Written by Nathaniel & Hans Bluedorn
Published at Christian Logic
About the book
Help your students identify common errors in their everyday thinking process with this handy manual. For ages 12 through adult, learn to recognize the fallacies you see every day, including Red Herring, Ad Hominem, Tu Quoque, Straw Man, loaded question, equivocation, circular reasoning, either-or, generalization, analogy, propaganda, and others, including two new for this 2009 edition: special pleading and slippery slope fallacies. Original cartoons, as well as Dilbert, Calvin & Hobbes, and Peanuts, illustrate many of the fallacies perfectly, while the text provides additional examples. Exercises and "The Fallacy Detective Game" provide fun ways to really remember what you've learned!
Who are Nathaniel & Hans Bluedorn?
Meet the Bluedorn brothers, Nathaniel and Hans. In 1999 they thought they should turn our logic hobby into a livelyhood by starting Christian Logic. Since then, they have written two books, The Fallacy Detective and The Thinking Toolbox and recently they produced our first DVD, Logic in 100 Minutes.
You can them with questions on logic.
They live in the middle of a corn field, five miles from the Mississippi River, near New Boston, Illinois. Their parents taught them at home. They enjoy skiing with friends, exploring caves and making movies. Trivium Pursuit is our family business since 1989. Nathaniel has a personal web site and a profile on HomeschoolAlumni.org. Hans has a profile on HomeschoolAlumni.org and produces the AisforAdventure.com site along with Hi, I'm Kevin.
My Thoughts
It is important in life to be equipped and be able to detect bad reasoning. And as homeschoolers it is also a priority to make sure that our own kids are able to think by themselves in a world where sometimes people assume and deduct things from what they see or know.
I first got introduced to The Fallacy Detective while my kids were doing gymnastics last spring. I was talking to a woman whose teenagers had done the book and she lent it tome so I can checked it out. I was totally in love with the book and put it on my want-it list for the future as my kids were not in the age of going through something like this.
In the meantime, I became a fan of Trivium Pursuit on facebook. I personally love the tidbits I receive on email as well. So when I became aware that a new edition of The Fallacy Detective was available for review I jumped on the opportunity. This book will help you to identify where someone is make a mistake in his thinking.
I enjoy reading this book and doing the exercises at the end of each chapter. It makes you realize how often you don’t take the time to stop and think before either saying things or just listening to other people. Not everything that comes out of the mouth of someone should be taken for granted. This jewel of a book will bring you 38 lessons on how to recognize bad reasoning. And like I mentioned before each chapter has its own set of exercises. As you advance in the book, the exercises will cover all the chapter seen previously. The book also includes The Fallacy Detective Game as well as the answer key of each chapter.
Once you have gone through the book with your teenager, it will be easy to practice. Just listen to people who have strong opinions or politicians for example. The important thing is that you will be able to find the fallacies you are expose to and point them to others.
I even think that the other products from Trivium Pursuit will find their way into our house someday. In the meantime, I look forward to train my oldest boy to be able to spot errors of thinking. I still have a couple of more years to prepare myself to go through this with him. But it will be worth it. Maybe I could go through it with my husband while I wait... We would be prepare for the next election if we do so. *grin*
This review was possible because I received a copy of The Fallacy Detective from Christian Logic.
No comments:
Post a Comment