Limbicnutrition Critical Thinking Portal

Before you even start analysing the fuzzy thinking or uncritical thinking of others, it is best to examine ones own motivations and biases. To this end, there are two classics one must read first:

http://www.usemod.com/cgi-bin/mb.pl?AssumeGoodFaith - The MeatBall Wiki’s “AssumeGoodFaith” is a masterpiece “How To” for Internet based discussion and argumentation.
“A Code of Conduct for Effective Rational Discussion” is the best short fallacy avoidance set of principles I know.

LOGICAL FALLACIES and COGNITIVE BIASES

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http://www.orange-papers.org/orange-propaganda.html
The Orange Papers - one of the best resources I have come across. Superb!

http://biasandbelief.pbwiki.com
Biases and Belief Wiki

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases
List of Cognitive Biases

http://www.positiveatheism.org/writ/sherm3.htm
How Thinking Goes Wrong - Twenty-five Fallacies That Lead Us to Believe Weird Things by Michael Shermer - Superb

http://www.fallacyfiles.org/
The Fallacy Files - superb

http://www.skepsonix.be/
Audio & video files on skeptical topics and critical thinking -Superb

http://www.don-lindsay-archive.org/skeptic/arguments.html
A List Of Fallacious Arguments

http://www.mega.nu:8080/ampp/www.geocities.com/athens/olympus/7695/fallacys.htm
A Handbook of Fallacies

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logical_fallacies
Logical Fallacy article on wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallacy
Fallacy article from Wikipedia (different from the one above)

http://www.logicalfallacies.info/
Logical fallacies super directory - Good

http://www.intrepidsoftware.com/fallacy/welcome.htm
Stephen Downes’ excellent introduction to logical fallacies [note there are several pages - see prev and next buttons]

http://gncurtis.home.texas.net/
The fallacy Files - Excellent

http://www.246.dk/38tricks.html - Old but good
Thirty-eight dishonest tricks which are commonly used in argument, with the methods of overcoming them

http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/
Nizkor’s rendition of Dr. Michael C. Labossiere Fallacy Tutorial Pro 3

http://www.infidels.org/news/atheism/logic.html
How to construct a logical argument from The Atheism Web - Excellent.

http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2003/7/18/205013/523 - Good
The Adequacy Style Troll (AST) - hilarious consequences of not understanding arguments.

http://radicalacademy.com/logicalfal1.htm
Welcome to the Nonsense Traps

Reason and Rationality by Richard Samuels. An excellent paper excerpted from the forthcoming Handbook of Epistemology.

http://www.philosophypages.com/lg/index.htm - Good
Guide to Elementary Logic from Philosophy Pages

http://osiris.sunderland.ac.uk/rpl/blackdog.html
Connoisseur’s Guide to Logical Inconsistencies

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/general/gl_argpers.html
Argumentation/Persuasion: Logic in Argumentative Writing - Excellent

http://www.drury.edu/faculty/Ess/Logic/Informal/Overview.html
Informal Fallacies - Good.

http://www.aros.net/~wenglund/appendixb.htm
Index of Fallacies

http://faculty.erau.edu/schliepr/minbar/personal/assignments/fallacies.html
How to Spot Fallacies

http://www.infidels.org/news/atheism/logic.html
The Atheism Web -Logic & Fallacies

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/smith-antireform.html
Fallacies Of Anti-Reformers by Sydney Smith (1824)

http://www.aros.net/~wenglund/Logic101a.htm
Categorised Index of fallacies

http://www.vix.com/pub/objectivism/Writing/DavidKing/GuideToObjectivism/FALLACYS.HTM
A Handbook of Fallacies

http://www.locksley.com/6696/logic.htm
List of Logical fallacies

http://www.aros.net/~wenglund/appendixb.htm
Yet another list of fallacies…

http://www.dissension.com/logic/what.htm
Logical fallacies from Dissension.com  - good

http://sdb.bio.purdue.edu/SDBEduca/dany_adams/critical_thinking.html
Critical Thinking, the Scientific Method and  page 25 of Gilbert by Dany S. Adams

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/logic-informal/
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy on Informal Logic

Open Directory Project on Informal Logic
http://dmoz.org/Society/Philosophy/Philosophy_of_Logic/Informal_Logic/

Logic Mini-Primer
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~compose/student/ac_paper/logic.html

