Critical Thinking

This primer on critical thinking expertly introduces reasoning, argumentation, rhetoric, and bias, and how understanding those concepts can make us better readers, researchers, and writers. Chatfield chooses just the right combination of formal writing and casual address, creating the feeling that readers are learning from a trusted, witty friend.

Tom Chatfield’s Critical Thinking contains sensible, grounded examples, and illustrations...serving as a useful primer to the subject. This is a book happy to be written on, queried and argued with. The exercises sprinkled throughout are well judged and encourage a deep reading. The consistency of tone and design make it an impressive achievement, bringing light and clarity to an area which can present as murky and vague. I recommend it strongly. It will certainly be a useful addition to the teaching materials my school already uses, but its appeal goes well beyond classroom walls due to its breadth, depth and the clarity of its outlook...I would be very happy to see students and colleagues alike walking around campus with dog-eared, annotated and bookmarked copies of Critical Thinking.

I can’t stress enough what an excellent addition this is to a rather - what I thought, anyway – saturated market. Well done to all involved! It’s a very comprehensive text, and one which I’d happily recommend to staff and students alike. I’ll certainly be drawing inspiration from it when building class resources in future.

Some people are naturally gifted critical thinkers (and, if you’re a researcher, it’s pretty hard to advance without some skill in that area) but for those who need to rethink their thinking or want a crash course in how to develop and hone their analysis skills, Tom Chatfield’s new book is well worth picking up… The engaging workbook-style layout helps keep the information being imparted consistently interesting and fun to absorb.

I was pleasantly surprised to discover how accessible and engaging this book is. Some other texts on the topic can be daunting and challenging to read, with concepts not always being easy to grasp. However, the subject is presented in a user friendly way.

Tom Chatfield’s Critical Thinking is probably the most essential book I’ve ever read. Not because it offers groundbreaking insights, but because it makes you stop and think, in a world whose pace is ever-increasing. If you’re new to academia, the book prepares you for the challenges of evaluating established theories and forming cohesive, convincing ...

Dr Tom Chatfield is a British author, independent scholar and philosopher of technology. His textbooks for SAGE publishing include Critical Thinking, How To Think and Think Critically. Hes also the author of half a dozen non-fiction books exploring digital culture, published in over thirty territories and languages; of an award-winning thriller, This Is Gomorrah (Hodder); and of books and educational resources for audiences ranging from K12 to graduate and business schools. Tom took his doctorate at St Johns College, Oxford, and is a former Associate at the Oxford Internet Institute, guest faculty member at the Said Business School, and senior Associate at the interdisciplinary think-tank Perspectiva. A TED Global speaker, Non Executive Director and Advisor at a number of not-for-profits, he writes and broadcasts internationally on technology, ethics and education.

What is critical thinking (and why does it matter?)? PART ONE: THE ART AND SCIENCE OF BEING REASONABLE Chapter 1: Understanding the reasons behind things Chapter 2: Spelling out arguments and assumptions Chapter 3: Reasoning with logic and certainty Chapter 4: Reasoning with observation and uncertainty Chapter 5: Developing explanations and theories Chapter 6: Assessing evidence and planning your reading strategy PART TWO: BEING REASONABLE IN AN UNREASONABLE WORLD Chapter 7: Getting to grips with rhetoric Chapter 8: Seeing through faulty reasoning Chapter 9: Understanding cognitive bias Chapter 10: Overcoming bias in yourself and others Chapter 11: Thinking critically about technology Chapter 12: Putting it all together: critical thinking in study, work and life