An Illustrated Book of Bad Arguments

Ali Almossawi (illus. Alejandro Giraldo)

‘A very good book every scientist should have. Every scholar, really.’

Hope Jahren, author of Lab Girl

‘A wonderfully digestible summary of the pitfalls and techniques of argumentation. I can’t think of a better way to be taught or reintroduced to these fundamental notions of logical discourse. A delightful little book.’

Aaron Koblin, Creative Director of the Data Arts team at Google

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‘This little book takes a potentially ponderous subject (logical fallacies) and makes it wonderfully entertaining.’

Omaha World-Herald

‘[A] handsome newcomer’s guide to the world of logic … Almossawi and his McSweeney’s-ready artist Giraldo accessibly tackle such classic subjects as circular reasoning, false dilemma, straw man, appeal to ignorance, and genetic fallacy … an attractive, substantive read.’

John Wenzel, Denver Post

‘Each explanation of a mistake — which he calls "an abuse of reason" — takes up a page at most, and is illustrated with anthropomorphised animals … Each of the selected missteps here should be avoided by anyone seeking to win an argument on more than bluster … A whimsical, straightforward primer … a guide to how to strengthen — and how not to weaken — your arguments.’

Shelf Awareness, starred review

‘Seriously, An Illustrated Book of Bad Arguments should be on every school curriculum. Twitter will be a more civil place.’

Kevin Tang, BuzzFeed

‘Now more than ever, you need this illustrated guide to bad arguments, faulty logic, and silly rhetoric.’

Dan Solomon, Fast Company

‘Bad arguments, great illustrations … gorgeous.’

Cory Doctorow, Boing Boing

‘[A] wonderful primer on the logical fallacies that have been screwing up our thinking … since shortly after the invention of dirt.’

Ron Kretsch, Dangerous Minds

‘Share [this book] with your friends. Encourage your family members to flip through it. Casually leave copies in public places.’

Jenny Williams, GeekDad

‘A great primer for anyone looking to understand logical fallacies … Pass it along to the arguers — good and bad — in your life.’

Lauren Davis, io9

‘I love this illustrated book of bad arguments. A flawless compendium of flaws.’

Prof. Alice Roberts, anatomist, presenter of the BBC's 'The Incredible Human Journey'

Have you read (or stumbled into) one too many irrational online debates? Ali Almossawi certainly had, so he wrote An Illustrated Book of Bad Arguments! This handy guide is here to bring the internet age a much needed dose of old-school logic (really old-school, a la Aristotle).

Here are cogent explanations of the straw man fallacy, the slippery slope argument, the ad hominem attack, and other common attempts at reasoning that fall short — plus a beautifully drawn menagerie of animals who (adorably) commit every logical faux pas. Rabbit thinks a strange light in the sky must be a UFO because no one can prove otherwise (the appeal to ignorance). And Lion doesn’t believe that gas emissions harm the planet because, if that were true, he wouldn’t like the result (the argument from consequences).

Once you learn to recognise these abuses of reason, they start to crop up everywhere from parliamentary debate to YouTube comments — which makes this geek-chic book a must for anyone in the habit of holding opinions. It’s the antidote to fuzzy thinking, with furry animals!

‘A very good book every scientist should have. Every scholar, really.’

Hope Jahren, author of Lab Girl

Aaron Koblin, Creative Director of the Data Arts team at Google

View all reviews

‘This little book takes a potentially ponderous subject (logical fallacies) and makes it wonderfully entertaining.’

Omaha World-Herald

John Wenzel, Denver Post

Shelf Awareness, starred review

‘Seriously, An Illustrated Book of Bad Arguments should be on every school curriculum. Twitter will be a more civil place.’

Kevin Tang, BuzzFeed

‘Now more than ever, you need this illustrated guide to bad arguments, faulty logic, and silly rhetoric.’

Dan Solomon, Fast Company

‘Bad arguments, great illustrations … gorgeous.’

Cory Doctorow, Boing Boing

‘[A] wonderful primer on the logical fallacies that have been screwing up our thinking … since shortly after the invention of dirt.’

Ron Kretsch, Dangerous Minds

‘Share [this book] with your friends. Encourage your family members to flip through it. Casually leave copies in public places.’

Jenny Williams, GeekDad

‘A great primer for anyone looking to understand logical fallacies … Pass it along to the arguers — good and bad — in your life.’

Lauren Davis, io9

Details

Format:Hardback

Size:

Extent:64pp

ISBN (13):9781925106244

RRP:$27.99

Pub date:24 Nov 2014

Rights Held: UK & Commonwealth

High-res cover:Download Image

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AUTHOR

Ali Almossawi

Ali Almossawi is an alumnus of MIT’s engineering systems division and Carnegie Mellon’s school of computer science. His books include An Illustrated Book of Bad Arguments, An Illustrated Book of Loaded Language, and Bad Choices. His writing has appeared in publications such as Wired. He works and lives in San Francisco.

ILLUSTRATOR

Alejandro Giraldo

Alejandro Giraldo holds a degree in graphic design from UPB Medellín and a master’s in art direction from ELISAVA (the Barcelona School of Design and Engineering). He runs the clothing company Velmost and works as a freelance illustrator. He lives in Medellín, Colombia.

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We publish books that matter — narrative and literary nonfiction on important topics, and the best of local, international, and translated fiction.

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