The Truth about Lies by
Why do you believe what you believe? You've been lied to. Probably a lot. We're always stunned when we realize we've been deceived. We can't believe we were fooled: What was I thinking? How could I have believed that? We always wonder why we believed the lie. But have you ever wondered why you believe the truth? People tell you the truth all the time, and you believe them; and if, at some later point, you're confronted with evidence that the story you believed was indeed true, you never wonder why you believed it in the first place. In this incisive and insightful taxonomy of lies and liars, New York Times bestselling author Aja Raden makes the surprising claim that maybe you should. Buttressed by history, psychology, and science, The Truth About Lies is both an eye-opening primer on con-artistry--from pyramid schemes to shell games, forgery to hoaxes--and also a telescopic view of society through the mechanics of belief: why we lie, why we believe, and how, if at all, the acts differ. Through wild tales of cons and marks, Raden examines not only how lies actually work, but also why they work, from the evolutionary function of deception to what it reveals about our own. In her previous book, Stoned, Raden asked, "What makes a thing valuable?" In The Truth About Lies, she asks "What makes a thing real?" With cutting wit and a deft touch, Raden untangles the relationship of truth to lie, belief to faith, and deception to propaganda. The Truth About Lies will change everything you thought you knew about what you know, and whether you ever really know it.
Calling Bullshit by
Bullshit isn't what it used to be. Now, two science professors give us the tools to dismantle misinformation and think clearly in a world of fake news and bad data. "A modern classic . . . a straight-talking survival guide to the mean streets of a dying democracy and a global pandemic."--Wired Misinformation, disinformation, and fake news abound and it's increasingly difficult to know what's true. Our media environment has become hyperpartisan. Science is conducted by press release. Startup culture elevates bullshit to high art. We are fairly well equipped to spot the sort of old-school bullshit that is based in fancy rhetoric and weasel words, but most of us don't feel qualified to challenge the avalanche of new-school bullshit presented in the language of math, science, or statistics. In Calling Bullshit, Professors Carl Bergstrom and Jevin West give us a set of powerful tools to cut through the most intimidating data. You don't need a lot of technical expertise to call out problems with data. Are the numbers or results too good or too dramatic to be true? Is the claim comparing like with like? Is it confirming your personal bias? Drawing on a deep well of expertise in statistics and computational biology, Bergstrom and West exuberantly unpack examples of selection bias and muddled data visualization, distinguish between correlation and causation, and examine the susceptibility of science to modern bullshit. We have always needed people who call bullshit when necessary, whether within a circle of friends, a community of scholars, or the citizenry of a nation. Now that bullshit has evolved, we need to relearn the art of skepticism.
Fact over Fake by
Today's instantaneous and ever-present news stream frequently presents a sensationalized or otherwise distorted view of the world, demanding constant critical engagement on the part of everyday citizens. The Critical Thinker's Guide to Bias, Lies, and Politics in the News reveals the power of critical thinking to make sense of overwhelming and often subjective media by detecting ideology, slant, and spin at work. Building off the Richard Paul and Linda Elder framework for critical thinking, Elder focuses on the internal logic of the news as well as societal influences on the media while illustrating essential elements of trustworthy journalism. With up-to-date discussions of social media, digital journalism, and political maneuvering inside and outside the fourth estate, Fact or Fake is an essential handbook for those who want to stay informed but not influenced by our modern news reporting systems.
