The Fallacy Detective

1 • Paul Muenzler • April 24, 2008 • 5:26 PM

I love your book! I never knew how much fun logic was until I read your book. Please write back. P.S. I am 12 years old.

2 • Kimberly • April 24, 2008 • 5:37 PM

We have had great conversations with our oldest every night when the younger four go to bed, talking about all sorts of things that have springboarded from the exercises in The Fallacy Detective.

3 • Cynthia • April 24, 2008 • 5:40 PM

I gave my son a copy for christmas. He is 13. . . . He got ahold of that book and wouldn’t put it down for a week. Now, literally everyday, he asks if we can go through it together and he is leading his brother Jesse and I through it lesson by lesson. I will be standing at the stove stirring a pot of soup and Jesse will be perched on a stool with Evan on the counter, book in hand asking us questions. Quite often the littler one listens in and answers when he can. They are all expert critics of the local news media! This has been the very best book I have given him in a long time. Thanks.

4 • Rosanne • April 24, 2008 • 5:41 PM

I just wanted to let you know how much my thirteen year old son and I are enjoying The Fallacy Decective! It’s the first book that he reaches for each school day. It has been particularily relevant as we just had a provincial election. There were plenty of opportunities to identify Red Herrings, Ad Hominem attacks, and more, during the election campaign.

5 • Colette • April 24, 2008 • 5:43 PM

My kids and I are going through your Fallacy Detective Book – even my 9 yo is getting something out of it!

6 • Tanya Preble • April 24, 2008 • 5:45 PM

When I first told my daughters ages 14 & 16 that they were going to study logic you should have heard the groans! We are just starting Lesson 13 in The Fallacy Detective and I’m not hearing any more groans from them. I think the only one groaning now is me. How did they learn how to spot all the fallacies in what I say to them so quickly? Hmmmmmmm .... maybe it has something to do with that logic book they’re reading.

7 • Susan Hawk • April 24, 2008 • 5:47 PM

One week during logic class, we played lots of games. I started the class by playing a card trick on the kids. It’s a really cool trick. I let a girl pick a card, she looked at it and showed it to the other kids. Then I used my cell phone to call the “Wizard”, who got on the phone and told her what card she was holding.

Anyway, once we were done with that and on to some other games and puzzles, I was drawing a puzzle on the white board when the girl who had picked the card for the wizard trick asked me, “Did you know what my card was?”

I just looked at her and asked, “How could I know your card? You kept it hidden from me,” then I turned back to the board. My son (he was 10yo at the time)hollered out from his seat, “RED HERRING!!!! You didn’t answer her question!” All the other kids joined in and there was a chorus of children shouting, “Red Herring!” at their teacher. I hid behind the white board and laughed until I sheepishly came out and admitted to the girl that yes, I knew what her card was before I called the wizard.

You have to be careful what you teach your kids, because they turn it back on you! LOL

8 • Cathy Duffy • April 24, 2008 • 5:51 PM

The Bluedorn family, longtime promoters of Christian classical education, encountered the same problem we did with content in most critical thinking and logic resources, so Nathaniel and Hans Bluedorn put their heads together and came up with this excellent introduction to practical logic from their conservative Christian homeschoolers’ perspective. Subtitled “Thirty-Six Lessons on How to Recognize Bad Reasoning,” it uses humor, historical references, and real life situations to help teens learn to think and express themselves clearly. Comic strips from Calvin and Hobbes, Dilbert, Peanuts, and Nuna and Toodles (the Bluedorn brothers’ own creation) are a nice touch that have been added to the second edition.

The style is similar in many ways to the Critical Thing, Books One and Two. However, the underlying perspective comes through in different ways. Verses from Proverbs are used to discuss knowledge and wisdom. One exercise statement reads, “I know everybody thinks Einstein’s theory of relativity is correct, but I can’t accept it. Einstein believed in evolution.” Another on the same page relates this conversation: “Mrs. A.: ‘I’m going through a logic book with my kids. It’s called The Fallacy Detective. I really like it.’ Mrs. B.: ‘Aw, the authors of that book are just a bunch of homeschoolers. What do they know about logic.’”

The Fallacy Detective will likely appeal to many families for another reason: it doesn’t need to be taught. Students can read and work through it independently. However, it might be enjoyable for both parent and student for the teen to read the lesson on his or her own, summarize the main idea to a parent, then go through the exercises out loud together. Some exercises require simple identification answers, but others might prompt some great discussion. The authors’ answers are in the back of the book.