MEDIA LITERACY AND MANIPULATION

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http://www.stayfreemagazine.org/ml/
Stay Free! High School Media Literacy Curriculum [Excellent]

http://usinfo.state.gov/media/misinformation.html
Identifying Misinformation - US State Department resource

http://www.thedoctorwithin.com/articles/doors_of_perception.html
THE DOORS OF PERCEPTION: WHY AMERICANS WILL BELIEVE ALMOST ANYTHING - Tim O’Shea

http://carlisle-www.army.mil/usawc/Parameters/1994/stech.htm
Winning CNN Wars - A primer on fighting media propaganda battles

http://www.medialit.org/
Learn to use critical thinking skills in accessing, analysing, evaluating and creating media.

http://www.justthink.org/
Media literacy and critical thinking for young people.

http://www.media-alliance.org/mediafile/17-5/manipulation.html
Methods of Media Manipulation by Michael Parenti

http://www.sspp.net/archive/papers/1(1)harrington.htm
The Media, Framing, and the Internet: Dominant Ideologies Persist

http://www.fas.org/irp/doddir/army/fm33-1/fm33-1m.htm
PROPAGANDA MEDIA

http://spinsanity.org/
Unbiased non-partisan anti-spin site

http://www.mediaresearch.org/
Right wing media watchdog - ostensibly non-partisan but not

http://www.prwatch.org/spin/
PR watchdog

CRITICAL THINKING AND ARGUMENTATION

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List of Cognitive Biases and Heauristics [Excellent]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases

http://www.skepdic.com/refuge/ctlessons.html
Critical Thinking Mini-Lessons from Skepdic.com - [Excellent]

http://www.philosophy.unimelb.edu.au/reason/papers/Teaching_CT_Lessons.pdf
Teaching Critical Thinking: Lessons from Cognitive Science by Tim van Gelder - [Excellent]

http://www.austhink.org/critical/
Critical Thinking on the Web  - [Superb]

http://www.centroidcafe.com/Phil-N.htm
Centroid Critical Thinking site - Very Good

http://philosophy.hku.hk/think/project/miniguide.pdf - [Excellent]
A Mini Guide to Critical Thinking by Joe Lau. 26 page document surveys major topics. Clear and simple. Useful as a reference, for brushing up on key concepts.

http://www.hozien.com/mih/arg/toc.htm  - [Very Good]
A Rulebook for Arguments

http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTED_95.htm
Critical Thinking from Mindtools

http://kenrahn.com/JFK/Critical_thinking/Intro_to_critl_thinking.html
Introduction to critical thinking using the JFK assassination as the subject matter to explore the issues.

http://www.ceap.wcu.edu/Houghton/Learner/think/thinkSkillsCritical.html
Thinking Skills: Critical

http://www.criticalreading.com/
How the Language Really Works: The Fundamentals of Critical Reading and Effective Writing

http://www.mala.bc.ca/~johnstoi/arguments/argument1.htm
Essays and Arguments: A Handbook on Writing Argumentative and Interpretative Essays

http://www.virtualsalt.com/think/ - [Very Good]
Critical Thinking Materials from professor Robert Harris’ wonderful Virtual Salt website

http://www.mala.bc.ca/~johnstoi/arguments/argument1.htm
Essays and Arguments: A Handbook on Writing Argumentative and Interpretative Essays by Ian Johnston - [Excellent]

http://www.criticalthinking.org/ - [Good]
The centre for critical Thinking (includes books and educational resources)

http://www.stoneforest.org/critical.html  - [Very Good]

Leo Kee Chye’s excellent primer / introduction to critical thinking

http://kmi.open.ac.uk/projects/compendium/
Compendium - “The Compendium approach combines meeting facilitation and collaborative hypertext in an approach to mediating face-to-face or asynchronous discussions, capturing key aspects of meetings, integrating perspectives from multiple stakeholders in a project, and the construction of a collective memory resource.” [Methodology]

http://www.swarthmore.edu/SocSci/tburke1/beyond.html
Beyond the Five-Paragraph Essay [Methodology & Writing]

http://www.decision-making.co.uk/Welcome/Publications.htm
Articles published in the Practical Philosophy “Towards Wise Decision-Making” Series

