Customer Reviews

Asking the Right Questions: A Guide to Critical Thinking, 9th Edition

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is the strongest introduction to critical thinking I have read so far. And by "strongest" I mean it teaches you critical thinking in a step-by-step process where you will be introduced to each topic of critical thinking one at a time with precision & clarity. And the approach the authors use is unique! Where it's centralized around asking key and important questions that would shed light on the dark spots of arguments.

It begins by explaining the benefits of being a critical thinker (Chapter 1.)
Then, it takes you to how to be a critical thinker and what are the attitudes of a critical thinker, it's more of the common-sense of critical thinkers (Chapter 2.)
After that, you will be introduced to the most basic elements of critical thinking and argument-analysis: The Issue and Conclusion (Chapter 3)
Next, is also another step of analysis which is concerned about the Reasons supporting the argument (Chapter 4)
Now, after having the structure of arguments analyzed you will be spotting influential elements in the argument that would play key roles in persuading you... Such elements are like the use and abuse of ambiguity (Chapter 5) and it's other sisters - the Assumptions and unstated beliefs the arguer hides behind their arguments (Chapter 6)

Reaching chapter 6 means the end of analysis and the start of evaluation of arguments... You will do your first evaluation of soundness and validity of arguments by spotting the tricks and ploys the author induces between the lines, these are called FALLACIES (Chapter 7)
The following 3 steps are concerned with evaluating the truth & validity of the evidence supporting the reasons of argument (Chapter 8 + 9 + 10)

After that the journey of evaluation will start to take an explore-and-conquer approach... hehehe... "Chapter 11" is concerned with the soundness of the provided statistics as evidence!
Where "Chapter 12" is concerned with the important information that have been omitted by the arguer and if it would influence the minds of people and listeners.
"Chapter 13" explores the possibilities of deriving new conclusions and judgments other than the one(s) inferred by the arguer himself.

The journey reaches the end as the authors of the book discuss with you some obstacles to critical thinking and how it's important to avoid them and even conquer them if possible, such obstacles will function as barriers to stop you from developing your skills of being a critical thinker.

--- Bottom line, get this book! It's serious business!

At the university where I work as a professor of science, I was asked to teach a course called "science in practice". My first question was: Which textbook should I use? I read some books on the philosophy of science but concluded that the ideas are too abstract even for a trained scientist. I wanted a book that teaches the student how to think like a scientist. I also found it difficult to use examples from my research work. To do that I had to teach first year undergraduate students about image processing before I could move on to the actual topic. Luckily, I came across this book!

This book is about critical thinking. How asking a set of well defined questions would reveal to us the worth of an argument in a speech, article or amazon-book-review. The authors make the claim that by learning the meaning behind those questions and asking them we can become critical thinkers. In my experience, their claim is true. Having taught the course for three years, I can say that almost all the students learn something very valuable and in addition enjoy the process of learning. I have myself become better at structuring my arguments when I write scientific papers. Some books have the power of being able to change your thinking- This is one of them.

As a side note, may I say that it isn't right to add a review that affects the ranking of a book when the review is based on feedback to a certain book seller?!
In this book we learn that the conclusion has to be an answer to the issue which we are exploring. The issue when reviewing this book is: Is this a good introduction to critical thinking? My conclusion is yes. Highly recommended.

The book is short and sweet. A very quick overview of Critical Thinking. If I didn't need this book for a class, I wouldn't have purchased it. I would prefer something that is more in depth and more complete. It is fine for a quicky, crash course on critical thinking.

This is a very simply written guide to critical thinking which gives you the basic tools to begin breaking down concepts, or simply thinking about thinking. I am enjoying the read and look forward to future editions.

This book helps you to understand the foundations of a good arguement and how to apply what you have learned to writing your own convincing arguement. There were a couple of things I didn't like about the book, one being that they always spoke about the person making the arguement from the view of "she". I actually would have preferred that they switched back and forth between a "he" and "she". I also question whether or not this book is written and organized well. The content was good, yet I continually found myself on the defensive to the messages and the way in which the book was structured. All in all, it is a worthy book, just a little hard to digest at times.

The book arrived way ahead of schedule and in the condition promised. It has been very helpful with my classes in pharmacy school.

this was an assigned reading for a graduate program, but was too basic for anyone w/ any scientific training.

The best way to have a feel for the book your buying is..... by being able to look inside it. Just as you could at a regular bookstore. The reviews help a bit but without being able to look inside I feel as though I'm just taking a chance on my purchase. So even though this book caught my eye first I feel much more comfortable in buying another book on critical thinking as I was able to read a few pages of it ..... it has that look inside feature available.I may have bought this one if I could have done the same.

This book shows some methods created by Socrates, but in a more up-to-date way.
To read this book is more fan than reading Platon.
I hope you enjoy it.

I need this book for a logics class. I saved about $10. Book is in great condition, better than the used books at my school. Book arrived 3 days earlier than expected!