Instructions for a “Fallacy Detective Game” in which players make up their own fallacies are also at the back of the book. This would make great family fun for those with two or more teens.

(Review in 100 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum)

9 • James A. Cox • April 24, 2008 • 5:53 PM

Collaboratively written by Nathaniel Bluedorn and Hans Bluedorn for a Christian readership, The Fallacy Detective: Thirty-Six Lessons On How To Recognize Bad Reasoning presents common-sense guidelines to reasonable discourse that readers of all faiths and backgrounds can understand and appreciate. Indeed, The Fallacy Detective is a first-rate guide to common logic pitfalls and errors in human decision making. From red herrings and ad hominem attacks that avoid the issue at hand altogether, to fallacious hidden assumptions of “either-or” in a world filled with multiple possibilities, hasty generalizations and statistical fallacies, as well as the dark power and abuse of propaganda, The Fallacy Detective covers an immense range of illogical appeals that are as frustrating as they are distressingly effective. Highly recommended for the non-specialist general reader, The Fallacy Detective is a superb written and presented primer for making informed conclusions in a world filled with lies, deceits, and misconceptions.
(Review from The Midwest Book Review)

10 • Jay Wile • April 24, 2008 • 5:54 PM

. . . Thank you for sending me your book, The Fallacy Detective. I thought it was very well done. I liked how you blend easy-to-understand examples, humor, and Christian thinking together and at the same time teach the reader many of the standard terms and propositions of logic. Also, the thought questions you have at the end of each chapter are very good. Also, I hope I am not being too bold here, but in the discussion of ad hominem attacks, I think I see some of my biology course coming through. That really gave me great pleasure to see that you could use some of what you learned in that course to teach logic!

11 • Andrew C. Thomas • April 24, 2008 • 5:56 PM

I’m always delighted when two sides that seem mutually opposed come together in harmonious agreement. I’m even more delighted when I’ve taken one of those sides. In this case, I write of the efforts of Nathaniel and Hans Bluedorn, brothers from Iowa who advocate homeschooling and create educational materials from a Christian worldview. The fruit of the latest Bluedorn effort is a short text, The Fallacy Detective, designed to be a primer in logic for older children – specifically, homeschooled Christian children, though the book is intended for anyone who wants to explore the subject. . . .

. . . I find it wonderful that the Bluedorns, among others, are actively reinvigorating the religious world with a healthy dose of independent thought . . .

(Read from The Tech)

12 • Izzy Lyman • April 24, 2008 • 5:57 PM

I was recently sent a delightful book called The Fallacy Detective by Nathaniel Bluedorn and Hans Bluedorn. Both authors are in their twenties and have a homeschooling background. It teaches readers - via thirty-six lessons - how to recognize bad reasoning. A very useful skill. The book explains fallacies, like a red herring, as well as propaganda techniques. It includes exercises, an answer key, and cartoons. The Bluedorns recommend it for ages 13 through adult. (This adult even learned about a post hoc ergo propter hoc.) The book is marketed as a “Christian view of logic” because it does not have a politically correct bent. However, I think non-believers will feel comfortable with the majority of the content.

(Review on http://www.icky.blogspot.com)

13 • Gayla E. • October 06, 2009 • 3:07 PM

I’m going to be using The Fallacy Detective to teach a beginning Logic course at our homeschool co-op. As the teacher of this class, I have already learned a great deal from your book. I’ve become much more attune to fallacies of logic and hear or read them all the time! Your book is meaty without being dull.  It’s fun and simple, yet challenging. I know my students are going to enjoy reading your book and the wonderful introduction to logic it offers.  I look forward to reading the new edition.  Thank you for providing such a fabulous & essential resource!

14 • Kathy Piper • October 06, 2009 • 3:23 PM

I am a new logic tutor, and your book has been highly recommended to me.  Please throw my name in the hat for a copy.

15 • Patty R. • October 06, 2009 • 3:24 PM

According to my 10year old daughter, she likes it because now she can spot a red herring and knows when someone is going off topic.  She especially likes the games and mysteries at the end. All my kids liked the mystery you sent out via email and are eagerly waiting more. Please send out more so they will stop asking me if I have gotten another email from The Fallacy Detective.

16 • Robert Pavich • October 06, 2009 • 3:27 PM

I love the “Fallacy Detective”!
I’m involved in defending the Christian faith every day and spotting logical fallacies has helped me to see deficient arguments and also to help me avoid them as much as I can.
Thanks for a great book!

