The Fallacy Detective: Thirty-Six Lessons on How to Recognize Bad Reasoning

by Nathaniel and Hans Bluedorn

What is a fallacy?  A fallacy is an error in logic – a place where someone has made a mistake in his thinking. 

These are fallacies:

• “A cloud is 90% water. A watermelon is 90% water. Therefore, since a plane can fly through a cloud, a plane can fly through a watermelon.
• "This new book, The Fallacy Detective, must do a good job teaching logic.  It has been on the bestseller list for months.

”Fun to use – not dry like a math textbook.   Self-teaching – not intimidating, starts students with skills they can use right away.   Each lesson has exercises for students, with an answer key at the back.  Covers logical fallacies and propaganda techniques.  The most common fallacies and propaganda techniques are divided into thirty-six lessons.  Learn how you can spot fallacies, and learn exercises to stretch your abilities for detecting fallacies.

Geared for ages thirteen and older – The publisher suggests using The Fallacy Detective before advancing onto more difficult logic programs.  Includes The Fallacy Detective Game, giving you and your friends an entertaining way to spot and make up your own examples of fallacies.  The Fallacy Detective was a finalist in ForeWord Magazine's 2003 Book of the Year Awards in the Philosophy category.  Second Edition · Softcover · 233 pages.