About the Book
How to spot misinformation, logical fallacies, and bad science-even if you were never taught critical thinking skills.
The invention and widespread use of computers, and especially the proliferation of the Internet, brought us into a time when ordinary people have immediate access to more information than professors, librarians, and heads of state had access to only a short time ago. This is empowering, but it is also dangerous-the Information Age is also the Misinformation and Disinformation Age, and it is easier to find bad information on the Internet than good. Add to that the entities that have been popping up seemingly with the express purpose of disseminating fake news and the recent invention of deep fakes that are becoming harder and harder to detect, and the need for critical thinking, which provides a toolkit for spotting bunk, becomes more and more vital.
This book is that toolkit.
DEBUNK explains critical thinking from multiple angles, including principles of logic & logical fallacies, types of causes & effects, and axioms of science & the scientific method, and provides resources for debunking misinformation, disinformation, fake news & deepfakes.
How do I know? I'm Sam McCollough, and I have been thinking about these problems since I first read a Wall St. Journal article in 1995 entitled "The Flight From Science & Reason." I have been a software trainer, teaching adults and writing & designing instructional materials, for over 30 years.
From BookLife review: "This is a timely book, much needed in this era of disinformation," "McCollough... provides clear, practical guidance on how to avoid the 'pitfalls' that even intelligent people can fall for, especially online" and "a champion of the scientific method and principled debunking of misinformation."
In this book, you'll learn about:
- The Social Brain Theory
- Differentiating between good current science, outdated science, and pseudoscience
- How we all do science all the time without even thinking about or realizing it
- The doctor who swallowed H. pylori to prove that stress doesn't cause ulcers
- The likelihood of veracity of numerous conspiracy theories
- And much more
- Bonus: An appendix of types of logical fallacies, with examples
Buy this book now to arm yourself against disinformation & fake news. Pick up your copy today.
About the Author :
Sam started his journey of understanding the world as it is in the late 1970s when he first read Carl Sagan's The Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence. He earned his Bachelors of English with a minor in History cum laude from the University of Maryland University College (now University of Maryland Global Campus) in 1992. Sam has spent the past 30+ years educating himself with countless science and other books written for the layman on subjects as diverse as cosmology, physics, biology, anthropology, psychology and philosophy. He saw a need for a book about the Tenets of Critical Thinking because of the volume of misinformation and disinformation, and now fake news and deep fakes that overwhelm us every day. Sam has been teaching adults and designing and writing instructional materials for 25+ years.Sam lives with his wife and two children in Jupiter, Florida.
Review :
BookLife review:
Synopsis: The book is a reference for how to be a good critical thinker, exploring several different aspects of critical thinking. Some of these include logical fallacies, cause and effect reasoning, axioms of science and the scientific method, conspiracy theories, and debunking. The debunking chapter provides tactics and resources for spotting misinformation and disinformation, fake news, and deep fakes. This is a timely book, much needed in this era of disinformation.
In this compact guide to training the brain for the new era of digital media, McCollough introduces his "Tenets of Critical Thinking" and provides clear, practical guidance on how to avoid the "pitfalls" that even intelligent people can fall for, especially online: confirmation bias, logical fallacies, misinformation, pseudoscience, deep fakes, and more. A champion of the scientific method and principled debunking of misinformation, McCollough lays bare the urgency of the problem- "The Internet helps lies to spread much faster, and AI makes it much harder to detect the lies." Through detailed research and real-world examples, this resource provides clear definitions of the ways that nonsense gets passed off as truth plus actionable steps to stop simply accepting what we're told-and to demonstrate, though time-tested steps, truth from falsehoods.
Writing in a personable tone, McCollough implores readers to apply logic and critical thinking skills to everything they are told, from the government, news outlets, in school curriculums, and especially any time we might feel pressed to surrender money or our personal information. "Be skeptical," he writes, noting that "there is money to be made by feeding into people's paranoia." Through brisk, organized chapters, McCollough explores the history of scientific reasoning (science, he argues, is "the greatest good that humans have ever come up with") and lays out how to incorporate its rigor and logic into everyday thinking. McCollough convincingly demonstrates the importance of parents learning this for themselves and also teaching it to their children.
Touching on conspiracy theories, faith and religion, and cause and effect, Debunk offers a quick, inviting introduction to the "real-world consequences" of misinformation and outdated science, providing multiple avenues-"Observe, Predict, Test"- to keep from being taken in. The book is not comprehensive, but readers new to the question of what we can do to shore our minds' defenses up in this ever-evolving information age will find much here that is instructive and illuminating.
Takeaway: Clarifying introduction to critical thinking in the extremely online era.
