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Nonsense: Red Herrings, Straw Men and Sacred Cows: How We Abuse Logic in Our Everyday Language |
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| Author: Robert J. Gula Published: 2002-04-25 |
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List price: $12.00 Our price: $9.60 |
Usually ships in 24 hours As of: December 01st, 2008 01:55:36 PM |
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Customer comments on this selection. True SenseI used to debate in college and recollect many a common place logical fallacy; although, in the course of the last year I have found myself going online more and more in order to reread the various forms in which "nonsense" takes in the public square. This caused me to pick up three non-textbook works on the subject last week. Even though the late Mr. Gula's book has a non-scholarly title it is very erudite endeavor. He dissects every form of diversion, confusion of cause and effect, oversimplication, ambiguity, and erroneous comparisons and contrasts in these pages. Specific terms are placed in bold print and allow readers to adjust and intensify their concentration accordingly. Further, he makes use of everyday, non-mathematical language which can be easily understood by laymen. I found it an enjoyable read and this is one of those rare works I will use as a reference. It was written in 1979 and some of the examples, as so many of them are political, are rather dated but one still has no difficulty grasping their meaning. I wish more people were familiar with logic...it would make the world a far better place. Clear, Concise, and Focused.I used to debate in college and recollect many a common place logical fallacy; although, in the course of the last year I have found myself going online more and more in order to reread the various forms in which "nonsense" takes in the public square. This caused me to pick up three non-textbook works on the subject last week. Even though the late Mr. Gula's book has a non-scholarly title it is very erudite endeavor. He dissects every form of diversion, confusion of cause and effect, oversimplication, ambiguity, and erroneous comparisons and contrasts in these pages. Specific terms are placed in bold print and allow readers to adjust and intensify their concentration accordingly. Further, he makes use of everyday, non-mathematical language which can be easily understood by laymen. I found it an enjoyable read and this is one of those rare works I will use as a reference. It was written in 1979 and some of the examples, as so many of them are political, are rather dated but one still has no difficulty grasping their meaning. I wish more people were familiar with logic...it would make the world a far better place. Learn to spot nonsenseWhat Strunk & White did for grammar with their Elements of Style, Gula does for verbal logic. Nonsense is straight forward and easy to understand. No longer will you fall prey to verbal logical fallacies used by politicians, advertisers, news reports, and others who may try to persuade you with their nonsense.  LogicNice, high school level review of the many logical fallacies one runs across in todays newspapers, TV, etc.  mostly good, but runs out of steam near the endThe first 2/3 of this book is a good listing of logical fallacies. Although Gula's discussion may mostly be common sense, I haven't ever quite seen such a comprehensive list of errors before. Near the end, this little book runs out of steam: the last few chapters are hard to follow, and Gula occasionally oversimplifies by failing to explain exactly why. |
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