Good Thinking: Why Flawed Logic Puts Us All at Risk and How Critical Thinking Can Save the World

Good Thinking is our best defense against anti-vaccine paranoia, climate denial, and other dire threats of today In a world where cries of "fake news" and mistrust of experts often hold sway, we can be misled all too easily. Consider: Wi-Fi is radiation. Some cancers are caused by radiation. Thus, Wi-Fi causes cancer. Sound convincing? In Good Thinking, David Robert Grimes helps us identify seductive and destructive bad logic. Take the "fallacy of the undistributed middle" The ancient Greek philosophers are dead. Jimi Hendrix is dead. Thus, Jimi Hendrix was a Greek philosopher. In closing such logical loopholes, Grimes dismantles dangerous conspiracy theories and common misconceptions. (Wi-Fi does not cause cancer, and Hendrix did not jam with Socrates.) Packed with fascinating characters--from a murderous pope to a superstitious pigeon--Good Thinking can help us fight willful ignorance and plain old irrationality in all its forms.