17 • xinme • October 06, 2009 • 3:35 PM

My children and I finished Thinking Toolbox and we were all thankful we had Fallacy Detective to jump right into immediately after! It’s one of our favourite parts of our day! Now, my 10-year-old son and 12-year-old daughter are listening carefully to commercials and conversations with “new ears.” They love being the first to point out red herrings and ad hominems (homini??). Thank you for making what could be such a dry subject so much fun to learn! We’d love to reeive an updated version of TFD, so I’m hoping I’m leaving a comment in the right spot! (BTW—my son would agree with the need for more comics! He was asking today how many chapters there are before the next comic!)

18 • Caleb Smith • October 06, 2009 • 3:58 PM

I think your book is great! My brother and I are reading it, and we keep catching each other useing fallacys! I like all the comics,the lessons, and the that you wrote it with a christan world view. Thanks.

19 • Mina Souvannasoth • October 06, 2009 • 4:04 PM

I am homeschooled, and used The Fallacy Detective to study logic my sophmore year of high school. The lessons were so interesting, I found myself wanting to do them all at once!
Now, two years later, I am taking a college writing class, and we are learning about the exact same fallicies! I felt good that I already knew all of them, thanks to The Fallacy Detective. It helped prepare me for college!

20 • Laura Mallory • October 06, 2009 • 4:20 PM

Oh!  I cannot believe that a NEW, updated, bigger, better even more awesome version of the Fallacy detective is now available!  I am a huge fan!  I just started (last month)teaching a group of homeschooled high schoolers The Fallacy Detective and we absolutely love the study.  We are constantly cracking up but are learning so much and they are actually applying it.  I am so excited!  Hope Fred and Derf are liking their new digs…we love those guys!  Just wish it had come out about two months ago!

21 • Heather Scherger • October 06, 2009 • 4:20 PM

I’m a homeschool mom to three amazing kids.  I wanted them to be able to notice the many fallacies present in our culture and be able to construct their own good arguements.  This book made the introduction so fun that they have made a game out of “fallacy hunting”.  Now, if they would just stop using their skills on me :O)
Thanks for the awesome product!

22 • Bria Warren, age 10 • October 06, 2009 • 4:31 PM

I dreaded learning about logic until we started The Fallacy Detective! It made learning about logic lots of fun.  It helped because now, when I watch a debate, I can tell when someone uses a fallacy. It helps me decide who to agree with. Also, now I can have a good argument with someone, because I can argue with good reasoning!

23 • Megan • October 06, 2009 • 4:36 PM

I started reading The Fallacy Detective with my 10-year-old this year. In the past three weeks I’ve been accused of throwing out a red herring more than once. The last time we had an, um, relational issue, my daughter looked at me and said, “Well, that is your opinion of what happened.”

Funny now. Not so much at the time. I’m planning to send you my personal counseling bills.

Or you could just send me one of your updated copies…

24 • Terry Hollifield • October 06, 2009 • 4:39 PM

I am a pastor of education at a church in N.C. I recently used the Fallacy Detective (as well as The Thinking Toolbox)to teach Critical thinking to a class of about 30 adults. They are excited about sharing the info with their kids and wondered why they have never been taught this in church before!

25 • Emily Warren, age 13 • October 06, 2009 • 4:46 PM

I was not looking forward to learning logic at all, but when we started reading the Fallacy Detective, I really enjoyed it! I had fun learning loic. I can now have a logical argument, which will be handy when I meet with someone that I do not agree with. I really like all the cartoons, examples and puzzles that it includes. Now my sisters and I will see a TV commercial and point out the propaganda tecniques! I have also found propaganda tecniques in newspaper ads and radio commercials.

26 • Annie Parsons • October 06, 2009 • 4:58 PM

My sister and I are homeschooled and read the Fallacy Detective a few years ago, but we’re still able to spot different fallacies in political speeches (Adhominem attacks and other red herrings are rampant). It’s great to be equipped to catch illogical statements. I’m sure without it we would have fallen hook, line, and sinker for plenty of flawed logic. Thanks!

27 • Heather Apgar • October 06, 2009 • 5:13 PM

I’d love for my son to do Fallacy Dectictive lessons!!  I’m also seeing a need for this type of learning at our co-op, so I’m thinking of offering a class next semester!  Great thinking skills are developed here!