http://www.stanford.edu/~rhorn/a/topic/phil/artclTrapsOfFormalLogic.html
TRAPS OF TRADITIONAL LOGIC & DIALECTICS: WHAT THEY ARE AND HOW TO AVOID THEM by Robert E. Horn

http://www.austhink.org/monk/Fenner/Fenner.htm [Excellent]
Enhancing our Grasp of Complex Arguments By Paul Monk and Tim van Gelder

http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/327/7417/741
Simple tools for understanding risks: from innumeracy to insight

http://www.its.uidaho.edu/crit_think/ -
University of Idaho Critical Thinking Handbook Written by Michael O’Rourke

http://intellit.muskingum.edu/analysis_folder/di_catn_Folder/contents.htm
CIA Critical thinking manual

http://writing.colostate.edu/references/reading/toulmin/
The Toulmin Method - “When learning written argument, it is always helpful to observe how others argue effectively or ineffectively. The Toulmin Method, based on the work of philosopher Stephen Toulmin, is one way of analyzing a text that we read, with an eye toward responding to that particular argument (as in a writing assignment that asks us to respond) and, ultimately, toward analyzing and improving the arguments we ourselves make.” [Methodology]

http://www.touchstone.com/tr/wp/IBIS.html
Issue-Based Information System - “IBIS was developed to provide a simple yet formal structure for the discussion and exploration of “wicked” problems. Problems that are wicked, as opposed to tame, do not yield to the traditional “scientific” approach to problem solving, which is to gather data, analyze the data, formulate a solution and implement the solution. With a wicked problem your understanding of the problem is evolving as you work on a solution. One sure sign of a wicked problem is that there is no clear agreement about what the “real problem” is. Wicked problems cannot be solved in the traditional sense, because one runs out of resources (time, money, energy, people, etc.) before a perfect solution can be implemented. [Methodology]

http://www.kcmetro.cc.mo.us/longview/ctac/corenotes.htm
An essay of Critical Thinking Theory

http://www.sar.bolton.ac.uk/ltl/Workbooks/at_p3.htm
Thinking critically about theories in psychology

http://www.carleton.ca/~tpatters/teaching/climatechange/sciencemethod.html
An Introduction to Science Scientific Thinking and the Scientific Method

http://www.mindtools.com/
Excellent all round site covering thinking, creativity and problem solving and memory.

http://www.sjsu.edu/depts/itl/graphics/main.html
Mission Critical: Critical Thinking Primer form San Jose University

http://www.brainfarming.com/
Ranging from De Bono to Buzan, a good look at thinking and reasoning methodologies.

http://members.tripod.com/~catfan/Critical.htm
A critical thinking primer

http://www.calpress.com/critical.html
Essay: Critical Thinking: What It Is and Why It Counts

http://www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/college/help/critical/index.htm
Thinking Critically about World Wide Web Resources

http://www.humboldt.edu/~act/
ARGUMENTATION AND CRITICAL THINKING interactive tutorial site. - [Excellent]

http://www.ucalgary.ca/~dabrent/art/rogchap.html
Rogerian Rhetoric: An Alternative to Traditional Rhetoric

Influencing through Argumentation
Complete textbook on argumentation

<a href=”http://www.unl.edu/speech/comm109/Toulmin/index.htm“>The Toulmin Project </a>
Web-site containing the theory of Steven Toulmin, one of the most influential scholars on Argumentation.

http://www.cs.ucl.ac.uk/staff/S.Stumpf/argumentation.html
Another excellent argumentation primer

http://ecdev.hku.hk/acadgrammar/general/main.htm
Decent primer on argumentation (includes citation, attribution, strategies etc)

http://www.drury.edu/faculty/Ess/convo1.html
Flush Rush?: or, how to make moral decisions in the face of uncertainty

http://www.drury.edu/faculty/Ess/critthink.html
Approaches to Critical Thinking

http://www.kcmetro.cc.mo.us/longview/ctac/toc.htm
Critical thinking across the curriculum - excellent

http://www.csicop.org/si/9012/critical-thinking.html
A Field Guide to Critical Thinking

http://www.wannalearn.com/Academic_Subjects/Critical_Thinking/
Critical Thinking from Wannalearn.com

http://commhum.mccneb.edu/argument/summary.htm
A Tutorial in Critical Reasoning

http://www.innumeracy.com/criticalthink.htm
Critical thinking from innumeracy.org

