by Nathaniel and Hans Bluedorn

219 page Soft Cover Book36 Lessons on How to Recognize Bad Reasoning Learn how to spot the errors in thinking that you meet everyday. Designed for ages 13 through adult and for parents and children to do together, there are exercises to stretch your abilities for detecting fallacies in its 219 pages and includes The Fallacy Detective Game.“After reading an article I wrote, someone suggested I read The Fallacy Detective.??You committed several logical fallacies in your article. I think you could learn a lot from The Fallacy Detective. ?? [ouch!] So I borrowed my parents’ copy and sat down and started reading. Firstly, it gave an introduction to bad reasoning and fallacies – errors in logic. Just as the book launches into the lessons it issues a challenge:

Remember, most people never study good thinking skills. So people who take on this quest of learning logic are breaking out of the mold, and this takes courage. It also takes humility. But most of all, it takes self-discipline. I sure was glad of that challenge as I read through the book and completed the exercises. I learned about ways people (including myself) will avoid the question using red herrings, ad hominens and straw men, etc., and how we make assumptions, commit statistical fallacies and use manipulative propaganda. What an eye-opener the book was!

I am more aware now when someone is not being logical; however, the real eye-opener was in myself. All the ways I thought I was being logical because of the connections I could make between concepts or whatever, I was in fact committing logical fallacies! Whew! I was glad they warned me about the need for humility at the beginning of the book! Now that I have finished, I am very glad for the opportunity to have read it. You know, reading it is like reading a comedy. I was laughing all the way through.

The Bluedorn brothers, Nathaniel and Hans, the authors of The Fallacy Detective are really very funny. What was it that Mary Poppins used to sing: A little bit of humour helps the humility to go down.

Logically set out (we would hope so!), the book works on the principles of moving from the known to the unknown and from the simple to the complex. It is easy to progress through it, and there are plenty of reviews and interesting exercises to help us retain the concepts. Geared for ages 13 plus, it is designed so that groups can go through it together, and Mums and Dads can sit on the couch with Johnny and Jane as they read the chapters and complete the questions. Comes complete with a comprehensive answer key and the promise of a fun??fallacy detective game ?? which can be played once the concepts have been learned. I highly recommend it.

Softcover, 227 pages. Now with comics!”

Here is another review:

The Fallacy Detective

See Also
Trivium Pursuit

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