Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)This is a college textbook that I purchased because I was searching for a book that would review all the rhetorical tricks being used by politicians and special interest groups. For the past six years I've been simultaneously impressed and distressed with the increased sophistication being used to dodge discussing core issues and deceiving people. I believed I needed to further develop my awareness of when someone was using a rhetorical trick to avoid an issue or deceive the public, including myself. Once again excellent reader reviews helped me navigate to and choose this book and I was not disappointed! This book confronted many of the tricks being used by those in the media and using the media to get their message across while avoiding the truth.
First off, this book mostly focuses on only one aspect critical thinkers require, and that is identifying and rejecting rhetorical arguments. This book does not have any chapters that would help business people to filter out extraneous information and focus on critical factors even though in fast moving industries, this is a critical skill coming under the umbrella necessary to be labeled a critical thinker in the business world. A better title for this book would have been "Rhetorical Fallacies".
So don't buy this book to help you hone your skill in deciding what issues to focus on at work and how to drill-down to essential issues necessary to make good decisions. I highly recommend this book if you are looking to minimize the ability of ever-increasingly sophisticated rhetoric to mislead you. I also now enjoy the fact that I can name most of the rhetorical tricks being used in an attempt to deceive us. This book is a fast read, with many examples that help clarify the principles; many of these examples are humorous. I'll definitely keep this book as a reference to name the ploy being attempted.
Because the book is a textbook, the new price is ridiculous. I bought this used through Amazon and had an excellent experience; easily getting a barely marked-up book from a student at a very fair price - ya gotta love Amazon!
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More than any other textbook, Moore and Parker's "Critical Thinking" has defined the structure and content of the critical thinking course at colleges and universities across the country - and the authors have done so with a fun and witty writing style that students actually enjoy. The seventh edition provides fresh topical examples and exercises taken from the real world, even more clear and focused explanations, and dramatically expanded online resources.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
