Customer Reviews

Pros & Cons: A Debaters Handbook, 18th Ed.

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Thought-provoking and informatve; well-written and entertaining; sure to stimulate free speech and intellectual endeavour wherever it is read. Essential for debaters of all ages, debate coaches, and anyone interested in improving their dinner party conversation. Never find yourself without a contentious opinion again!

Time is a precious commodity. Sadly, I wasted a lot of time getting together resources for my debate team. Our High School was not new to debate, but I was. Eventually, I stumbled across this work, and I must rank this as the number one resource any debate couch must have for the practice of debate.

This resource has allowed me to have many debate practices. The resource while not written for Canadians, is very, very easily adapted to our concerns.

The pre-research that has been done for typical debate topics saves any debate coach an incredible amount of time. It can make you the expert on a tremendous number of varied debate topics. It also has several extensions or ancillary debates too.

As well, using the information from this book, I have tried giving the information beforehand to my debaters on a particular debate topic, and with this common background information, have run practices which focus on the rhetoric alone. My students have experienced very good development in this way.

The book is fantastic, and after such a short period of time, well thumbed. I may need to search out a hardcover version.

During my years as a competitive debater, I found Pros and Cons to be a very useful resource. The book clearly and effectively lays out the main arguments for and against a variety of debate resolutions, making the task of building a solid case much easier. I would recommend it as a handy resource for any student who seeks to excel at debate.

-Alim Merali, author of Talk the Talk: Speech and Debate Made Easy

Incredibly useful. Covers hundreds of different topics, with concise and readable, yet remarkably detailed, arguments for each one.

This book had a great intro on how to set up mediated debates.
I was thinking it would have debating techniques in it and was dissapointed to find it really didn't.
I would still recommend this as it does lay out a pro vs. con take on all of the biggest current issues and could be used as a reference guide.

Possibly the best available guide when you start getting acquainted with debating societies.

This is the most usefull book I have ever read. Suppling excellent arguments for and against topical points that are easily understood, this has proved its value on more than one occasion(sic) for me.

This book surely deserves 5 stars and it's just as wonderful as I heard. I read it on a daily basis to prepare for writing tests.

This book is good for students as well as teachers to identify how to debate, and has a lot of controversial topics to argue. Through this book, you are going to broaden your horizon, and have confidence whenever you debate with others.