Open Directory Project on Critical Thinking
http://dmoz.org/Science/Science_in_Society/Skeptical_Inquiry/Critical_Thinking/

http://ruccs.rutgers.edu/ArchiveFolder/Research%20Group/research.html
Research Group on Evolution and Higher Cognition. See especially Publications

http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/awc-thkg.htm
Creativity and Thinking Skills

PROPAGANDA, COERCIVE PERSUASION AND BRAINWASHING

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http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Propaganda_techniques
SourceWatch’s list of “propaganda techniques to influence opinions and to avoid the truth”. [Excellent]

http://classicpersuasion.org/
Peitho’s Web - classical persuasion, oratory and sophistry [Excellent]

http://webserve.govst.edu/pa - [Excellent]
Persuasion Analysis - Hugh Rank’s fascinating and superb persuasion site.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brainwashing
Wikipedia article on Brainwashing

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manipulation
Wikipedia article on Manipulation

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persuasion
Wikipedia article on Persuasion

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elaboration_Likelihood_Model
Wikipedia article on Elaboration Likelihood Model of persuasion

http://www.ukpoliticsmisc.org.uk/usenet_evidence/propaganda_techniques.htm
Propaganda Techniques - The Ultimate Guide

http://www.foothilltech.org/rgeib/english/bnw/culminating_project/
MUSTAPHA MOND’S DEPARTMENT OF PROPAGANDA

http://www.fas.org/irp/doddir/army/fm33-1/fm33-1m.htm
PROPAGANDA MEDIA

http://captology.stanford.edu/
Stanford University’s Persuasive Technology Lab (Captology)

http://www.psywarrior.com/sexandprop.html [Excellent]
Sex and Psychological Operations

http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3a33b0424856.htm
Attitude Channeling and Brainwashing by Robert L. Kocher

Lyndale’s Brilliant Propaganda Primer <a href=”http://web.archive.org/web/20011217180911/http:/www.argonet.co.uk/users/lyndale/lotcaf/propg.htm“>[Archive.org snapshot]</a>

http://www.workingpsychology.com/ [Superb site]
Influence at Work - The psychology of persuasion
[See new pages <a href="http://www.workingpsychology.com/numbertactics.html">How many influence tactics exist?</a>, <a href="http://www.workingpsychology.com/marwell.html">Marwell & Schmitt's Taxonomy of 16 influence tactics</a> and <a href="http://www.workingpsychology.com/levine.html">Levine & Wheeless' 53 Tactics</a> ]

http://www.as.wvu.edu/~sbb/comm221/primer.htm
Steve’s Primer of Practical Persuasion and Influence

http://www.stentorian.com/propagan.html
An Introduction to Propaganda - [excellent]

http://www.ctyme.com/bwash/bwash.htm
The Battle for Your Mind by Dick Sutphen [excellent]

http://www.control-z.com/pages/bbr.html
Belief & Brain Research [Super site] - massive resource on mind, brain and behavior.

http://www.propaganda101.com/Propaganda/Propaganda_Frame.htm
The Science of Modern Propaganda [Warning - this site is heavily right wing and in parts succumbs to the very propaganda it castigates]

http://alfa.ist.utl.pt/~dif/ic/cults/coerpers.htm
Introduction to Coercive Persuasion

http://www.xs4all.nl/~anco/mental/randr/main.htm#persuasion
The landmark Forum - Persuasion & Brainwashing

http://www.rickross.com/reference/brainwashing/brainwashing8.html
Coercive Persuasion and Attitude Change

http://www.factnet.org/rancho1.htm
How does mind control work?: A technical overview of mind control tactics

http://www.dcd.net/NBP/persuasn.html
Persuasion & Brainwashing Techniques Being Used On The Public Today

http://www.propagandacritic.com/
The Institute of Propaganda Analysis - [Excellent]

http://www.dushkin.com/usingts/guide/prop.mhtml
A Propaganda primer

http://www.ninehundred.net/control/
THE RAPE OF THE MIND - The Psychology of Thought Control, Menticide, and Brainwashing

http://www.webexpert.net/vasilios/propag.htm
The Propaganda Page

http://archives.mcad.edu/POLITPROP/palace/central/library.html
Political Propaganda research and development library

