Good Thinking: Why Flawed Logic Puts Us All at Risk and How Critical Thinking Can Save the World

The book is still a good read, and full of great examples of bad thinking, even though he is unapologetic about using examples that make out religious people and politically conservative people to be total idiots. Some parts of the book are no more balanced in presentation than popular provocative media. I am no longer religious, and no longer conservative according to many, but I wouldn’t present them as utter fools.

This book does a good job of explaining logical fallacies while also including anecdotes and stories as well. If you are like me and have read books in this same area, you will see some repetition with similar examples. However, you will also read quite a bit of variety that goes outside of what you have likely heard or read before. The author has a passion for trying to point out things for us to look out for before we are all in on believing something that is claiming to be "scientific". It's a good read with good information for anyone!

This book has islands of solid reasoning isolated in an ocean of progressive polemics. Author’s explanations of ancient logical tools, modern scientific methods, and results of experimental human psychology are very good reading, a worthwhile introduction or review of good thinking tools. Those readers who skipped Latin in school may eruditionally benefit from the Latinate phrases. These are the “solid islands” of good thinking. Most of the book is in the form of anecdotes and narratives. These overwhelmingly illustrate that non-progressive thinking is not good thinking. References are missing so that readers cannot readily check on the accuracy or on the context of remarks of events or how wildly held this bad thinking is held by non-progressives, that is, conservatives or libertarians in a USA context. Explicit statements of the author’s strong progressive world view are not prominent. Cherry picking anecdotes and narratives are an age old polemical method for deceiving a lazy human brain, features the author shows as fallacies to good thinking. It appears the author has trouble with world views outside his bubble, another thinking fallacy he cites. Blindness not chicanery, one hopes.Readers with progressive world views will find this book delightfully persuasive of good thinking; others may find it off-putting and not finish this book or feel the price not worthwhile.Why Three Stars are assigned with this generally negative review? The “islands” showing good reasoning and thought techniques are very well explained, especially for readers with not much prior knowledge.

This is an interesting book with many helpful reminders. In depth thinking a deeper understanding of information and ways to consider underlying messages

I enjoyed reading this book. Lots of interesting and useful information

Very disappointing! Rather than an informative treatise on good thinking and logic, the book read more like a nineteenth century novel, replete with a plethora of superfluous verbiage. Though I do not doubt the author is knowledgeable about that which he writes, what could have been an edifying read became a laborious undertaking simply to glean any meaningful content. The author did, however, display a vast vocabulary.D.N. of P.V.

I loved, loved, loved this book. Of course, the people that most need to read it will not, which is a shame. It should be required reading for all high school seniors. If we've gotten to the point where basic critical thinking and personal evaluation of facts (not conjecture, facts...) is considered being brainwashed, we are in very deep trouble. I thought I was a fairly good critical thinker, but this book even gave me a little wake up call. Essential reading.

Ever since I was ten-years-old and discovered the joys of Spock and Star Trek, I've been a fan of logical thought. Some years ago, I was dining with an astrophysicist who enjoys topics like folklore and ufology as well as straight science and he said something I've never forgotten. "Mount Shasta has multiple UFO sightings. It also has multiple Bigfoot reports. This brings many less critical thinkers to conclude that Bigfoot and flying saucers are connected."Like many writers of fiction, I use this kind of crazy logic regularly in my work. It's a delight to skew facts when you're writing a novel or making a movie. It's not such a delight when the people around you begin turning into anti-vaxxers and conspiracy-believers, blinded to facts and reason by fear and emotional thinking. These are the "my mind is made up, don't confuse me with the facts" people.I know smart people who have been brainwashed over the last couple years into a culture of fear and mistrust that horrifies me. I have written novels based in conspiracy theories and thoroughly enjoyed telling these tales, but I know from research on both sides of the fence approximately where fact and fiction diverge. Seeing people I have always respected lose sight of that fence is disheartening and more than a little frightening. If someone is intelligent, I end up wondering how they blindly join a group that is looking only at theories that they like and not at the facts. They try to prove their beliefs, and you don't dare suggest trying to disprove these beliefs (the scientific method) in order to find the validity. They don't like hearing that at all. They don't want to be wrong, and that aspect of the mindset is fascinating in and of itself.These days, I'm hearing people who should know better -- who have the intelligence to do the research --tell me how the Covid vaccine is engineered to kill people, starting conveniently with old people, so there are fewer people in the world -- and simultaneously saying that Big Pharma is suppressing a cancer cure so we can keep everyone buying medicine. Aside from the black and white thinking on each "theory," there's a huge disconnect there. How do you believe both of these simultaneously? But they do. (And if you dare suggest looking to science for answers, you'll hear that it's all a conspiracy, that you can't believe any scientist.)There is absolutely no point in arguing with these folks -- they will not change their minds. They don't want to. And that is why I picked up Good Thinking: Why Flawed Logic Puts Us All at Risk and How Critical Thinking Can Save the World. I don't have any desire to try to push my viewpoints on the conspiratorially-inclined -- I think that's impossible and only makes them dig in deeper -- but I wanted to read something supportive of my view of things. Good Thinking is supportive.With both current and historical problems examined, this is an anecdotal book that's entertaining and a bit of a refresher course on logical thought. It makes me feel better about why I'm so shocked by the numerous people who have become fearful and, sometimes, paranoid about everything from vaccines to the motivations of the medical profession. Sure, there are conspiracies, sure Big Pharma wants to make money, but all the doctors in the world being in on this fake pandemic conspiracy? Please. I needed this down-to-earth book in my life, if only to feel better about my own patterns of thought.I recently had someone ask me, in all seriousness, how I could ignore the coming (any minute now) apocalypse since I've have written an apocalypse novel. I said it was fiction, and they informed me that it wasn't. I walked away and will continue to do so. It boggles, though. Truly.If you're baffled by what's going on these days, Good Thinking will help you understand the thought processes that some people are falling for. It's a crazy world out there.

A great collection of stories and ideas about the modern thought process and failures to use it