Compiled by Greg
Murrell
If you're trying to get a handle on critical
thinking--what it is and how to teach it--you'll find help in the following books and
articles, read and annotated by members of the CTAC team at Albuquerque TVI Community
College. You're invited to add your favorite books and articles
to this bibliography, too.
Barnet, Sylvan and Hugo
Bedau. Critical Thinking, Reading, and Writing: A Brief Guide to
Argument. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 1999.
Though clearly designed as a second-level English text, this book
could be useful across disciplines. After introductory chapters on
critical reading and critical writing that include numerous samples of
argumentative essays, Barnet and Bedau develop five cross-curricular views
in chapters 7-11 (views from a philosopher, a logician, a psychologist, a
lawyer, and a literary critic) that supply an unusual range of
perspectives. The "Casebooks" provide relevant, modern day
debates from at least two points of view. Twelve chapters, 462 pages.
Bierman, Authur K. and
Assali, Robin N. The Critical Thinking Handbook. New
Jersey:Prentice Hall, 1996. Focuses primarily on the use of language
and logic in Parts I and II. Part III is a discussion of reasoning about
concepts including language, definition, and coherence in conceptual
arguments. Part IV is a discussion of reasoning about values including
situational, distinguishing value concepts, personal evaluations, group
evaluations, moral evaluations, and incoherent evaluations. The inclusion
of Parts III and IV on concepts and values are an important addition in
this text. Seventeen chapters, 560 pages.
Browne, M. Neil and
Stuart M. Keeley. Asking the Right Questions: A Guide to Critical
Thinking. 5th Ed. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1998. A concise and
broadly applicable college-level guidebook, the first four editions of
Asking the Right Questions have been used in law, English, pharmacy,
philosophy, education, psychology, sociology, religion, and social science
courses. The fifth edition continues Browne and Keeley's development of
"an integrated series of question-asking skills that can be applied
widely" discussed in an informal style. This text can serve as a
central focus for courses in critical thinking as well as teacher training
courses, or as a useful adjunct to writing courses and courses that
require complex/controversial content readings. A running discussion of
capital punishment provides a sample argument threaded throughout the
chapters, along with various current issues included in the Practice
Exercises and Sample Responses at the end of each chapter. Caution Boxes
help students trouble-shoot common slips in critical thinking. Fourteen
chapters, 179 pages.
Chaffee, John. The
Thinker's Guide to College Success. 2nd Ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin
Company, 1999. A uniquely pragmatic book emphasizing "a
critical-thinking approach to student success both inside the classroom
and beyond, motivating students new to the college experience to use their
thinking abilities across the disciplines and in their personal
lives." This process-oriented, developmentally sequenced guide to
academic, career, and life success promotes Internet use, collaborative
work, and effective life skills. With complete chapters devoted to
"Learning to Learn," "Mastering Tests," "Reading
Critically," and "Writing Effectively," this text could
greatly help students (especially non-traditional students) to understand
and prepare for the college experience. Questions and discussions
concerning alcohol abuse, communication styles, creativity, date rape,
depression, diversity, friendships, the Internet, and worrying draw upon
numerous experts to aid students in applying CT principles to their
personal lives. The appendix listing "National Average Starting
Salaries" provides a much-needed economic perspective on career
choices.
Chaffee, John. Thinking
Critically. 4th Ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1994.
Uses selections from literature to make points about different aspects of
the processes of perception, organization of data, believing and knowing,
language, formation of concepts, inferring and judgement, argument
construction, and logical fallacies. Twelve chapters, 642 pages.
Ennis, Robert H. Critical
Thinking. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1996. Primarily a logic text
focusing on the relationship of arguments for decision-making. He
discusses the FRISCO approach to critical thinking in some detail and
gives a number of examples of its use. There are also a number of
discussions on argument construction. There are sections on the
credibility of sources, observation, deduction, experimentation,
generalization, and making value judgements. Fourteen chapters, 407 pages.
Epstein, Richard L. Critical
Thinking. New York: Wadsworth Publishing Company, 1999. Mainly a
logic text with an interesting approach. Uses cartoons and many concrete
examples to make points about statements and arguments. Includes sections
on the fundamentals of argument, the structure of arguments, avoiding bad
arguments, and reasoning about our experience. Also includes 17 writing
lessons throughout the text as guides for writing good arguments. Author
indicated that text could be used for a one semester course. Fifteen
chapters, 424 pages.