http://modernhumorist.com/mh/0004/propaganda/index.cfm
Propaganda and Disinformation from the Media Resource Centre

http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/propaganda.html
The excellent Modern Humorist anti-propaganda site

http://www.greeninformation.com/PROPAGANDA%20TECHNIQUES%20-%20US%20Army.htm
US army propaganda techniques

http://tlc.ai.org/propagan.htm
Excellent propaganda resources for teachers and educators

http://www.quackwatch.com/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/propa.html
Propaganda Techniques related to Environmental Scares

http://www.africa2000.com/PNDX/pndx.htm
Propaganda & Psychological Warfare Studies

http://www.memecentral.com/vmintro.htm
Crisis of the Mind - an introduction to memetics and mind virus’

http://www.datafilter.com/mc/
Mind Control - Technology, techniques, politics

http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=1109515
The Economist magazine tackles the topic of persuasion.

http://www.dushkin.com/usingts/guide/prop.mhtml
List of some of the more commonly used propaganda techniques

http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/
East German and Nazi propaganda site

SCAMS AND FRAUD

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http://www.scamfraudalert.com
Scam Fraud Alert

http://www.quackwatch.org
Quackwatch

SCEPTICISM AND DEBUNKING

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http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/writing/skept.htm - [Superb]
Peter Subers brilliant “Classical Skepticism”

http://oemagazine.com/fromTheMagazine/jan05/photofakery.html
Excellent overview of Photographic fakes and forgeries - [Excellent]

http://mythbustersresults.com/results/recent.html
Mythbusters - Every result from all programs [Excellent]

http://hoaxbusters.ciac.org/HoaxBustersHome.html
Hoaxbusters

http://www.truthorfiction.com/
Truth or Fiction? Hoaxes, Scams and Swindles tracked and debunked

http://www.skeptic.com/01.1.shermer-skep-manifesto.html
A SKEPTICAL MANIFESTO By Michael Shermer, Ph.D.

http://www.csicop.org/si/
Skeptical Inquirer

http://www.skepdic.com/
The Skeptic’s Dictionary

http://skepdic.com/refuge/
The Skeptic’s Refuge

http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/
The Skeptic’s Annotated Bible

http://www.debunker.com/
The Debunker’s Domain

http://www.skeptic.com/
Skeptic Magazine

http://www.junkscience.com/
Junk science” is faulty scientific data and analysis used to used to further a special agenda”

http://www.fumento.com/
Michael Fumento - crack debunker.

STATISTICS AND INNUMERACY

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http://members.cox.net/mathmistakes/glossary1.htm
Glossary of Mathematical Mistakes - [Excellent]

http://www.math.temple.edu/~paulos/ - [Excellent]
John Allen Paulos -author of Innumeracy - homepage.

http://www.sophismata.com/ - [Excellent]
Raghu Ramachandran’s superb anti-sloppy thinking and innumeracy site.

http://www.numberwatch.co.uk/
“All about the scares, scams, junk, panics, and flummery cooked up by the media, politicians, bureaucrats, so-called scientists and others who try to confuse you with wrong numbers.”

http://ubmail.ubalt.edu/~harsham/zero/ZERO.HTM
The Zero Saga & Confusions with Numbers

http://chronicle.com/free/v47/i34/34b00701.htm - [Advanced]
Telling the Truth About Damned Lies and Statistics

http://www.economist.co.uk/books/displayStory.cfm?Story_ID=5790507
Factual abuse

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/28/arts/28BAYE.html?pagewanted=all
Adding Art to the Rigor of Statistical Science

http://www.learner.org/exhibits/statistics/
Understanding Statistics - learner.org exhibit

http://xocxoc.home.att.net/math/index.htm
The Glossary of mathematical Mistakes

http://www.innumeracy.com/
Innumeracy defeated

http://davidmlane.com/hyperstat/index.html
HyperStat Online Statistical Textbook

http://www.stats.org/
Superb Statistics resource - [Excellent]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A1091350
How To Understand Statistics by the BBC - [V. Good]

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/science/whoscounting_index/whoscounting_index.html
John Allen Paulo’s - Who’s Counting? column.