28 • Andrea • October 06, 2009 • 5:18 PM

We used thinking tool box several years ago when our oldest was in high school, he is now a junior in college. Understanding wrong thinking and wrong impressions has helped shape him into a strong young man.  He has a firm foundation to face a world full of fallacy and part of that foundation was built with your books.  We are ever grateful for this wonderful tool. We will be re-introducing it to our younger children this year. Thank you for all your hard work!

29 • Terry Berg • October 06, 2009 • 6:50 PM

Every Friday night I witness to the students at UGA on the streets of Athens, Ga. Besides sharing the Gospel, I regularly have to refute the evolutionists who stop by my booth. Learning to recognize fallacies and how to answer them has been a tremendous help in opening the eyes of the blind.

(BTW: if I don’t win a free book, I’ll order an updated copy anyways.)

30 • N Davis • October 06, 2009 • 6:53 PM

I always enjoy your lessons and it has helped me realize when I am
inadvertently using a fallacy or when I am a victim of a fallacy.
Many times I would recognize something in an advertisement or in the way
someone was treating me and I would know something wasn’t right but I could
not put a label on this. Now I know and can label when this is happening.

31 • Kim Horton • October 06, 2009 • 7:17 PM

I can’t believe how differently I listen to commentary now. This book is wonderful for my son, and it’s teaching me skills that I wished I had learned a long time ago.

My son is a visual learner, so I would have loved to have had the newest version. Thanks for continuing to make it even better.

32 • Cindy L • October 06, 2009 • 7:32 PM

I’ve enjoyed using The Fallacy Detective DVDs and would love to use the book with my 11 year old.  We talk often about how the arguments people use can either be valid or invalid and what makes them so.  I love having resources that help my children become wise thinkers - something the Bible tells us to be!

33 • Matthew P Henry • October 06, 2009 • 7:54 PM

The Fallacy Detective has changed our family! We read it together in family devotions several years ago when the first edition came out. We didn’t realize how messed up our 21st century marketing minds were! All of our premises on basic every day things we did or even believed were true have been challenged. If we happen to watch them, we see commercials on TV totally different, ads in stores and magazines and end up just saying something like, “Hasty Generalization” or “Logic Fallacy” when someone in the family tries to make a point. We have shared this book with countless folks as they come into our home and we listen to them make a point and we just say, that’s a logic fallacy and explain why and they go cowering in their corner again and rethink their speech. This is just an amazing book!

34 • Abby • October 06, 2009 • 9:14 PM

I am 11 years old and homeschooled, and I use the Fallacy Detective with my brothers and mom. We have all learned a LOT about fallacies, including mom! Thank you for making Fallacy Detective!

35 • Coree Sanders • October 06, 2009 • 9:42 PM

Learning about fallacies has helped me to become more alert and sharp when discussing or arguing issues with someone.  It’s like a sieve in my mind that winnows out poor or wrong arguments, premises, and conclusions.  It also helps me when I listen to speeches and presentations to see if the presenter is building his case logically.  Learning about fallacies is invaluable!!!

36 • juli c. pealstrom • October 06, 2009 • 11:49 PM

Your book and examples have made it easier for me to explain different situations where logic should be used, and obviously is NOT!  You’ve explained them in a way I might not be able to to my kids.

37 • Amber Dunham • October 07, 2009 • 2:08 AM

Thank you for sharing the knowledge of logic that you have gained.  It is so enabling for making wise decisions. I am grateful that there is a way to share with my children what I was never taught myself.  May God Bless you for your giving.

38 • Melba Sibrel • October 07, 2009 • 2:14 AM

This book has helped my son so much with spotting lapses in logic in: news reporting, political speeches and the arguments of family and acquaintances trying to sway his views. It’s even helped open our eyes in Bible study regarding the faulty arguments of the temptor. I’m very proud of his bright mind and thankful for the way this book helps me educate him—enabling him to sharpen his mind and senses to the fallacies that inundate us every day, and thus be armed with the discernment to combat them.

39 • Sheila DelCharco • October 07, 2009 • 8:06 AM

We are studying logic in our homeschool as well as Penny Candy and Bluestocking Guide. We do not have a copy of the Fallacy Detective and would love to win one! Please add my name to your drawing!

