Book Abstracts 

Capaldi, Nicholas (1987). The Art of Deception 
(3rd rev. ed.). Buffalo. NY: Prometheus Books. 
ISBN 0-87975-424-9. 

The book focuses on traditional informal 
fallacies within the context of syllogistic logic. 
The discussion proceeds from the perspective 
of somcone actively seeking to mislead others, 
and the techniques are examined within a de-
bate format of presentation, attack, and rebut-
tal. In addition to exercises and answers, there 
are special sections on identifying arguments in 
context as well as a formal analysis and a series 
of suggestions on how to read a text and 
present an argument in written form. 

Fisher, Alec (1988). The Logic of Real 
Arguments. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 
0-521-30849-6 cloth, ISBN 0-521-31341-4 paper. 

This book aims to help college students to 
think critically about the kind of sustained, the-
oretical arguments which they commonly en-
counter in the course of their studies. 

The book expounds a novel method for 
handling such arguments and applies it to 
numerous instructive examples. The method-
which applies to reasoning expressed in natural 
language-has two distinctive features. It 
employs what is called the 'Assertibility 
Question', a key question in extracting and 
evaluating arguments, and it deals fully with 
the technique of 'suppositional reasoning', an 
important method of reasoning which is 
commonly ignored by writers in this field. 

There is a special chapter on scientific 
method and an appendix which explains some 
useful formal logic. The book also contains nu-
merous exercises. 

Halpern, Diane F. (1989). Thought and Knowl-
edge: An Introduction to Critical Thinking 
(2nd ed.). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum 
Associates Publishing. ISBN 0-8058-0294-0 
cloth, ISBN 0-8058-0295-9 paper. 

The second edition of Halpern's Thought 
and Knowledge: An Introduction to Critical 

Thinking uses the latest research. theory, and 
applied literature on the development of think-
ing skills while maintaining the readability, in-
tegrity, humor, and interest level of the first 
edition. A general "framework for thinking" is 
provided in the new edition, guiding readers 
through the process of identifying the problem 
type. devising a useful representation, selecting 
and applying the appropriate skill, and moni-
toring and verifying the quality of the outcome. 
The new framework provides a general struc-
ture to the book, tying each chapter together. 
The second edition places greater emphasis on 
using both verbal and spatial modes of repre-
sentation to accommodate individual differenc-
es in preferred modes of thought and as an aid 
to extracting meaning from text. Thought and 
Knowledge is a comprehensive introduction to 
human thinking that provides readers with the 
basic information and applicable skills to devel-
op their critical thinking abilities, yet it is writ-
ten in an enjoyable and understandable format. 

Ricci, p. (1991). Fundamentals of Critical 
Thinking (2nd ed.). Ginn Press. 

The text was designed to combine the best 
elements of a traditional introductory logic text 
with some of the more recent developments in 
critical thinking and evaluative writing. 

As an example of one of many innovations 
included, Euler Circles are used to evaluate cat-
egorical syllogisms rather than more customary 
methods (Venn Diagrams, etc.). These circles 
allow diagramming of propositions involving 
the quantifiers "most" and "a few," without the 
need to translate to the notoriously vague quan-
tifier "some." 

The chapter on definitions includes a catego-
rization conducive to their retention along with 
rules of evaluation. Category mistakes and the 
redefinist fallacy, along with equivocation, are 
discussed in a chapter on semantic confusions. 

For the benefit of students, a practice 
exam-with answers-is provided after each 
chapter.