BOOKS

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The Logic of Real Arguments by Alec Fisher [Amazon .co.uk /.com ]

Fooled By Randomness by Nassim Nicholas Taleb [Amazon .co.uk /.com] [Excellent]

Influencer: The Power to Change Anything by by Kerry Patterson et al [Amazon .co.uk / .com] [Excellent]

How we think by John Dewey (1910) [Online Book] [Excellent]

Brainwashing : The Science of Thought Control by Kathleen Taylor [Amazon .co.uk / .com] [Excellent]

Becoming a Critical Thinker: A Guide for the New Millennium [Amazon.com]

Decision by Objectives by Forman and Selly (PDF, 2.46mb)
“Complete textbook on decision making. Aimed at management, but the contains a lot for the general reader (or decider?). Centered on a general decision framework known as the Analytic Hierarch Process (AHP). This may not be the best textbook on decision making out there, but there is plenty of value here, and it does have the advantage of being freely downloadable.” - Tim van Gelder

Introduction to Probability - [Online book]

How Mumbo-jumbo Changed the World by Francis Wheen [amazon.co.uk] [Excellent]

Mind Wide Open: One Man’s Journey into the Workings of his Brain by Steven Johnson [Amazon.com/.co.uk] [Excellent]

Full Facts Book Of Cold Reading by Ian Rowlands [Ian Rowlands] [Excellent]

The Power of Persuasion by Robert V. Levine [Amazon.co.uk or amazon.com] [Good]

With Good Reason by S. Morris Engel [amazon.co.uk or amazon.com] [Excellent]

The Book of the Fallacy by Madden Pirie [amazon.co.uk or amazon.com] [Excellent]

Persuasion, Social Influence, and Compliance Gaining (2nd Edition) by Robert H. Gass, John S. Seiter [Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com ]

Beyond Feelings: A Guide to Critical Thinking by Vincent Ryan Ruggiero, Vincent Ruggiero [Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com ]

Age of Propaganda: The Everyday Use and Abuse of Persuasion by Anthony R. Pratkanis, Elliot Aronson [Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com] [Excellent]

Doubt: A History: The Great Doubters and Their Legacy of Innovation from Socrates and Jesus to Thomas Jefferson and Emily Dickinson [amazon.co.uk or amazon.com]

Don’t Get Taken: Bunco & Bunkum Exposed How to Protect Yourself by by Robert A. Steiner

A Handlist of Rhetorical Terms by Richard A. Lanham [amazon.co.uk or amazon.com]

Historians’ Fallacies: Toward a Logic of Historical Thought by David Hackett Fischer [ amazon.co.uk or amazon.com ]

Persuasion Analysis : A Companion to Composition - Hugh Rank

Critical Thinking: An Introduction by Alec Fisher [PDF first chapter] [amazon.co.uk or amazon.com]

Practical Reasoning in Natural Language by Stephen Naylor Thomas (1998) [amazon.co.uk or amazon.com]

How to think Straight by Anthony Flew (1998) [amazon.co.uk or amazon.com] [Excerpt]

Everyday Irrationality by Robyn M Dawes (2001) [amazon.co.uk or amazon.com]

Irrationality by Stuart Sutherland (1994) [amazon.co.uk] [Excerpt]

Competitive Communication by Barry Eckhouse (1999) [Business orientated] [amazon.co.uk or amazon.com]

The Demon Haunted World by Carl Sagan (1996) [amazon.co.uk or amazon.com]

How to Lie with Statistics by Darrell Huff (1991) [amazon.co.uk or amazon.com]

Analysing Controversy by Gark K Clabaugh and Edward G Rozycki (1998) [ amazon.co.uk or amazon.com ]

Attacking faulty reasoning by T. Edward Damer (2000) [amazon.co.uk or amazon.com]

Be Reasonable by Laird Wilcox - Quotations (1994) [amazon.co.uk or amazon.com]

The Art of Deception by Nicholas Capaldi (1987) [amazon.co.uk or amazon.com]

Arguing Well by John Shand (2000) [amazon.co.uk or amazon.com]

Thinking from A to Z by Nigel Warburton( 1996) [amazon.co.uk or amazon.com]

Why People Believe Weird Things by Michael Shermer (1998) [amazon.co.uk or amazon.com]

The Working Principles of Rhetoric by John Franklin Genung (1901) [Essay on the Author]

Innumeracy by John Allen Paulos (2001) [amazon.co.uk or amazon.com]

Once upon a number by John Allen Paulos (1998) [amazon.co.uk or amazon.com]

