Reasoning Books - Page 3

Inevitable Illusions: How Mistakes of Reason Rule Our Minds

Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 22 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Mental Tunnels & Hopeful Avoidance 3 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

Inevitable Illusions is worthy of any collection for the study of human nature and its sometimes cognitive tricks for our evolutionary adaptation has not ever caught up to our increasingly innovative, and busy world. The author gives warnings to his (these) "Mental Tunnels" which we often go down to our detriment. Descriptions are provided via studies that have confirmed such events and via illusions that we play on ourselves in a very enlightening and educational way. These warnings are irrespective of whether the illusion is visual or probabilistic in nature. The many examples vary from the probabilistic in the "Monty Hall Dilemma" (i.e. doors #1, 2, or 3), the "Third Prisoner Dilemma", to the failure to account for the conjunctive aspects of mathematical scenarios.

Though this book is good, if you have not previously read either of Cialdini, Gilovich, or Plous, I would maybe start here but don't pass on the other author's works. The point the author wants to leave one with is the knowledge of the Mental Tunnels and a hopeful wish that once we have been advised of the tunnels, we may avoid them in the future (but probably doubtful) but wishing anyway.

Editorial Review:

"A delightful informal survey...the best popular book yet in theis peculiar field"––Nature

"A fascinating and insightful look."––R.C. Lewontin, Harvard University

A provocative and entertaining exploration of the tricks our minds play on us every day

Writing with all the wit and charm that have made his books bestsellers in Europe, Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini takes readers on an enthralling journey through the twists and turns of the human mind's cognitive illusions.

MASSIMO PIATTELLI-PALMARINI, PhD, (Milan, Italy) is Director of the Department of Cognitive Science at the Institute San Raffaele in Milan, Italy, and a research associate of the Center for Cognitive Science at MIT.

Why?

Charles Tilly

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 2.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Why? is a book about the explanations we give and how we give them--a fascinating look at the way the reasons we offer every day are dictated by, and help constitute, social relationships. Written in an easy-to-read style by distinguished social historian Charles Tilly, the book explores the manner in which people claim, establish, negotiate, repair, rework, or terminate relations with others through the reasons they give.

Tilly examines a number of different types of reason giving. For example, he shows how an air traffic controller would explain the near miss of two aircraft in several different ways, depending upon the intended audience: for an acquaintance at a cocktail party, he might shrug it off by saying "This happens all the time," or offer a chatty, colloquial rendition of what transpired; for a colleague at work, he would venture a longer, more technical explanation, and for a formal report for his division head he would provide an exhaustive, detailed account.

Tilly demonstrates that reasons fall into four different categories:

• Convention: "I'm sorry I spilled my coffee; I'm such a klutz."
• Narratives: "My friend betrayed me because she was jealous of my sister."
• Technical cause-effect accounts: "A short circuit in the ignition system caused the engine rotors to fail."
• Codes or workplace jargon: "We can't turn over the records. We're bound by statute 369."

Tilly illustrates his topic by showing how a variety of people gave reasons for the 9/11 attacks. He also demonstrates how those who work with one sort of reason frequently convert it into another sort. For example, a doctor might understand an illness using the technical language of biochemistry, but explain it to his patient, who knows nothing of biochemistry, by using conventions and stories.

Replete with sparkling anecdotes about everyday social experiences (including the author's own), Why? makes the case for stories as one of the great human inventions.

Critical Thinking in Communication: The Use of Reason in Argument

Edward S. Inch, Barbara Warnick

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

A good step-by-step guide to argument and debate 4 out of 5 stars.
9 of 10 people found this review helpful.

I have used this text to teach my argumentation course for the past three years. It has proven very effective in teaching students step-by-step how to recognize claims, evidence and reasoning. Each chapter contains very practical exercises for students to complete proving they grasp the concepts of the chapter. Very clear examples are provided of arguments and the impact of culture on argument (in one chapter). The only weakness is on the focus on debate solely. This is not a weakness for some, but is for me who is striving to introduce students to both dialogue and debate.