40 • Rain Whittaker • October 07, 2009 • 8:17 AM

I would love a copy of your new book. My 14 yr. old daughter has just begun taking a debate class with fellow homeschoolers. And I am sure the info. in this book would give her an edge. : )

41 • Alisha Hauser • October 07, 2009 • 8:46 AM

We are only on lesson 10 but already my 13 yr old daughter and 15 yr old son are spotting fallacies in the news! Even our younger children are picking some of it up. One day around the table 8 dd was asking 13 yr old dd a question, 13 yr old dd tried to avoid the question and answered with a Red Herring, 8 yr old yelled thats a “yucky red fish!” We all about died laughing and her big brother said, “yes, that was, she caught you!”
Thank you for writing this book!

42 • Ann Calabro • October 07, 2009 • 10:05 AM

My 7 year old has gotten his interest piqued by your newsletter…and now is
making up small logic situations to play with his friends. Very well done,
and we really appreciate all the work you’ve done!

43 • Cheryl Floyd • October 07, 2009 • 11:37 AM

I’m not a kid, I’m 38 actually, but I needed your book to understand logic! I am excited to find out how the new version has improved!

With our current political issues, and the way society so easily takes in advertising and entertainment “facts”, I want my children to easily recognize the fallacies around them. OK, so, I want to easily recognize the fallacies in my kids’ arguements as well. With your book, we can do both!

44 • Audrey Templin • October 07, 2009 • 12:54 PM

I have been waiting years to be able to use this book with my children. Now that they are old enough I discovered a copy at my library!  Before I even had a chance to read it, my 2 older children, 14 and 10, snatched it, devoured it, and told me how it was funny and they enjoyed it.  It sure would be nice to have my own copy.

45 • Patricia D. Christianson • October 07, 2009 • 12:58 PM

My kids Josh and Sally and I just love your books the Fallacy Detective and Thinking Toolbox. We are reading “Toolbox” right this minute!  Because we read “toolbox” about once every six months, we will really look forward to your new book.  Your books have helped us to use a logical approach in the other subject matter we study, and have helped us to get along better with people by putting into practice “when it is dumb to argue” and “when not to use logic.” We have started to use Lewis Carroll’s Formal Logic and think it is fun because of what we have learned about logic from you.

46 • Regina and Jacquelyn MacMorris • October 07, 2009 • 1:53 PM

Love the cartoons, and my LD visual learner will surely benefit from the new
version. We’re enjoying the edition we have and drawing our own pictures, so
when we read that’s what you gentlemen did, we said simultaneously, “Great
minds think alike!” and laughed like crazy.

Hope you’ll consider us for one of those free copies.

Regina and Jacquelyn MacMorris

47 • Kelly Cimino • October 07, 2009 • 2:01 PM

Your resources have helped me tremendously these past three years. I was
hired to teach logic to 8th-graders, a class my school had never before
offered. Your “Fallacy Detective” has been invaluable to me and to the kids
as I try to make this material relevant and fun! Thank you!

48 • Mari • October 07, 2009 • 2:37 PM

My 9th grade son and I finished the Fallacy Detective today.  What a blessing it has been to us!  It has really helped us not only to spot fallacies others are using, but to recognize our own too.  What an eyeopener!  It is amazing once you know what the fallacies are how extremely prevelant they are in our society.  They are everywhere, politics, television, magazines, advertisements, courtooms.  Thank you for a great book.  We will be starting the Thinking Toolbox next and are looking forward to it.  Keep up the good work!

49 • Sarah Camarena • October 07, 2009 • 2:41 PM

I humbly can say that this is so new to me and wish to own your book for myself and my children.  Thank you for sharing you knowledge.

50 • Tanya Reese • October 07, 2009 • 2:59 PM

I always thought logic as a subject would be hard to teach to my son. But your book has made it easy to do. Thanks for that.
Tanya

51 • Beth Loughner • October 07, 2009 • 3:49 PM

Our family loves the Fallacy Detective book. I used it while homeschooling our daughters and now use it to teach a critical thinking class for high school homeschoolers. The book offers great examples that can reach any learning style. The teens loved the class and have gained great insight into critical thinking. Thanks!

52 • Mandy Donne-Lee • October 07, 2009 • 4:26 PM

New to homeschooling, new to fallacy detective, and 3 kids under 10, we have still found the snippets we have read online relevant and thought provoking. We’d love to see the new book…

53 • mary smith • October 07, 2009 • 5:34 PM

I have enjoyed using your book to teach my children how to listen critically.  We enjoy spotting fallacies in advertising, film, and even in conversation with each other!  Thank you for writing such a user friendly approach to logic.

