asking the right questions a guide to critical thinking book review

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Asking the Right Questions: A Guide to Critical Thinking 8th Edition

• ISBN-10 0132203049
• ISBN-13 978-0132203043
• Edition 8th
• Publisher Pearson College Div
• Publication date January 1, 2007
• Language English
• Dimensions 6 x 0.5 x 9 inches
• Print length 212 pages
• See all details

Editorial Reviews

From the back cover.

This highly popular text helps students to bridge the gap between simply memorizing or blindly accepting information and the greater challenge of critical analysis and synthesis. It teaches them to respond to alternative points of view and develop a solid foundation for making personal choices about what to accept and what to reject.

While the structure of this new edition remains the same, for the sake of currency and relevance about two-thirds of the practice passages are new, as well as many of the longer illustrations and the final critical thinking case. Also, this eighth edition has been revised to emphasize the positive value of critical thinking as a means to autonomy, curiousity, reasonableness, openness, and better decisions.

Product details

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Pearson College Div; 8th edition (January 1, 2007)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 212 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0132203049
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0132203043
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 9.6 ounces
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.5 x 9 inches
• #980 in Education (Books)
• #1,003 in Core
• #1,653 in Exercise & Fitness (Books)

About the authors

Stuart m. keeley.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

M. Neil Browne

What to include? Hmm.

For 53 years I taught critical thinking to undergraduates at a state university. I have a Ph.D. in Economics and a J.D.; both globs of training I am sure affect my blind spots and any insights that might creep into what I say. I have co-authored 64 books, many of them in multiple editions. The most successful of the lot, Asking the Right Questions: A Guide to Critical Thinking is in 12 editions and 16 languages. Its success led to dozens of consulting activities with government agencies, corporations and univrsities, including the National Security Agency, 3 of the Military Academies, dozens of universities, Toyota Pacific, and the Social Security Administration. In addition, I have had the privilege of keynoting International Critical Thinking Confernces on 4 continents.

In 2023 I am publishing 2 new books:

A Healthy Democracy’s Best Hope: Developing the Critical Thinking Habit

FRIENDLY Critical Thinking: Harnessing Questions to Teach and LEARN

Nancy (wife) and I travel extensively and are active participants in the Senior Olympics, dance festivals, songwriters’ conventions, tennis, and fishing. We only reluctantly are unable to attend every International Film Festival.

Customer reviews

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Asking the Right Questions: A Guide to Critical Thinking Paperback – 28 May 2003

Purchase options and add-ons.

For all level Critical Thinking, Argumentative Writing, and Informal Logic courses.

This highly popular text helps students bridge the gap between simply memorizing or blindly accepting information, and the greater challenge of critical analysis and synthesis. It teaches them to respond to alternative points of view and develop a solid foundation for making personal choices about what to accept and what to reject.

• ISBN-10 0131829939
• ISBN-13 978-0131829930
• Edition 7th
• Publisher Pearson
• Publication date 28 May 2003
• Language English
• Dimensions 15.24 x 1.91 x 31.75 cm
• Print length 224 pages
• See all details

Product description

From the back cover.

Prentice Hall is proud to bring you the seventh edition of this highly successful critical thinking guide. In addition to the revisions in the text, we have thoroughly revised the Companion Website™ at www.prenhall.com/browne . This free resource for students now includes:

Getting Started passages. These exercises will consist of 1 to 2 sentence arguments for early chapters, moving to longer passages as the chapters progress. This is to help the student practice his or her argument skills.

Web Destinations. The site will include content specific links for each chapter, giving students the opportunity to do research and discover more information on the concepts presented in the text.

Frequently Asked Questions for each chapter. This resource will provide a list of common questions and answers about the material covered in the text.

Model Student Papers. This Website will provide model papers so students can view the elements of a good argument paper, how it's written, its appearance, and its purpose.

Product details

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Pearson; 7th edition (28 May 2003)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 224 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0131829939
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0131829930
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 15.24 x 1.91 x 31.75 cm
• 1,551 in Handwriting Reference
• 29,091 in Languages
• 36,662 in Poetry & Drama Criticism

About the authors

Stuart m. keeley.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

M. Neil Browne

What to include? Hmm.