Editorial Review:

Relating common theoretical models to true-to-life examples from law, ethics, education, and business, Inch and Warnick stress the importance of argumentation in everyday life. This book encourages readers to develop skills in both constructing and refuting arguments. Through exercises and examples, readers learn how to create individual arguments, extend argument cases, and understand how arguments are designed and how to interpret them. The book allows readers to conceptualize argumentation in the larger framework of verbal and written interaction, from public speaking and debating to interpersonal, intercultural, and small group communication. For public speakers, or anyone interested in the art of debate.

A Logic Book: Fundamentals of Reasoning

Robert M. Johnson

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

M.S. in computer Science and Artificial Intelligence 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

This is a straighforward and easily understandable introduction to formal logic. Especially important is the clear statement of the relationship between deductive logic, and probabilistic reasoning -- a relationship that is poorly understood in America's engineering community. with the number of artificial intelligenc publications in 2006 exploding, it is important for engineers to know the limitations of probabilistic reasoning.

I had rather that the book left out the older Aristotelian syllogistic approach, as this tends to alienate modern technical people who are trying to evaluate the worth of modern symbolic logic.

Editorial Review:

No matter how good an idea sounds, if it's logically invalid it won't hold up. A LOGIC BOOK: FUNDAMENTALS OF REASONING takes you inside the world of debate and shows you how to flawlessly structure your arguments. And because A LOGIC BOOK: FUNDAMENTALS OF REASONING is clear and easy to follow, you'll be up-to-speed in class as well.

How Mumbo-Jumbo Conquered the World: A Short History of Modern Delusions

Francis Wheen

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 22 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

A big bestseller in the UK and right on about the U.S.: Francis Wheen's delightful "assault on all things irrational, inexplicable, dumb-headed and phony" (The Financial Times)

What characterizes our era? Cults, quacks, gurus, irrational panics, moral confusion and an epidemic of mumbo-jumbo, that's what. In How Mumbo-jumbo Conquered the World Francis Wheen brilliantly laments the extraordinary rise of superstition, relativism and emotional hysteria. From Middle Eastern fundamentalism to the rise of lotteries, astrology to mysticism, poststructuralism to the Third Way, Wheen shows that there has been a pervasive erosion of Enlightenment values, which have been displaced by nonsense. And no country has a more vivid parade of the bogus and bizarre than the one founded to embody Enlightenment values: the U.S.A. In turn comic, indignant, outraged and just plain baffled by the idiocy of it all, How Mumbo-jumbo Conquered the World is a masterful depiction of the absurdity of our times and a plea that we might just think a little more and believe a little less.

Critical Reasoning: A Practical Introduction

Anne Thomson

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Excellent Critical Thinking Text 5 out of 5 stars.
7 of 9 people found this review helpful.

This is an excellent text for learning critical thinking. The book as a whole is well organized and very clear, and each chapter contains numerous well-designed exercises. Many of the exercises are taken from the arguments section of the Law School Admissions Test, so if you are planning to take the LSAT, this would make an excellent prep book.

Editorial Review:

Reasoning is the everyday process through which all of us draw conclusions from facts or evidence. To think critically about what you read and hear is a vital skill for everyone, whether you are a student or not. When we are faced with texts, news items or speeches, what is being said is often obscured by the words used and we are unsure whether ourselves and others are reasoning well. By the end of this topical and exercise-based introduction to critical thinking, you will be able to * confidently answer exercises to identify flaws in arguments * analyse reasoning in newspaper articles, books or speeches * approach any topic with the ability to reason clearly and think critically This stimulating introduction to reasoning will interest all those with a concern in improving their reasoning skills, whether at work or in the classroom and requires on specialist knowledge.

Good Reasoning Matters!: A Constructive Approach to Critical Thinking

Leo A. Groarke, Christopher W. Tindale, Linda Fisher

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Editorial Review:

In this second edition of their successful book, the authors introduce over 150 new examples of argumentation from contemporary and ancient sources, ranging from Plato and Aristotle to university student newspapers. This completely revised edition also includes a section which gives sample answers to some of the many exercises found throughout the book.
Many books on reasoning emphasize fallacies, or bad arguments--an emphasis that can promote the jaded attitude that logic is a tool of finding fault with arguments and arguers. This innovative approach to critical thinking emphasizes the construction of good arguments instead. By isolating and focusing on the components of good reasoning, it teaches readers how to reason well and build their own good arguments. Bad arguments are treated as those which violate the criteria governing the good arguments. Analyzing bad arugments in this manner requires time and thought and avoids the hasty application of a fallacy label. Recognizing the importance of rhetorical considerations, this book also moves beyond traditional approaches to logic by introducing readers to the importance and intricacies of audience.

