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A Field Guide to Lies

Critical Thinking in the Information Age
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Nov 02, 2016Lord_Vad3r rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
9 out of 10 doctors agree that reading this book will result in serious weight loss, more restful sleep, and make you better looking. Also Daniel Levitin will give you a million dollars just to read and review it! Psyche. You thought. But seriously, this is a book all about evaluating information. In a time when many of our news media are beholden to money interests and anyone can spread misinformation via the web, this is a set of skills that is more important than ever. Unfortunately, I suspect the people who could benefit the most from reading this, probably won't. There are certain groups of people who don't like to be confronted with facts and well-framed arguments and are unlikely to deviate from that pattern. Levitin covers the way graphics, graphs, statistics, probabilities, and words can be used to deceive us. Even trusted and reputable sources may have an ax to grind. Be aware of who's writing and never stop questioning. And before someone asks, no I didn't check all of the sources the author cites. Most of the concepts discussed are already familiar to me and it is the concept I am interested in not each factual instance cited. Read it for yourself and decide.