54 • Tammy Arp • October 07, 2009 • 6:36 PM

What an EXCELLENT resource.

I took all 3 of my kids through both the Fallacy Detective and Thinking Toolbox, several times, in junior high and high school.

The books really helped with college level thinking to spot fallacies from liberal teachers and curriculum to politicians and the media.

I’ve now made these books a strongly recommended pre-requisite and additional reading for my debate club students.  The books are a great way to get basic logic concepts down quickly.

Thank you!

55 • Chris Patterson • October 07, 2009 • 7:35 PM

The Fallacy Detective was on my personal summer reading list. Once I was through with it, I was amazed at how many fallacies I was noticing (both my own and others). It just so happened that as I finished the book, the health care debate was raging. I and a couple of good friends of mine were debating over Facebook about the pros/cons of the proposed health care legislation and Fallacy Detective helped me immensely in spotting the red herrings, tu quoques, etc.

Not only that, but I’ve started teaching logical fallacies (i.e., how to spot them). It’s been a great blessing to me. Thanks for your book!

56 • Caroline • October 07, 2009 • 7:39 PM

I am really looking forward to introducing this book to my kids.  I have seen a copy once and knew right away that I wanted to use it in our homeschool.  Thank you for writing it!

57 • CJ Lechner • October 07, 2009 • 8:34 PM

After reading the Fallacy Detective, I have not only been able to communicate better but I have also learned to talk without giving the person I am speaking to a chance to tear open what I just said. Not only that, but I have been able to introduce my friends to this. Yes - These are the same kids who refer to everyone as “Dude” regardless of age, gender, or social standing. And they have now turned around and explained good communicating and flawless speech to THEIR friends! It’s really cool to see one book that I read, multiply into people changing their speech! So on behalf of all 27 of my friends - I would like to thank you guys so much!

58 • Kimberly • October 07, 2009 • 8:51 PM

Learning about fallacies has helped my son be discerning about all the claims commercials make.  At age 10, he loves to find flaws in other people’s logic 😊

59 • Daniel Masloske • October 07, 2009 • 9:55 PM

Dear Hans and Nathaniel Bluedorn,

Last year I won a copy of The Fallacy Detective in a “guess the fallacy” type of contest from your mom, and have recently added it to my day.  Although I am twelve, and though the original book recommends it for ages 13-adult, I am really enjoying it.

I think that it is a great logic book for homeschoolers (and classrooms, but I am homeschooled), seeing that it is funny but straight to the point, fun, and in presented from a Christian worldview.  It has greatly helped me recognize bad reasoning in catalogs and sale papers, in other people, and keeping my own speech in line.

My brother (who has completed the book plus the Thinking Toolbox) and I have greatly enjoyed having “arguments” and catching each other’s fallacies.  I have now been able to recognize little fallacies which could have easily fooled me.  I look forward to finishing it so that I can read the Thinking Toolbox.

60 • Maria W. • October 08, 2009 • 3:53 AM

Dear Brothers Bluedorn,

I have not read The Fallacy Detective, only the sample.

I’m not a logic-type person, and as a result, have run into many different kinds of problems. I want to teach my daughter to see through what others present to her so that she doesn’t fall for what they are saying or selling to her.

They say you can’t teach an old dog new tricks; well, I’m not an old dog, but at 53, I can certainly learn a new way of thinking!

Thank you for writing this book!

61 • Ronda Bowman • October 08, 2009 • 7:33 AM

I have wanted your books for ages, but every time there’e money for school stuff, it seems like yours is the one that’s not absolutely necessary and gets put off until next time.  Since I love logic and would like to have a fun way to present it to my children, I’m hoping that will change soon.  😊

62 • Patricia • October 08, 2009 • 8:29 AM

This is an entry for the book give-away contest.

Learning about fallacies has helped me look at what I read with discernment based not only on the spiritual truths of God’s Word (which is still necessary; don’t get me wrong!), but also on logic. Even when I read something that I already tend to agree with—say, for example, something about natural health—I’ve learned to separate fact from opinion, and investigate facts, or what has been presented as fact, to see if it is indeed true, as well as truthfully presented in a way that doesn’t leave out important information.

This also applies to me when I write! I need to be careful to not just report the parts of a study, for example, that support what I think, but to be well-rounded in my presentation. It’s simply a part of integrity and being honest.