Critical Thinking - A concise guide by Tracy Bowell and Gary Kemp (2002) [amazon.co.uk or amazon.com]

Argument: Critical Thinking, Logic and the Fallacies by John Woods, Andrew Irvine and Douglas Walton (1982) [amazon.co.uk]

Reckoning with Risk by Gerd Gigerenzer (2002) [amazon.co.uk or amazon.com ]

How We Know What Isn’t So: The Fallibility of Human Reason in Everyday Life by Thomas Gilovich (1993) [amazon.co.uk or amazon.com]

Bad Astronomy by Philip Plait (2002) [amazon.co.uk or amazon.com]

Thinking and Deciding by Jonathan Baron (2001) [amazon.co.uk or amazon.com]

Fashionable Nonsense : Postmodern Intellectuals’ Abuse of Science
Alan D. Sokal et al [amazon.co.uk or amazon.com]

Smart Choices: A Practical Guide to Making Better Decisions by John S. Hammond, Ralph L. Keeney, Howard Raiffa [Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com]

SOFTWARE AND WEB TOOLS

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http://rationale.austhink.com/
Rationale - The best argument mapping and Crirtical Thinking tool from the people behind Critical Thinking on the Web.

http://ender.telspace.co.za/forer/
An excellent demonstration of the Forer effect, where people show a tendency  to rate sets of statements as highly accurate for them personally even though the statements could apply to many people.

http://flyinglogic.com/
New logic and argumentation software from the makers of Sciral Consistency
“Flying Logic is a highly visual, easy to use software application that does for reasoning what spreadsheets do for numbers. Just as you would not do detailed financial projections in your head, you need Flying Logic for all nontrivial planning and reasoning endeavors.”

http://www.truthmapping.com
TruthMapping is a tool that addresses the most common problems in argumentation. It prevents digression by making the argument the context which can not be escaped; the information flow is always toward the argument unlike standard methods such as conversation, message boards and e-mail. It saves you time because others can not bury your contribution through repetitive posting. It is a content-rich view of a topic because only the true disagreements are visible by default.  [Excellent]

http://www.brainstormsw.com
Brainstorm, A multi purpose though assistant. “..thermonuclear grade intellectual organizing powers..”.  [Excellent]

http://www.ozline.com/electraguide/thesis.html
Thesis Builder & Online Outliner

http://kmi.open.ac.uk/projects/VisualizingArgumentation/resources.html
A good list of current argument mapping software is available

http://www.inspiration.com/
Home of Inspiration

http://www.mindjet.com/
Home of Mindmanager, the undisputed best MindMapping application for Windows

http://www.ukpoliticsmisc.org.uk/~usenet_evidence/fallacy.zip
Fallacy Tutorial (478k zip file)

http://www.goreason.com/
Reason! Able -  argument mapping

http://www.thinkology.com/What.html
Thinkology - Children’s software

http://www.knosis.com/argutect.html
Argutect is a software “thought processor” that actually lets you see the logic of your thinking. It opens a window into the world of ideas, so you can assemble compelling lines of thought in an intuitive, drag-and-drop environment.”

MISCELLANY

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http://www.businessballs.com - [Brilliant]
Absolutely superb website about all manner of cognitive excellence

http://www.mindtools.com - [Brilliant]
“Discover the essential skills and techniques that help you excel in your career - whatever your profession”

http://changingminds.org - [Brilliant]
The largest site in the world on all aspects of how we change one another’s minds

http://www.meaningsoflife.com
Fine site on using Philosophy in everyday life - [Excellent]

http://www.mycoted.com/creativity/techniques/index.php - [Excellent]
Creativity Techniques - hundreds of ideas and methods

http://www.syque.com/quality_tools/index.htm - [Excellent]
Quality Tools - hundred of useful tools and articles about quality and quality improvement

http://www.creativityatwork.com/
Creativity and critical thinking at work.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/medicine/story/0,11381,847758,00.html
An excellent article from The Guardian on Medical myths both ancient and modern

http://www.skepticnews.com/
Skeptical Weblog

http://www.ksu.edu/psych/cws/index.htm
Cochran-Weiss-Shanteau (CWS) Home Page. CWS is the Cochran-Weiss-Shanteau index of performance a new approach to the evaluation of expert performance where there is no independent criterion.