Epstein, Richard L. Instructor's
Manual for Critical Thinking. New York: Wadsworth Publishing Company,
1999. This is a comprehensive manual for the instructor teaching
critical thinking and using Epstein's text. For chapters 1-16 in the text
there are teaching suggestions, answers to exercises, sample exams and a
test bank. There are also 14 writing lessons and a number of projects and
extra credit assignments for the instructor's use. The manual also
contains a computer disk with test bank and other information about
writing and additional assignments.
Epstein, Richard L. The
Pocket Guide to Critical Thinking. New York: Wadsworth Publishing
Company, 2000. A condensed version of Epstein's Critical Thinking,
this pocket guide provides a brief, strong supplementary text for non-CT
classes that require skillful arguing and writing. Its 17 short (5-10 pp.)
chapters give a clear overview of basic argument construction and
analysis. Lacks the numerous examples, writing assignments, and supporting
test materials included in Critical Thinking, but could be quite
efficient as an adjunct to most courses' texts. 91 pages.
Epstein, Richard L. Workbook
for Critical Thinking. New York: Wadsworth Publishing Company, 1999.
This is a student workbook full of critical thinking exercises, writing
lessons, projects, and extra credit assignments prepared to cover all
information presented in the text. 372 pages.
Fearnside, W. Ward. About
Thinking. 2nd Ed. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1997. This
is an introductory logic text concerned with practical problems that might
be solved by the use of logic. It offers some rules for improving the
quality of thinking. It explains induction and deduction simply. Learning
to think is a focus of the text. This text also deals with practical
questions that have to be answered to evaluate arguments. Is this
generalization well supported? How do I evaluate this analogy? Can I
conclude that there is a causal relationship here? Is this statement by a
qualified authority? What should I look for in weighing evidence of this
type? What information should accompany these statistics? 381 pages.
Gelb, Michael J. How
to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci: Seven Steps to Genius
Everyday. New York: Delacorte Press, 1998. This book focuses on
learning to think like Leonardo de Vinci using a practical approach to to
learn and apply the essential elements of da Vinci's genius to our
day-to-day lives. The book is divided into three parts. Part One provides
a review of da Vinci"s life and times. In Part Two each section of
the text is devoted to one of the seven da Vincian principles for
developing genius. These include: curiosity, demonstration, sensation,
embracing ambiguity and uncertainty, whole-brain thinking, physical energy
and aptitude, and the interconnectedness of all things. Part Three
presents a basic drawing course based on the seven da Vincian principles.
This book has a great bibliography of resources for each of the seven
principles. 322 pages.
Hanford, George H. "A Reform Strategy That Is (Quietly) Working" in
Education Week on the Web http://edweek.org
Feb. 10, 1993. This brief but cogent article by a member of the National Council on Excellence in Critical
Thinking clearly explains how and why critical thinking approaches to education are working to reform education practices. Very useful historical
overview for newcomers to the topic.
Hastings, William M. How to Think About Social Problems: A Primer
for Citizens. New York: Oxford University Press, 1979. This book
provides an overview of the fundamentals necessary for the study of social
problems. The book takes a multidisciplinary approach to solving social
problems. The author describes it as a how-to-do-it book that attempts to
guide the reader in the study of social problems. The author describes the
characteristics of serious thinking and how seriously thinking about
social problems will help us develop a better understanding of the nature
of social problems and different means of resolving them. There are nine
chapters in this book. 251 pages.
Heidegger, Martin. What is Called Thinking? Translated by Fred
D. Wieck and J. Glenn Gray. New York: Harper Torchbooks, 1968. This
book is a course of 21 university lectures that Heidegger delivered to
students during the winter and summer semesters of 1951 and 1952 at the
University of Freiburg. For Heidegger thinking is a response on our part
to a call which issues from the nature of things, from Being itself. To be
able to think does not wholly depend on our will and wish, though much
does depend on whether we prepare ourselves to hear that call to think
when it comes and respond to it in the appropriate manner. Thinking is
determined by that which is to be thought as well as by him who thinks. It
involves not only man's receptivity to Being but also Being's receptivity
to man. There are 21 lectures. 252 pages.
March, Robert H. Physics for Poets. 4th ed. McGraw Hill, 1995.
As the title suggests, the poet (affective, subjective, language-oriented being
that he is) and the physicist (rational, objective, number-oriented) may
operate in quite different realms of intelligence--may not. March seeks to
engage the non-scientist (whether he's a poet or a candlestick maker) in the
principles of physics. The book insists on transformational reasoning and
adaptable intelligence. It's got physics problems, and requires some
algebraic abilities, but it's a fine example of teaching strategies native to
non-scientific intellectual pursuits applied to the teaching of science.
