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caslad60
New Member
United Kingdom
5 Posts |
 Posted - 09/04/2005 : 02:15:25
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hi guys, anyone recommend a suitable book for Critical thinking?
Howard
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 09/04/2005 : 02:32:48 [Permalink]
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Hi caslad60, and welcome to SFN!
Can't think of a title right offhand, I'm sure that there are many out there. Randi's site is a good place to study the topic.
To me, it simply boils down to: if it seems unlikely, it should be scrutinized carefully. If it sounds impossible, it most likely is.
And from Carl Sagan (paraphrased): "Extraodinary claims demand extraordinary, supporting evidence."
And mine own: By all means, do look the gift horse in the mouth; after all, you are the one who will have to feed it.
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist! 
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caslad60
New Member
United Kingdom
5 Posts |
Posted - 09/04/2005 : 03:04:54 [Permalink]
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Yes, Iam well acquainted with Randis site especially his unanswered challenge. I have read Carl Sagans "Demon haunted World". When I say critical thinking , I am aware of what that is , I suppose I'm really after a logical means/approach of winning arguments
Howard |
| Edited by - caslad60 on 09/04/2005 09:42:44 |
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Kil
Evil Skeptic
USA
13477 Posts |
Posted - 09/04/2005 : 11:29:09 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by caslad60
hi guys, anyone recommend a suitable book for Critical thinking?
I think this may help:
A Practical Guide to Critical Thinking
The material is all online and downloadable. Not a book perhaps but a lot of free valuable information.
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Uncertainty may make you uncomfortable. Certainty makes you ridiculous.
Why not question something for a change?
Genetic Literacy Project |
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BigPapaSmurf
SFN Die Hard
3192 Posts |
Posted - 09/06/2005 : 05:49:01 [Permalink]
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They dont have to be about critical thinking to be about critical thinking...
I suggest pretty much anything by Stephen Gould, Randi or Shermer. Of course all Crit Lit readers should start with A hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and Ishmael. As for Gould I'd start with Full House unless you like Evoscience in which case try Wonderful Life. Also the Skeptics Dictionary and Secret Origins of the Bible are indispensable. |
"...things I have neither seen nor experienced nor heard tell of from anybody else; things, what is more, that do not in fact exist and could not ever exist at all. So my readers must not believe a word I say." -Lucian on his book True History
"...They accept such things on faith alone, without any evidence. So if a fraudulent and cunning person who knows how to take advantage of a situation comes among them, he can make himself rich in a short time." -Lucian critical of early Christians c.166 AD From his book, De Morte Peregrini |
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marfknox
SFN Die Hard
USA
3739 Posts |
Posted - 09/07/2005 : 18:48:19 [Permalink]
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Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time
by Michael Shermer is excellent. I have not yet read his other book on the same general topic, How We Believe: Science, Skepticism, and the Search for God.
The Skeptic's Dictionary: A Collection of Strange Beliefs, Amusing Deceptions, and Dangerous Delusions by Robert Todd Carroll - also good.
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"Too much certainty and clarity could lead to cruel intolerance" -Karen Armstrong
Check out my art store: http://www.marfknox.etsy.com
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| Edited by - marfknox on 09/07/2005 18:48:56 |
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Dry_vby
Skeptic Friend
Australia
249 Posts |
Posted - 09/07/2005 : 19:08:34 [Permalink]
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My plug for Robert Anton Wilson again, particularly:
Prometheus rising
The cosmic trigger (1-3)
Right where you are sitting now.
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"I'll go along with the charade
Until I can think my way out.
I know it was all a big joke
Whatever it was about."
Bob Dylan
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