And, strange as it may seem, all this has also helped me in my witnessing. I find that even atheists who seem to love sarcastically arguing about God and His nature respond amazingly well when I present the truth of His love for them in a respectful way.

Oct. 8, 2009

63 • Lisa Tate • October 08, 2009 • 8:45 AM

I think this is a GREAT BOOK for any school!  I do feel our children are lacking skills with logic/discerning.  It is simply not taught in most classrooms today! Bravo on a job well done.  As a homeschool mom, I am having fun teaching this along with my children learning this.  THANK YOU

64 • Shanna • October 08, 2009 • 9:30 AM

I don’t own your book but love the emails I have read on the fallacies! It looks like such a fun way to learn logic! I would love to read your book and teach it to my siblings!

65 • Cynthia • October 08, 2009 • 10:35 AM

My son likes the examples that are used to demonstrate the falacies.  The examples make the falacies come to life.  We plan on using more of your materials.  Thanks!

66 • Lowell Stevens • October 08, 2009 • 1:28 PM

Three years ago, I had no clue what logic was. I had heard the term, sure. The famous quote from Narnia, “Logic, why don’t they teach logic in schools?” was a particular favorite of mine, though I really couldn’t say why. Then along came Fallacy Detective. For the first time, I started understanding, not arguments themselves, but the progression of thoughts that gave structure to the argument. After only a few lessons, I could glance at my favorite comic strips, Calvin and Hobbes, for instance, and tell immediately what arguments and counterarguments they were using. It was incredible.

Three years of high school has gone by, but the lessons in the slender volume haven’t. I couldn’t define a postulate if my life depended on it, or calculate the newtons in a speeding cannonball, but when I hear a few people arguing, my mind begins churning out Latin the way Harvard churns Presidents. Ad hominem, tu quoque, Ad hoc ergo propter hoc, and so on. And when that happens, I smile. Because I have been taught the most valuable lessons of my life from this book. If you only get one book on Logic, make it this one.

67 • Rosalind Bennett • October 08, 2009 • 3:36 PM

Learning about Fallacies using your great book has helped us spot common fallacies that people use in conversations, news reports and articles. We
now try to stop ourselves using them too!
We would love to win a copy of the new edition of The Fallacy Detective.

68 • Liz Garrison • October 08, 2009 • 4:20 PM

Learning about fallacies has helped my whole class of 8th - 12th graders to
slow down & THINK. We have really enjoyed the book & having a copy of the
new one would allow us to extend these logic lessons a little further in
our coursework this semester.

69 • Bradley Balsters • October 09, 2009 • 10:54 AM

We’re always spotting fallacies in commercials! Put our name in the hat.

70 • Mary Hobbs • October 09, 2009 • 11:07 PM

I am SO excited about the new edition! The Fallacy Detective has helped my
family identify logic fallicies. And it was especially helpful during the
last election campaign! I work with a wide range of ages, 16,14, 11, and 9
- and have trouble finding examples they all can grasp. Your new book looks
like it’ll fit the bill AND keep what could be a heady and difficult subject
FUN! We would LOVE one of your 12 free books!Thank you!

71 • Carola Basaj • October 12, 2009 • 10:59 PM

Logic has become our absolute pet peeve…The 10 year old beats everyone at naming the committed fallacies and even the 5 year old can point out the most obvious - all the kids very much enjoy finding the fallacies in everything they encounter: the paper, TV, speeches of politicians!  The older kids are very good by now in coming up with their own examples.  It is the one book we take on vacations, especially long trips to keep all entertained and challenged!  Thank you for such an easy to understand resource and now I am not scared to take on subjects such as logic any longer, just because I never studied it in school.

72 • Hans Bluedorn • October 16, 2009 • 1:04 PM

Here are the people who won a copy of The Fallacy Detective: 2009 Edition

Mina Souvannasoth
Laura Mallory
Heather Scherger
Bria Warren
Megan
Alisha Hauser
Chris Patterson
CJ Lechner
Lowell Stevens
Patricia

Thanks for Playing,

Hans

73 • Nathan B. • October 13, 2010 • 4:13 PM

I realy like the fallacy detective
but I wish you would post the answer key on the website because
it got riped out of my book

74 • Mary Ann Prickett • January 19, 2011 • 11:50 AM

We are almost finished with your book and I would like a copy of The Fallacy Detective Test. Could you please email me the test and answer key?
Also, want to let you know that my son has really enjoyed the course so far. Thank you for creating such a fun and educational book!