated, but nevertheless my thinking was often muddled and illogical. As a graduate student, this book helped me to better define my own ideas as well as understand the ideas of others. I learned how to engage in truly meaningful discourse with others about ideas and principles because I could apply a more rational approach. Differences of opinion became engaging rather than destructive or unproductive. This book and its philosophy gives me hope in the idea of the "democracy of ideas." As a college professor, I use this book in all of my classes and require students to purchase it. We work on one skill a week as we learn the course content. Students regularly report that having a class focused around critical thinking is a unique and highly valuable experience. While I find it sad and disturbing that few college students are exposed to such skills regularly, I find it encouraging the ARQ provides an effective forum to help me teach these skills. The book is engaging, with many current examples and vivid illustrations. The reading level is appropriate for anyone in high school or higher. And because the content and skills are ones that are pertinent to any individual or college major or profession, it can be integrated into virtually any course. I especially think it would be an excellent foundation for the first-year seminars that are so popular on college campuses. While I use this book in a classroom setting, it is one that an individual can easily benefit from. I recommended it to my mom, who said, "This book taught me more about evaluating ideas on tv, from politicians, and from other books than anything else I've ever done or read!" She found the examples and exercises quite engaging and helpful. The ideas and philosophy of "Asking the Right Questions" have the potential to profoundly change an individual by making them a better, smarter thinker! I think it should be required reading for all of us.
Rating:
Summary: A must for anyone who wants to be a smarter thinker!
Review: This book has been a tremendously positive influence on my life as well as on the lives of those to whom I have recommended it! Before studying "Asking the Right Questions," I was well educated, but nevertheless my thinking was often muddled and illogical. As a graduate student, this book helped me to better define my own ideas as well as understand the ideas of others. I learned how to engage in truly meaningful discourse with others about ideas and principles because I could apply a more rational approach. Differences of opinion became engaging rather than destructive or unproductive. This book and its philosophy gives me hope in the idea of the "democracy of ideas." As a college professor, I use this book in all of my classes and require students to purchase it. We work on one skill a week as we learn the course content. Students regularly report that having a class focused around critical thinking is a unique and highly valuable experience. While I find it sad and disturbing that few college students are exposed to such skills regularly, I find it encouraging the ARQ provides an effective forum to help me teach these skills. The book is engaging, with many current examples and vivid illustrations. The reading level is appropriate for anyone in high school or higher. And because the content and skills are ones that are pertinent to any individual or college major or profession, it can be integrated into virtually any course. I especially think it would be an excellent foundation for the first-year seminars that are so popular on college campuses. While I use this book in a classroom setting, it is one that an individual can easily benefit from. I recommended it to my mom, who said, "This book taught me more about evaluating ideas on tv, from politicians, and from other books than anything else I've ever done or read!" She found the examples and exercises quite engaging and helpful. The ideas and philosophy of "Asking the Right Questions" have the potential to profoundly change an individual by making them a better, smarter thinker! I think it should be required reading for all of us.
| 
