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Tracy Bowell
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Critical Thinking: A Concise Guide Paperback – 5 November 2014

by Tracy Bowell (Author), Gary Kemp (Author)
3.6 out of 5 stars 24
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Critical Thinking: A Concise Guide
Critical Thinking: A Concise Guide
$61.55
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Critical Thinking: A Concise Guide is a much-needed guide to argument analysis and a clear introduction to thinking clearly and rationally for oneself. Through precise and accessible discussion this book equips students with the essential skills required to tell a good argument from a bad one.

Key features of the book are:

    • clear, jargon-free discussion of key concepts in argumentation
    • how to avoid common confusions surrounding words such as ‘truth’, ‘knowledge’ and ‘opinion’
    • how to identify and evaluate the most common types of argument
    • how to spot fallacies in arguments and tell good reasoning from bad
    • chapter summaries, glossaries and useful exercises.

    This third edition has been revised and updated throughout, with new exercises, and up-to-date topical examples, including: ‘real-world’ arguments; practical reasoning; understanding quantitative data, statistics, and the rhetoric used about them; scientific reasoning; and expanded discussion of conditionals, ambiguity, vagueness, slippery slope arguments, and arguments by analogy.

    The Routledge Critical Thinking companion website, features a wealth of further resources, including examples and case studies, sample questions, practice questions and answers, and student activities.

    Critical Thinking: A Concise Guide is essential reading for anyone, student or professional, at work or in the classroom, seeking to improve their reasoning and arguing skills.

    Previous page
    1. Print length
      304 pages
    2. Language
      English
    3. Publisher
      Routledge
    4. Publication date
      5 November 2014
    5. Dimensions
      17.78 x 1.91 x 24.77 cm
    6. ISBN-10
      0415471834
    7. ISBN-13
      978-0415471831
    8. See all details
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    Product description

    Review

    Reviews of earlier editions:



    'This concise guide offers relevant, rigorous and approachable methods…The authors focus on analysing and assessing arguments in a thoughtfully structured series of chapters, with clear definitions, a glossary, plenty of examples and some useful exercises.'

    Will Ord, Times Educational Supplement

    ‘In my view this book is the most useful textbook on the market for its stated audience. It provides exceptionally clear explanations, with sufficient technical detail, but without over-complication. It is my first-choice text for teaching critical thinking to first-year undergraduate students.’

    Dawn Phillips, University of Southampton

    ‘…written with actual undergraduates, and the standard mistakes and confusions that they tend to be subject to, clearly borne in mind…’

    Helen Beebee, University of Manchester

    'This is the best single text I have seen for addressing the level, presumptions, and interests of the non-specialist.'

    Charles Ess, Drury University

    About the Author

    Tracy Bowell is Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Waikato, New Zealand. Gary Kemp is Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Glasgow, UK.

    Product details

    • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Routledge; 3rd edition (5 November 2014)
    • Language ‏ : ‎ English
    • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
    • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0415471834
    • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0415471831
    • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 17.78 x 1.91 x 24.77 cm
    • Customer Reviews:
      3.6 out of 5 stars 24

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    Tracy Bowell

    Tracy Bowell

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    3.6 out of 5
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    Amazon Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars Increase your analytical mind and solve complex problems
    Reviewed in the United States on 28 June 2018
    Verified Purchase
    Recommendation from my professor, its a great book, the included tests are challenging
    Report
    Gordy Mckellar
    5.0 out of 5 stars Sets a solid foundation everyone should have
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 20 June 2015
    Verified Purchase
    One of the first books I ever bought in undergraduate philosohy; so good, and so useful to navigating the incessant drivel and double-speak that characterise today's society, that I would recommend this to everyone, including those finishing high school.
    Yes, this is a foundation level book; but without this foundation, or one like it, you will struggle. So good I'm buying again for Kindle!
    2 people found this helpful
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    Cole
    3.0 out of 5 stars very informative, but oh god is it dull to read
    Reviewed in the United States on 10 December 2013
    Verified Purchase
    I learned a lot and it. Helped a ton with my class, but god this book is boring. Forcing myself to read it was awful. Oh well, it is a textbook and I got a B in the class so it did its job!
    3 people found this helpful
     Report
    nevaduh
    3.0 out of 5 stars Good for UGrad, bad for PGrad.
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 10 December 2012
    Verified Purchase
    I was required to purchase this book for a Masters level research design course. While the book is useful in explaining important concepts of critical thinking and analysis, it does so in a very, very basic way. It is equatable to something you would learn in a 100-level undergraduate critical thinking course.

    If you are an undergraduate student, this book is definitely oriented to you, so it might be the right one for you. I am not in a position to necessarily recommend it to an undergrad, but certainly consider it.

    If you are a post-graduate student, steer clear. This is not the critical thinking book for you. There are much better books geared toward post-graduate study.
    9 people found this helpful
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    Michelle
    1.0 out of 5 stars Horrible required text
    Reviewed in the United States on 1 December 2014
    Verified Purchase
    I'm glad I did the book rental for this text because I want nothing to do with it now that my course is over. It is so difficult to focus while reading this book. I don't feel like the author is writing for 101 students. It was so hard to grasp the concepts being explained. There were even times that my professor said to disregard certain parts of the text because the author did such a bad job of explaining. Also, FYI the author is British so some of the spellings will be strange.
    One person found this helpful
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