Moore, Brooke Noel and
Parker, Richard. Critical Thinking. 4th Ed. Mountainview,
CA: Mayfield Publishing Company, 1995. This is an introductory text on
critical thinking. According to the authors, the process of critical
thinking encompasses a variety of deliberative processes aimed at making
wise decisions about what to believe and do, processes that include more
than just evaluation of arguments. They also suggest that the best way to
teach critical thinking is to integrate logic, both formal and informal,
with a variety of skills and topics useful in making sound decisions about
claims, actions, and practices - and to make it palatable by presenting it
in real-life contexts. There are 13 chapters with exercises covering
issues related to critical thinking and logic. 544 pages.
Paul, Richard. Critical
Thinking: What Every Person Needs to Survive In a Rapidly Changing World.
Foundation for Critical Thinking, 1993. This book starts out with the
author stating that it has been written with the express purpose of
persuading educators and others concerned with education of the need to
place critical thinking at the heart of educational reform. The book
includes a number of different papers written at different times for
different purposes that the author suggests reflects the breath with which
critical thinking ought to be conceived. The author also suggests that
critical thinking is an important tool for supporting the personal, social
and professional demands of the 21st century. Paul provides a
good general understanding of what critical thinking is and methods for
improving our thinking. There are 23 papers presented in this book along
with appendices. 505 pages.
Postman, Neil. The End of Education. New York: Vintage Books, 1996.
This text is an exercise in critical thinking, asking educators, administrators,
and parents to consider the end, i.e. the purpose, of education. He notes that
we frequently discuss the means of education (computer-assisted? bilingual?
etc.) but almost never discuss the more important question of its ends. Postman asks us to think critically about why we value education,
and models critical thinking by asking and attempting to answer questions such
as "What kind of public does public education create?" "What gods are served by current educational models?" and "Which gods have failed and
which have served us as a nation?" He writes: "Schooling can be about how
to make a life, which is quite different from how to make a living. Such an
enterprise is not easy to pursue, since our politicians rarely speak of it, our
technology is indifferent to it, and our commerce despises it." (x)
Nevertheless, Postman insists that such an enterprise must be pursued in order to reinvigorate our civic and cultural lives.
Romain, Dianne.
Thinking Things Through: Critical Thinking for Decisions You Can Live With.
London: Mayfield Publishing Company, 1997. The focus of this text is
to help students to make decisions that they can live with. The first two
chapters discuss the relationship of emotions to good decision making. The
remaining chapters look at argument, definition, and language and how
these three are used to make decisions we can live with. The text contains
ten chapters along with a number of exercises in each chapter. 376 pages.
Ruggiero, Vincent Ryan. Becoming a Critical Thinker. 3rd Ed. Boston:
Houghton Mifflin Company, 1999. Very useful workbook that blends theory with practice grounded in current
events and real world exercise samples. Six chapters: Mastering the Fundamentals, Becoming an Individual, Evaluating Longer Arguments,
Recognizing Errors in Thinking, Applying Critical Thinking, and Expressing
Ideas Persuasively, each with numerous examples, student exercises, and a chapter quiz. Includes brief but strong bibliography and index. Short enough
to serve as a useful adjunct text, yet rigorous enough to build a course around the exercises. Particularly helpful for analytical/argumentative writing
instruction. 136 pages (8 1/2 X 11).
Soccio, D.J. and Barry, V.E. Practical Logic: An Antidote for
Uncritical Thinking. 5th Ed. New York: Harcourt Brace
College Publishers, 1998. This is primarily an introductory logic text
which attempts to focus on the science of logic while also stressing
critical thinking or the art of logic. Much of this looks very much like a
standard logic text, however Part Two include material on thinking
critically about arguments in the public and private dimensions, the
careless use of language, and inattention to subject matter. The text
contains 16 chapters with an appendix on venn diagrams. 505 pages.
Waller, Bruce N. Critical
Thinking: Consider the Verdict. 2nd Ed. Englewood Cliffs,
New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1998. The focus of this text is on jury
deliberation while emphasizing critical reasoning in everyday life. Many
of the examples relate to courtroom reasoning. Three issues mentioned in
the first chapter are play fair, seating a jury, and impartial critical
thinking. This text includes a number of chapters on inductive logic and
logical fallacies, deductive logic, and a number of chapters related to
courtroom procedures. Some of the topics covered are the burden of proof;
the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth; and consider your
verdict: comprehensive critical thinking in the jury room. There are 16
chapters and a number of exercises and case studies in each chapter. 387
pages.
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Add your favorite book or article on the subject of critical thinking and
how to teach it.
