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Quick Looks Thinking Books

Consilience —Edmund O. Wilson

Unity Schmunity. Tell me if you think something is missing from this formula: Chemical A + Chemical B = Vote for Mr. Smith. This work is a serious enemy of already abysmal levels of thorough reasoning and explanatory power. It will no doubt be popular with one-stop intellects, the sorts of folks who read a book on zen physics and are instantly self-impressed with how they understand everything in the universe, not to mention the reductionistic hordes. Not recommended.

The New Word 'Po' —Edward de Bono

As in po-lease skip this book. The author is not to be confused with Snoop Doggy de Bono or J. Lo de Bono.

The Power of Logical Thinking: Easy Lessons in the Art of Reasoning… and Hard Facts About Its Absence in Our Lives by Marilyn Vos Savant

208p (H)

Looks like a power shortage. Where’s the logic? Mostly letters from readers and the author’s responses.

The small section devoted to fallacies is easy to understand but nowhere near adequate. Power resembles books that are thrown together to meet a deadline, shallow Sunday supplement logic. Easy and grossly incomplete. Bad fallacy organization and explanations. Bad fallacy omissions. Bad overall organization. Bad problem selection. Bad reasoning. Bad moral value. Bad pragmatic value. Bad. Bad. Bad. Not recommended. One interesting tidbit: In 1948, 95 percent of the population gave the government info the government asked for. By 1985, 72 percent did.

Why People Believe Weird Things by Michael Shermer

This is a jeremiad and catalogue of human wrongs. There's not much factually wrong with this book, but it doesn't have much pragmatic value. It's a couple hundred pages of obvious human vice and ignorance. The lessons on reasoning logic are inadequate. Not worth the bother.

Parallel Thinking: From Socratic to de Bono Thinking—Edward De Bono

I'm not making up the title of this book. If experts on creativity are legitimate experts on creativity how come they write in boring, uncreative, laborious prose? You do not learn to be creative by drawing lines through dots in some book on creativity. If you want to be creative in some field, you get close to the best performers in the discipline. You learn the rules of the discipline. You learn when it is good to ignore the rules. You practice the discipline. You do not let fleeting success, failures or irrelevant factors distract you. Awful, egregious rot.

Goodbye, Descartes —Keith Devlin

The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark —Carl Sagan

134pp. 1997

Looks like a free writing exercise from a research pile. Not recommended.

Studies Show: A Popular Guide to Understanding Scientific Studies by John H. Fennick

The Flight from Science and Reason —ed. Paul R. Gross and others

Collection of academic essays. Some engrossing, some as exciting as eating chalk. Life's too short for this.

Dumbth! by Steve Allen

This is among the most thoughtful things to come out of Hollywood. That doesn’t make it any better. This is a bunch of middle-of-the-road banalities and platitudes that won't help much other than the self-esteem of anyone who thinks this makes them better. Dumpth!

Teaching Reasoning Skills in Schools and Homes: A Gamebook of Methods —Phyllis F. Goodman and David S. Goodman

81pp. (M) 1991

Hate the sin and praise the sinner is a bad idea. If a person unrelentingly does vile things, she is not good and one should not describe him as good. She may have the potential for good, but that doesn't make her good. The person and the actions are both bad. Not recommended.

How to Argue and Win Every Time by Gerry Spence

The target audiences for this book are those individuals who think their lives are spinning out of control and are desperate for more control. Hint: This isn’t the place to look for improved control. Winning through intimidation only works when you already have lots of power.

Think Like a Genius —Todd Siler

Genius step number one: Don't waste a cent on this book.

A Whack on the Side of the Head: How to Unlock Your Mind for Innovation by Roger Von Oech

141p (M) 1983

Don't give me any ideas.

How We Know What Isn’t So: The Fallibility of Human Reason in Everyday Life by Thomas Gilovich

216p (H) 1991

Not oriented toward everyday reasoning. Other books cover these topics more concisely. Not a bad book but not worth the bother.

A Kick in the Seat of the Pants by Roger Von Oech

“Roger Von Oech has won a loyal following around the country.”—Business Week. No comment.

153p 1986

Fuzzy Logic —Bart Kosko

Talk about taking a few principles and misapplying them to excess. "Wonderful. Kosko is the logical successor to Rene Descartes."—San Francisco Chronicle. Or to put it more fuzzily: Dagwood Bumstead. Not recommended.

Use Your Head: How to Develop the other 80% of Your Brain —Stuart B. Litvak

1982 (H)

Or was it 70 or 90 percent? Or perhaps 84.98 percent? Where's that whack on the side of the head when you really need it? Argues that a verbal paradox “clearly exposes the impotence of logical reasoning.” False cause claims and demands for impossible perfection and abound. Much of this book makes claims similar to this form: If no one ate, there would be no children with leukemia, no pollution, no crime, no wars, no anything bad. But then, there would be nothing good, either. Use your head. Don't buy this book.

—J.T. Fournier

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