Books for a Critical Thinking course?

[Jeff Corey]

College level Critical Thinking course with Psych 1 prerequisite.
I ordered Shermer's "...Weird Things" , but I would welcome some suggestions.
I wish Gilovich would revise "How We Know What Isn't So."

[prewitt81]

Most syllabi I have seen have paired Dr. Shermer's book with Sagan's The Demon Haunted World.

[Beady]

Try this (http://www.skeptic.com/prods/pdetail/1075.html). A good, quick synopsis of the field of critical thinking. It's free with any other purchase. Contents include Sagan's 10 Tools for Baloney Detection; Shermer's 10 Questions for Baloney Detection; How Thinking Goes Wrong, the 25 Fallices of Thought; 8 Sample Syllabi, How to Teach a Course in Science & Pseudoscience; Most Recommended Skeptical Books; A Skeptical Manifesto.

If you go up a level or two, you'll be at the complete book catalog.

[dann]

This book is the best of them all in my opinion - in particular for a college level course:
The Psychology of the Psychic by David Marks, Ph.D. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1573927988/qid=1117528142/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/103-1833782-8772644
Its explanations are very thorough, it goes into detail (including illustrations) when explaining some of Geller's tricks, and it has a very good appendix about population stereotypes and ESP.

[Darat]

Originally posted by Jeff Corey
College level Critical Thinking course with Psych 1 prerequisite.
I ordered Shermer's "...Weird Things" , but I would welcome some suggestions.
I wish Gilovich would revise "How We Know What Isn't So."

I suggest a great little book called "Arguing Well" by John Shand.

"A lucid introduction to the nature of good reasoning and how to test and construct good arguments. It assumes no prior knowledge of logic or philosophy. The book includes an accessible introduction to basic symbolic logic."

(Edited to add.)

It's even available in a digital format for just under $5 (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/b0000e693d/ref=dp_proddesc_1/104-8200319-5323913?%5Fencoding=UTF8&n=507846&v=glance)

[athon]

Hoaxes, Myths and Manias by Robert Bartholomew and Benjamin Radford is pretty good material. It has case studies covering various examples of mass hysteria, cultural delusions and panics, and has questions at the back of each chapter which makes it useful as a course book. It would perfectly suit a university-level psych class.

Athon

[Jeff Corey]

Thanks to all. Prewitt81, I used that combo last time I taught this, but I need some more current stuff.
And xeroxing articles from SI is marginally ethical.
What would be great would be a collection of SI articles that were germane to scientific psychology.

[RayG]

The top three:


Pseudoscience and the Paranormal by Terence Hines
The Demon-Haunted World by Carl Sagan, Ann Druyan
How to Think About Weird Things by Theodore Schick, Lewis Vaughn

All excellent.

RayG

[Moon-Spinner]

I'll tell Tom Gilovich that his fans are waiting for an update or a follow-up to his book. I see him occasionally (since we work in the same building), and I like to remind him that there actually are people out there who have read his book (and he is a subscriber to the "Skeptical Inquirer", which I have been known to borrow).

[Jeff Corey]

I used Gilovich's book as a text in Critical Thinking about 10 years ago. His book introduced me to the Wason Card Problem (as seen at TAM1).