How to Think About Weird Things : Critical Thinking for a New Age

Review By: John Woolf, Compare Book Suit
Review Score:

We live in an ocean of information that is being pumped into our brains everyday.  How do we effectively sift through the myriad of signals, claims and contradictions to determine what data are worthwhile and which are valid?   Most of us simply accept the propaganda spun by  ideologues, politicians, pseudo-scientists, advertisers and the like, and then regurgitate information without the critical thinking skills necessary to help us determine if it is accurate.   In an eruditely effort to help us evaluate the info-age clutter, Theodore Schick and Lewis Vaughn's book, How to Think About Weird Things : Critical Thinking for a New Age provides step-by step procedures to adequately equip us to become critical thinkers.

The Authors in their introduction state that the purpose of this book is about "how to test the truth or reality of some of the most influential, mysterious, provocative, bewildering puzzles we can ever experience. It's about how to think clearly and critically about what we authors have dubbed 'weird things'--all the unusual, awesome, wonderful, bizarre, and antic happenings, real or alleged, that bubble up out of science, pseudo-science, the occult, the paranormal, the mystic, and the miraculous." This would even include, but not necessarily limited to such things as Near Death Experiences, UFO abductions, Dowsing, Channeling and even Homeopathy.  The tools and methods Schick and Vaughn employ are logic, the Forer effect, perceptual constancies, confirmation bias, expectation, availability error, criteria of adequacy in evaluating hypotheses, and last but not least, the placebo effect.

Such methods would come in handy, especially when it comes to the criteria for assessing claimed medical treatments, because in this arena apparently we really drop the ball.  It seems that we are extra good at deceiving ourselves when it comes to our evaluation of cures, treatments and therapies. The authors introduce their "SEARCH" formula, which is a long acronym for a simple 4-step process for evaluating claims and hypotheses.  These consists of Stating a claim, examining the Evidence, considering Alternative hypotheses, and Rating according to the Criteria of adequacy of each Hypothesis.

However, this densely packed book may not appeal to all.  It is not designed to be easily skimmed through and probably won't appeal to those who are not already suspicious that we are surrounded by a shroud of misinformation in our daily lives.  And there are those who feel the book is written not so much about "how to think" but rather "what to think".  Still, that being said, this book is interesting, eye-opening and gives the reader much to examine externally in the world as well as internally in finding truth in personal experiences.

For further information concerning critial thinking, visit Dr. Korcz's (Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of Louisiana) What Is Philosophy page.