In
fact, I think you should read it and refer to it often. You may say, “but I
don’t get into arguments”. If you said that, then you definitely should read
this book. This isn’t about fighting, this is about communication. This is
about persuasion, and about recognizing errors in logic when people are trying
to persuade you. The book gives you a very basic overview of logic and
argumentation, a great introduction to a wider and deeper world. If you are at all interested in apologetics, this would be a nice book to grab. Coming in at only 90 pages, you are not going to be overwhelmed. I regularly refer back to it to to check myself and others.
If
I were the king of the internet, I would make it a requirement to read this
book before posting a comment. Once upon a time, when I and the internet were
still young, I spoke harshly and committed many a logical fallacy in many a
comment sections. After reading this book, a soliloquy ensued. “If only I could
have known!” as I rested a regretful head on keyboard calloused hands. Rising
from my office chair in resolute determination I said “If others knew that the
clever comebacks and quips they so often hear from the pulpit and news sites
are logical fallacies and are not helping the cause but in the long run,
hurting the cause, they can avoid the mistakes I have made!”
In all seriousness, this is a really
good book to at least get you familiar with the concepts of logic and to
recognize when you are not thinking clearly about a topic. It might ruin cable
news for you, since political talk is a lesson in fallacy, but I’ll chalk that
up as another reason to go and get this book. This is NOT a Christian book,
written from a Christian perspective, so you’ll need to be discerning. However,
all truth is God’s truth and logic helps you to see, hear, understand truth,
and defend truth. If we are going to defend truth, we need to defend the truth
in a truthful way. I’m not the only one. If nothing else, you'll learn some cool Latin phrases.
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