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Know any good books on critical thinking?

The Demon-Haunted World - Carl Sagan
How To Think About Weird Things - Schick & Vaugh
The Bible
 
Oldie but goldie: Straight and Crooked Thinking by Robert H. Thouless

You can find it at Neglected Books: http://neglectedbooks.com/?p=336
I like the review: Although there are many other texts on applying logic to argument, Straight and Crooked Thinking remains one of the most succinct and practically-applicable books ever written. One blogger named it as his favorite book of all time, describing it as “a concise work of supreme genius.”
 
I started with Demon-Haunted World by Sagan. I also found Fads and Fallacies by Martin Gardner to be a great start as well. It's a little dated, but many of the methods and claims used by psuedoscientists it describes are still quite relevant today.

My favorite dealing with math is Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and It's Consequences by John Allen Paulos.
 
Someone has already suggested this, but spelt an author's name wrong:

How To Think About Weird Things: Critical Thinking For A New Age

by Theodore Schick, Jr and Lewis Vaughn.

This is a tremendous book, clear and a pleasure to read. You can really learn to use your brain effectively by studying this book.

:);)
 
My apologies for incorrectly spelling the authors name! But yes, an amazing book!
 
'Against All Gods' by A C Grayling. I had it recommended. It's really clear, unlike some of his other work which my reader and I have tried to follow, but gave up! It's quite a short book too.

'The Magic of Reality' by Richard Dawkins. this is definitely aimed at youngsters and is therefore straightforward and clear. As it's written by RD, I have of course decided to read it. (Above-mentioned reader reads a few pages each time as a change from the novel we're on.)
 
asydhouse said:
Someone has already suggested this, but spelt an author's name wrong:

How To Think About Weird Things: Critical Thinking For A New Age

by Theodore Schick, Jr and Lewis Vaughn.

This is a tremendous book, clear and a pleasure to read. You can really learn to use your brain effectively by studying this book.

:);)
Click to expand...

I ended up receiving this book for free and I really enjoyed it.
 
Sagan's support for the Drake eqn as probabilification of extraterrestrial intelligence disqualifies him as a skeptical/critical thinker. A grade-schooler should be able to decimate that argument.

I don't think books that demolish specific claims, like the Bermuda Triangle have sufficient generality to be of much value in gaining critical thinking skills. A 5 page synopsis of a dozen such books might be more useful. OTOH I expect that some of these books are a disconnected set of homilies tha tpoint to no general principles either.

FWIW I did enjoy Paulos ' Innumeracy: ...' mentioned above.

So I'll suggest the books noted above on debate skills and general critical thinking might be a better place to begin. Formal debate is a bit different from logical argumentation, but close enough to apply widely.

Parsing in argument in detail is a required skill, and practice is critical. Parsing political arguments (see your favorite cable news network for examples) is useful practice. I find some politicians statements easier to deal with since they are often presenting positions and not as often rebutting to vague and uncertain positions.
 
The Magic of Reality by Richard Dawkins, especially for children/teenagers.

stevea said:
Sagan's support for the Drake eqn as probabilification of extraterrestrial intelligence disqualifies him as a skeptical/critical thinker. A grade-schooler should be able to decimate that argument.
Click to expand...

One strike and you are out?:confused:

I think Sagan did worse when he went doomsday about oil fields in Kuwait, very likely motivated by political reasons.

But overall he was a good guy.
 
Here is a good place to start:

http://www.skepdic.com/ticriticalthinking.html


I can't recommend Bob's dictionary enough. When I first came across his site, I was looking for info on the Mayan "prophecies".

I quickly became an addict and read the whole thing over a few weeks. I learned more than I ever thought I could from a single source. It is also how I got introduced to Mr. Randi's foundation and forum.


His replies to e-mails are also priceless for their entertainment value.
 
Hokulele Mom said:
Thomas Kida Don't Believe Everything You Think
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+1, it's outstanding. And it's written in such a way that it helps the reader to be more aware of areas they may fall prone to bad thinking.

IMHO some of the books being listed in this thread may exhibit critical thinking, but they have little to do with teaching it.
 
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