1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
I've used this book for a Logic & Critical thinking course, January 3, 2012
This review is from: Critical Thinking (Paperback)
I have a mixture of opinions about this book.
Pros:
-There are *some* pretty good examples through the use of stories from real world events.
-The end of each chapter has a decent summary.
-Plethora of exercises as you go through the book.
-In short, decent explanations and readings.
-Accompanying free website with additional exercises/keywords/etc.
Cons:
-Despite some of the decent explanations, there are a handful of confusing segments.
-While there are many exercises, the answers aren't all in the back of the book. A rough estimate: for every ten exercises there are 2 answers in the back.
-The book has a few misspells.
In general, I think the book does an OK job. However, besides some of the confusing segments of the book, many of the exercises are questionable. My philosophy professor and classmates spent too much time in discussing what fallacies, rhetorical devices, etc were at use in the exercises - regarding the author's answers. The professor has disagreed with some of answers the book authors gave and also stated that some exercises included other errors not stated by them. I myself disagreed with a more than a few.
None of the exercises were used for grading purposes, but more for classroom participation. I'm highly upset that the book did NOT included all the answers! While the professor has chosen a select few exercises, all of them including the ones in the rest of book were not discussed. I am the type that if I spend my time doing exercises, I like to see the answer when I'm done. With the lack of answers, the book does not give you anyway to evaluate yourself. We didn't cover 3 chapters from this book in the course, but I continue to learn on my own (time permitting) about Critical Thinking. Again, no answers, which kills the book in my opinion. Now the book sits on my bookshelf as a reference, but not good for the majority of the exercises.
Personally, I think the book could have done a better job explaining somethings in more detail, like venn diagrams. In some discussions, things can also be a bit too dense with the authors getting involved. The book reading has some "rigidness" to it, not an overall "fun" way to engage the reader.
The amount of time discussing the authors answers, lack of answers, and being unclear in some segments sunk the book for me. The authors did take note in the preface that they aren't perfect in a sense and giving that this is a 10th edition, it makes it a work in progress for them. The book does a decent job in getting you through the basics. Oh, see that iPhone photo on the book cover? Logically, you will think there is an "app" for the iPhone as I did with such a deceptive photo. I found that there was a site you can pay money to access more. While it did say that an instructor can create courses for their students and enroll them, it did also state you can enroll independently to access study guides (website only). I paid $10 for 3 months access only to get a looping page that does nothing. They later told me that it was for instructors only so I linked them to their site depicting that I could enroll independently for guides. In short, they reimbursed me.
Would I buy future editions of this book? No. If you are taking critical thinking seriously, don't buy one book, but two or three on the topic. I compared another book to this one and prefer the other one. A more concise to the point fun engaging read. I've used various other sources to compliment my critical thinking progress. Best wishes.
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0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Amusingly written., December 13, 2011
This review is from: Critical Thinking (Paperback)
First off, I utilized the previous edition of this book, not this exact one, but quite similiar. I found the book useful and rather regret having sold it. Illustrations and examples were usually worth a chuckle, and the book did an adequate job of teaching entry-level philosophy.
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