By Nathaniel Bluedorn and Hans Bluedorn
www.ChristianLogic.com
PO Box 46
Muscatine, Iowa 52761-0001
309-537-3464
The Thinking Toolbox: Thirty-Five Lessons That Will Build Your Reasoning Skills is the Bluedorn brothers' latest logic book. This book, like their popular Fallacy Detective, is a fun introduction to logic geared toward students aged 13 and up.
The Thinking Toolbox is easy to implement in the homeschool. It is written directly to the student, although the Bluedorns recommend that students discuss what they are learning with others. Each lesson builds on previous lessons, so students are encouraged to work through the book chronologically and always to check their answers before moving on. Ultimately, the goal of this book is to help students use the tools of thinking in every area of life. From the introduction: "This book is a springboard to larger projects. Whatever you do, don't simply read this book and then forget about these tools." The book is divided as follows:
Tools for Thinking
- A Thinking Tool
- A Discussion, a Disagreement, an Argument, and a Fight
- When It Is Dumb to Argue
- Fact, Inference, or Opinion
- Finding the Premises and Conclusion
- How to List Reasons Why You Believe Something
- How to Defeat Your Own Argument
- When Not to Use Logic
Tools for Opposing Viewpoints
- Using the Opposing Viewpoints Chart
- Opposing Viewpoints Are Everywhere
- The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Evidence
- You Can't Believe Everything You Hear
- Are You Primary or Secondary?
- Who Has a Reason to Lie?
- Corroborating Evidence
- Mystery of the Stolen Manoot
- Stir Plot until Thickened
- Gunfight at the O.K. Corral
- Does a Possibly Make a Probably?
- Circumstantial Evidence
- Puzzling Developments
Tools for Science
- Mole the Scientist
- Tools that Help Scientists Do Their Job
- How to Be a Keen Observer
- Brainstorming
- Hypothesis Is a Huge Word
- How to Prove You Are Wrong
- A Good Experiment
- How to Analyze Data
- Listen and Learn
- Pseudoscience
- A Little Project
Projects
- Projects
- "Herbal the Verbal Gerbil" Game
- The Mystery of the Large Letter Library
Chapters are short and interesting to read. Examples and exercises include imaginative as well as realistic situations. The illustrations are amusing and occasionally serve a higher purpose than entertainment by effectively illustrating the important ideas in the lessons. Each lesson also has a boxed summary of the main ideas of the lesson.
The "Tools for Thinking" section is an excellent follow-up to The Fallacy Detective. In the first book, students learned how to spot a bad argument; now they get to learn how to argue (and when not to). The "Tools for Opposing Viewpoints" section is excellent preparation for critical reading and listening as well as oral argumentation. The "Tools for Science" section is a fun introduction to the scientific method. Not only will this section help your student in his scientific pursuits, but it will also teach him to be skeptical of scientific theories. Even if your science book teaches this information, The Thinking Toolbox is probably written in a more interesting and memorable way.
Finally, the "Projects" section brings us back to the Bluedorns' original words of advice in the Introduction and encourages students to use what they have learned doing a project of some kind. Suggestions include entering a local science or history fair, making a short movie, or starting a business selling things on the Internet. Getting motivated and starting small are the two main ideas in this lesson. This section ends with a couple of fun games to play with friends: first a word game and then a mystery to solve. The remainder of the book provides answers for all the chapter questions.
If I could make one change to the book, I would like to see more real-life examples rather than so many imaginary ones, although they are often humorous and do illustrate the lessons clearly. In addition, some families might not appreciate the Bluedorns' ample use of humor. If you prefer serious books, then The Thinking Toolbox might not be for you.
The Bluedorns' newest logic book makes a potentially intimidating topic appealing and enjoyable. Two thumbs up!
Product review by Heather Jackowitz, The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, LLC, June 2007
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