Crimes Against Logic: Exposing the Bogus Arguments of Politicians, Priests, Journalists, and Other Serial Offenders

As extremist ideology divides an otherwise intelligent population into opposing “Teams” it even more important for people to take the time to rationally decode and filter the Signal from the Noise.I remember this book as being required reading in Philosophy 101 or some such university program. Sadly this book is now out of print with no indication that there are any plans to reprint it.

Expone de manera bastante entretenida las falacias e ilusionismo retórico usados por quienes pretenden persuadirnos de algo falso o contra nuestros intereses.

Senza voler mancare di rispetto all'autore che è un rispettabilissimo professore di filosofia, catalogarei questo testo nella categoria "pippe mentali", nel senso che alla fine della lettura non mi pare di aver ottenuto degli strumenti concreti per migliorare la mia capacità analitica. Le linee guida che propone l'autore sono estremamente soggettive e contestabili. Unico pregio magari è lo stimolo ad una riflessione sui meccanismi mentali che utilizziamo per accettare o meno le posizioni altrui.

Angry rant. Quality of a blog. Wish I did not buy or read.Better off with a google search. No obvious demonstration of research or expertise but author just gives his opinions regardless.

Although I don't exclude the unseen per se, I'd say I'm a rather rational-thinking person. So the title of this book lured me into buying it. Of course I succumbed and did exactly that. Luckily, it didn't disappoint me.The author sees it as his mission to expose the multitude of logical fallacies we're confronted with, and even committing ourselves, on a daily basis. He's convinced that in the daily battle for our hearts and minds, the truth is very often the first casualty. Killed by, among others, statistics, weasel words and prejudices. Therefore he uses his ultra-rationalism to systematically analyze typical statements, slogans or beliefs and then, after having proven they've been built on sand, or even outright lies, invalidates them.And the range of subjects he's confronting is vast: politicians, talk-radio hosts, op-ed columnists, advertisers, self-help gurus, business thinkers, priests, etc. He's not primarily judging the moral value of their opinions, he's just dissecting them to see if they hold up at all or if they're just hot air.The book is fast-paced, very funny and extremely enlightening . Though at times the author might seem slightly arrogant and a bit too over-confident, especially when reasoning about God's existence (something which in itself can't be proven or disproven). But usually he is right on!