The Fallacy Detective

The Fallacy Detective

By Nathaniel Bluedorn and Hans Bluedorn

• Educational/Homeschool
• My rating is 5 out of 5 stars
• ISBN: 978-0-9745315-3-3

                 In this great logic book, which is part of the same series of books as "The Thinking Toolbox", we are learning now how to recognize bad reasoning.

                 The basic set up of the book is similar to "The Thinking Toolbox" in that  you have the separate lessons which have the explanation, examples and exercises.  The difference is in the theme of the book.  "The Fallacy Detective" starts out with teaching us to listen. (every mom is cheering now!)

Sometimes we aren't good at the basic listening skills needed in life, and we miss out on the whole story. This section shows us ways to listen and why it's important to listen. We have to use our minds in order to catch the bad reasoning. A Fallacy means when you find an error in your logic. To find the bad reasoning we have to use our minds and be able to notice when things don't make sense.

                  In this book we cover how to handle things such as avoiding the question where we learn about red herrings. We learn what happens when we make assumptions, some statistical fallacies and finally propaganda.

                   The explanations of each of these are carefully laid out in specific sections which allows us to understand what is being explained. What I find especially fun in this book is the Detective game at the end of the book. You are able to apply what you have been learning about and use it in finding the fallacies in a fun way. It's a wonderful way to engage the students. I would check out this book for sure!

Disclosure: I received a paperback copy of the book in order to do the review. All opinions are honest and my own.

The Thinking Toolbox

The Thinking Toolbox

By Nathaniel Bluedorn and Hans Bluedorn

• Educational/ Homeschool
• my rating is 5 out of 5 stars
• ISBN : 978-0-9745315-1-9

                    As a homeschool mom myself, I really was excited about getting my hands on a good logic book. Logic is an important aspect of learning and the more engaging the book is, the more interest the kids will have.

                     The first thing I noticed was how friendly the book appears. It has a colorful cover with fun pictures that just invites you to look more. I know for a lot of kids, that's the first step to sparking an interest in a book of any kind.  When I noticed that it was written with a Christian viewpoint, as a mom I was very interested. I liked to see some of the examples linked to Bible verses or situations.

                      In looking through this book, I was not disappointed. The lessons are separated into sections which discuss different reasoning skills. You move from learning about the Tools for Thinking, to the Opposing Viewpoints and finally the Tools of Science. Each section is broken down into lessons that focus on one area of logic. You are given an explaination of the topic which include examples and any stories that might follow along. Then you are given some "do it yourself" exercises to solidify your understanding of what you've learned. The lessons are well thought out and explained. They contain useful examples and great exercises.

                       My favorite lessons were those that transformed the lesson into a mystery to solve. These really allowed the reader to grasp the concepts in a new and entertaining way.

                        At the back of the book there is a section dedicated to projects and games to use outside the book, that encourages more active thinking. There is also an answer key for all the exercises in the book.

                        I really think the authors were great at incorporating the material into a fun book. I recommend this book to any family who wants to encourage logical thinking.

                   
Disclosure: I received a paperback copy of this book in order to do the review. All opinions are honest and my own.