I Want It (Crary, Elizabeth, Children's Problem Solving Book.)

Elizabeth Crary

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Great tool for parents and professionals! 5 out of 5 stars.
15 of 15 people found this review helpful.

This book helped me teach my four and six year olds the way to problem solve. By looking at outcome choices for the situation presented in the book, they were able to see that there are ways to achive positive outcomes with different solutions. It really works! Of course, it helped that the main characters shared my daughters names because they could truly feel like they were part of the story. Thumbs up on this book!

Editorial Review:

Megan and Amy want to play with the same truck What will happen? Helps preschool and elementary school-aged children begin to learn problem-solving skills.

Influencing through argument

Robert B Huber

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Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

A Great Argumentation and Debate Text at a Great Price 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

I am currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Houston-Downtown teaching Communication Studies. I was recently assigned to teach argumentation and debate for the Fall of 2006. In the past I have used Freeley (now w/Steinberg) and Rieke and Sillars (now w/Peterson), but both of those books are in the $80 range. As most of our students work and tend to be the first in their respective families to go to college (we are a federally recognized Hispanic serving institution), expenses do matter. I noticed Dr. Snider's updating of Influencing through Argument seemed very affordable.

Frankly, it's quite a bit more approachable that some other argumentation texts, which should make it a much better read for my students. The section on research is particularly good for novice undergraduate researchers, and the section immediately following it on the use of evidence is simply outstanding.

Perhaps most importantly, this book is also an amazing value, even at it's list price of 24.95 (and can usually be had for less than that) which my students should very much appreciate.

Editorial Review:

A basic text for citizens, professionals and debaters of all types. This book introduces readers to the basic types of arguments and how to criticize and engage them, including induction, deduction, and causation. Readers will be familiarized with the ways in which advocates support their arguments and how to criticize and engage these forms of support, including historical data, statistics, examples, anecdotes, expert testimony and common experience. Readers will also encounter how to prepare for argumentative situations and how to conduct themselves within them, including debates, panel discussions, public speeches and informal settings. The original 1964 text has been updated and filled with new examples and activities.

Thinking From A To Z

N. Warburton

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

May Not Be What You're Looking For . . . 2 out of 5 stars.
57 of 59 people found this review helpful.

The title is too broad for what the book is essentially about: providing brief explanations of logical reasoning and fallacies. The "A to Z" is basically the format of the book, starting with such "A" terms like the ad hominem fallacy and moving to "Z". This format may be cute and useful when you need to know a specific definition, but generally unhelpful at giving you a brief introduction to logic.

This book is very slim, resembling a pocket dictionary -- but in this case, it's a pocket guide to informal logic terms and fallacies. Each little definition of a term is very brief, with usually only one small example illustrating how the term is used correctly or incorrectly.

Quite honestly, I found Anthony Weston's "A Rulebook for Arguments" more effective as a concise book on logical arguments. This book seems more like a nifty little gift you'd give to a philosophy major, rather than a handy reference material you'd depend on. At the cover price, I would think that most people would rather invest in Weston's book as a reference guide.

I hope this clears up any confusion about the contents of this book. If you're still not sure, I'd advise you to check the book out at the library or bookstore before buying.

Editorial Review:

Being able to spot poor reasoning and diversionary ploys is essential to building good arguments. Thinking From A to Z is an introduction to critical thinking which provides the basic tools for clear thinking on any issue. The techniques and topics discussed can be applied to any area in which clear thinking is required: they have direct applications in most academic disciplines and in any facet of life in which people present reasons and evidence in support of conclusions. Nigel Warburton uses topical examples to enable the reader to distinguish with confidence between a Red Herring and a Straw Man and to easily recognize reductio ad absurdum and rash generalizations. Arranged in alphabetical order this book makes an ideal reference tool for all those wanting to sharpen their thinking skills.