Vincent Paul's Reviews > How to Win Every Argument: The Use and Abuse of Logic

When I saw the title How to Win Every Argument: The Use and Abuse of Logic by Madsen Pirie, I expected a satirical, idiotic approach to arguing, a light read to make me a jerk when dealing with other jerks. However, it is a serious book, better for philosophy students (I still remember my philosophy classes), so it did not intrigue me as much because, even so, the writer didn't do a good job of approaching the argumentative discourse with the depth it requires. It is more of describing the fallacies, at a tad too bland at that. But well, it is a simplified philosophy textbook for the uninitiated in that subject.

As the blurb says, this is the book your friends will wish you hadn't read, a witty and infectious guide to arguing successfully. Each entry deals with one fallacy, explaining what the fallacy is, giving and analysing an example, outlining when/where/why the particular fallacy tends to occur and finally showing how you can perpetrate the fallacy on other people to win an argument.