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Reviews of
Sherry Diestler
Becoming a Critical Thinker:
A User-Friendly Manual
Macmillan, 1994
Diestler's book, which seems designed to be used in a critical
thinking/speech class, covers several areas. The first three chapters
concentrate on the student's own decision making, including examining
personal values and reality assumptions. The next section reviews the use
of evidence, particularly in scientific studies. There is a rather long
chapter on fallacious reasoning, and then the book concludes with
chapters on language, persuasion and the media.
The organization is a bit strange, but there is no problem with using the
chapters out of order. Its greatest value is in beginning with the focus
on the student. They find this appealing, and it draws them into the
course very successfully. The exercises are also carefully designed to
appeal to students, and there is a wide variety of appealing topics from
which to choose.
It is weakest in those sections dealing with rhetoric and logic; its
discussion of fallacies is sketchy and spread over two or three different
chapters. The section on statistics is almost solely limited to their
use in scientific studies. The book makes use of graphics and special
sections like "reminder," which some might find helpful, but which I
found distracting.
San Jose State University
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