For 53 years I taught critical thinking to undergraduates at a state university. I have a Ph.D. in Economics and a J.D.; both globs of training I am sure affect my blind spots and any insights that might creep into what I say. I have co-authored 64 books, many of them in multiple editions. The most successful of the lot, Asking the Right Questions: A Guide to Critical Thinking is in 12 editions and 16 languages. Its success led to dozens of consulting activities with government agencies, corporations and univrsities, including the National Security Agency, 3 of the Military Academies, dozens of universities, Toyota Pacific, and the Social Security Administration. In addition, I have had the privilege of keynoting International Critical Thinking Confernces on 4 continents.

In 2023 I am publishing 2 new books:

A Healthy Democracy’s Best Hope: Developing the Critical Thinking Habit

FRIENDLY Critical Thinking: Harnessing Questions to Teach and LEARN

Nancy (wife) and I travel extensively and are active participants in the Senior Olympics, dance festivals, songwriters’ conventions, tennis, and fishing. We only reluctantly are unable to attend every International Film Festival.

Customer reviews

• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 5 star 71% 7% 9% 0% 14% 71%
• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 4 star 71% 7% 9% 0% 14% 7%
• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 3 star 71% 7% 9% 0% 14% 9%
• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 2 star 71% 7% 9% 0% 14% 0%
• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 1 star 71% 7% 9% 0% 14% 14%

Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings, help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.

To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyses reviews to verify trustworthiness.

• Sort reviews by Top reviews Most recent Top reviews

Top reviews from United Kingdom

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. please try again later..

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Review: Asking the Right Questions by Browne & Keeley

The first step in the process is to look for the issues and conclusions. The authors emphasize this: we cannot critically evaluate until we find the conclusion. Once we know the conclusion, we can look for the reasons for that conclusion and evaluate the reasons. Reasons plus a conclusion makes an argument; the stronger the reasons, the stronger the argument.

So much of the content of this book is just nugget after nugget of great information, instruction, and insight. The book helps the reader to understand the underlying assumptions and processes behind much of the thinking he encounters. The reader is encouraged to watch out for ambiguous language, look for assumptions, identify fallacies, and identify good evidence.

When it comes to evidence, the authors offer excellent insights into how the critical thinker can separate good evidence from bad evidence. Intuition, personal experience, testimonials, appeals to authority, and other types of evidence are all evaluated by asking the right questions. The content of the book entails fourteen chapters, each dedicated to a particular line of question, listed here:

1) What are the issues and the conclusions? 2) What are the reasons? 3) Which words or phrases are ambiguous? 4) What are the value conflicts and assumptions? 5) What are the descriptive assumptions? 6) Are there any fallacies in the reasoning? 7) How good is the evidence? 8) Are there rival causes? 9) Are the statistics deceptive? 10) What significant information is omitted? 11) What reasonable conclusions are possible? 3

Of course, critical thinking is not simply knowing a list of questions. Each chapter is like a meal to be enjoyed in its own right. Speeding through this book is not the way to benefit from the insights. Careful reading and re-reading would be encouraged in order to build new habits of thought and to internalize the content.

In their conclusion, the authors end with an exhortation to the critical thinker to use his skills to become a better person. A humble tone is encouraged: “You seek…not to elevate yourself above those who have other conclusions, but to move us all forward to some better understanding of who we are. All the while, you will be improving yourself as a thinker.” 4

In sum, Asking the Right Questions: A Guide to Critical Thinking is a superb book. Easy to read, engaging, and remarkably beneficial, it is sure to be a significant title in the critical thinker’s library.

1 M. Neil Browne & Stuart M. Keeley, Asking the Right Questions: A Guide to Critical Thinking (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2007), p. 2. 2 Ibid., p. 4. 3 Ibid., p. 13. 4 Ibid., p.206.

Written by Brian Auten

Brian Auten is the founder emeritus of Apologetics315. He is also director of Reasonable Faith Belfast. Brian holds a Masters degree in Christian Apologetics and has interviewed over 150 Christian apologists. His background is in missions, media direction, graphic design, and administration. Brian started Apologetics315 in 2007 to be an apologetics hub to equip Christians to defend the faith.

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