Critical Writing by
The main goal of Critical Writing is to provide students with a set of robust, integrated critical concepts and processes that will allow to them think through a topic, and then write about it, and to do so in a way that is built on, and permeated by, substantive critical thinking. The "topic" in question can be virtually anything that can be written about: issues, situations, problems, questions, arguments, and decisions are just some examples. The critical thinking tools and concepts are built on the Paul-Elder Approach to critical thinking.[1] A major part of the goal of the book is to provide not only the "what" of writing a paper, but the "how" of it. The "what" is constituted by the essential components of a well-thought-out paper: thesis statement and main points, an articulated structure, development, research, the need for clarity, grammatical correctness, and several others. Addressing the "how" of these occupies a significantly greater part of Critical Writing. The aim throughout is to show: how you can actually construct a thesis statement and the other main points that constitute the structure of the paper; how you can write the actual paragraphs that make up the body of the paper; how you can engage in productive research and do so in a planned, self-directed way; how you can make a point clear-not just grammatically or stylistically clear, but clear in thought and clear in communicating that thought to an audience; how you can think your way through the numerous unanticipated issues (including aspects of grammatical correctness, transitions, as well as many others) that arise in the course of writing papers. The book aims to provide close and careful processes for carrying out each of these, always through the use of one's best reasoned judgment-through critical thinking. A closely related goal in the book is to bring in the standards of critical thinking. A well-thought-out paper needs to be clear, accurate, relevant, and fair; it needs to stress the important parts of a topic (rather than the minor side-issues); it should be as precise, deep, broad, and sufficient as it needs to be for the context in which the paper is written. But recognizing that these standards are essential is plainly not enough. With the critical thinking standards, the "how" is again paramount. Critical Writing provides concrete usable ways for students to make their paper more accurate, more relevant, and so forth, and to communicate its accuracy, relevance, and the rest to the writers' audience. Perhaps just as important, the book gives specific prompts that help to direct writers toward the thinking required to help them meet those standards. The specific focus in the book is on writing a paper, but the concepts and processes of critical writing apply in a direct and useful way to virtually any kind of non-fictional writing. [1]Critical Writing: A Guide to Writing a Paper Using the Concepts and Processes of Critical Thinking lays out the main dimensions of the Foundation for Critical Thinking's articulation of critical thinking (www.criticalthinking.org) as they apply to writing. The approach was developed by Richard Paul, Linda Elder and myself. Probably the best overview of it is contained in Paul and Elder's Critical Thinking: Concepts and Tools. Though Paul and Elder's book is highly condensed, it spells out the essential components of a robust conception of critical thinking.
Rhetorical Criticism by
the second edition of RhetoricalCriticism: Perspectives in Action presents a thorough, accessible, and well-grounded introduction to contemporary rhetorical criticism. Systematic chapters contributed by noted experts introduce the fundamental aspects of a perspective, provide students with an example to model when writing their own criticism, and address the potentials and pitfalls of the approach. In addition to covering traditional modes of rhetorical criticism, the volume presents less commonly discussed rhetorical perspectives, exposing students to a wide cross-section of techniques. Jim A. Kuypers is professor of communication at Virginia Tech. His many publications include Twentieth Century Roots of Rhetorical Studies, Bush's War, and Partisan Journalism (a 2014 CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title). He has been honored with the American Communication Association's Outstanding Contribution to Communication Scholarship Award, the Southern States Communication Association's Janice Hocker Rushing Early Career Research Award, and Dartmouth College's Distinguished Lecturer Award.
The thinker's guide to analytic thinking : how to take thinking apart and what to look for when you do by
The Thinker's Guide to Analytic Thinking explores the practice of analyzing problems and opportunities and provides a framework for finding common denominators, inconsistencies, biases, and underlying causes. It helps readers learn to think within the logic of subjects and professions. By offering proper tools for analysis and assessment of thought, it empowers readers to address any decision with confidence.As part of the Thinker's Guide Library, this book advances the mission of the Foundation for Critical Thinking to promote fairminded critical societies through cultivating essential intellectual abilities and virtues across every field of study across world.
The Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking Concepts and Tools by
"This powerful book introduces core critical thinking concepts and principles as an empowering problem-solving framework for every profession, course of study, and indeed every area of life. The Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking Concepts and Tools distills the groundbreaking work of Richard Paul and Linda Elder, targeting how to deconstruct thinking through the elements of reasoning and how to assess the quality of our thinking. The eighth edition of this guide further details the foundations of critical thinking and how they can be applied in instruction to improve teaching and learning at all levels; it also reveals how we can learn to identify and avoid egocentric and sociocentric thought, which lead to close-mindedness, self-deception, arrogance, hypocrisy, greed, selfishness, herd mentality, prejudice, and the like.With more than half a million copies sold, Richard Paul and Linda Elder's bestselling book in the Thinker's Guide Library is used in secondary and higher education courses and professional development seminars across the globe. In a world of conflicting information and clashing ideologies, this guide clears a path for advancing fairminded critical societies."--
Additional methods associated with the assessment of critical thinking are;
