Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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189 of 199 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A must for anyone who wants to be a smarter thinker!, August 24, 1999
By A Customer
This book has been a tremendously positive influence on my life as well as on the lives of those to whom I have recommended it! Before studying "Asking the Right Questions," I was well educated, but nevertheless my thinking was often muddled and illogical. As a graduate student, this book helped me to better define my own ideas as well as understand the ideas of others. I learned how to engage in truly meaningful discourse with others about ideas and principles because I could apply a more rational approach. Differences of opinion became engaging rather than destructive or unproductive. This book and its philosophy gives me hope in the idea of the "democracy of ideas." As a college professor, I use this book in all of my classes and require students to purchase it. We work on one skill a week as we learn the course content. Students regularly report that having a class focused around critical thinking is a unique and highly valuable experience. While I find it sad and disturbing that few college students are exposed to such skills regularly, I find it encouraging the ARQ provides an effective forum to help me teach these skills. The book is engaging, with many current examples and vivid illustrations. The reading level is appropriate for anyone in high school or higher. And because the content and skills are ones that are pertinent to any individual or college major or profession, it can be integrated into virtually any course. I especially think it would be an excellent foundation for the first-year seminars that are so popular on college campuses. While I use this book in a classroom setting, it is one that an individual can easily benefit from. I recommended it to my mom, who said, "This book taught me more about evaluating ideas on tv, from politicians, and from other books than anything else I've ever done or read!" She found the examples and exercises quite engaging and helpful. The ideas and philosophy of "Asking the Right Questions" have the potential to profoundly change an individual by making them a better, smarter thinker! I think it should be required reading for all of us.
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61 of 62 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good introduction to Critical Thinking, February 18, 2002
By A Customer
Asking the Right Questions is a practical book in the category of Critical Thinking or Informal Logic. It discusses a set of questions that may be used to analyze and evaluate rational arguments. After a short introduction explaining the scope, purpose, and relative usefulness of thinking critically, the book divides into chapters, each centered around a particular critical question, e.g., "What significant information is omitted?" and "How good is the evidence?"Throughout the text, the vocabulary of informal logic is introduced. Arguments are defined, a nice distinction is made between descriptive and prescriptive assumptions, and most of the major fallacies are discussed. While the text is not a complete reference in these respects, it covers most of the basic terms and structural features of arguments with which those new to the field should be familiar. The editing is disappointing for a sixth edition, especially a paperback sixth edition at this price. Punctuation is occasionally missing. Correctly-spelled but misused words are sprinkled throughout, e.g., 'rationale' is used where 'rational' would be more appropriate. Perhaps most disturbing is an argument about abortion that inappropriately becomes one about divorce, which suggests a careless attempt to reuse past writing. This book would be appropriate for bright high school students, undergraduates, or anyone wishing to develop their critical thinking skills. If you, like many others, frequently find that most of the arguments you read or hear seem to "make sense" and would like guidance in deciding whether to accept or reject a particular claim (and why), then you would likely find reading this book to be enlightening and rewarding.
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88 of 93 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Read it but not necessary to buy it., April 16, 2004
The issue is that we don't ask the right questions to understand a piece of information and form our independent opinion consistently.The conclusion is to form your own independent opinion by asking the following questions and evaluating the answers objectively:
1. What are the issues and the conclusion?
2. What are the reasons?
3. What words or phrases are ambiguous?
4. What are the value conflicts and assumptions?
5. Are there any fallacies in the reasoning?
6. How good is the evidence?
7. Are there rival causes?
8. Are the statistics deceptive?
9. What significant information is omitted?
10. What reasonable conclusions are possible? It is a good book because it gives a very good framework along with a lot of examples and practice work. There is also a companion website www.prenhall.com/browne. You need to get a copy of this from a library and practice the basic premise of the book. After that, you need to practice.
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