Thank You for Arguing - What Aristotle, Lincoln, and Homer Simpson Can Teach Us about the Art of Persuasion

by Jay Heinrichs

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, School, Writing, Communication

480 pages, Paperback

About the author

Jay Heinrichs is the author of the New York Times bestseller, Thank You for Arguing, published in four editions and 14 languages. The leading modern work on rhetoric, it has been taught in more than 3,000 college rhetoric classes and countless AP English Language & Composition classes.

Jay maintains the popular rhetoric and language websites ArgueLab.com and websites Figarospeech.com. In addition, he holds frequent Skype-ins with classes that use his book.

When he’s not spreading the gospel of rhetoric, Jay conducts content strategies and persuasion workshops for clients as varied as the Wharton School of Business and NASA. Middlebury College named him a Professor of the Practice of Rhetoric and Oratory. Bloomberg BusinessWeek magazine did a not altogether flattering portrait of him titled Jay Heinrichs’s Powers of Persuasion.

Reviews

[bella]

i just don’t understand why i had to read this as a summer assignment when im abt to learn all of this at school

[Beau]

Nobody ever told Heinrichs that if you want someone to listen to your argument, you shouldn’t be insanely annoying when delivering it unless you want people to never listen to a word you say.

[Juneau S]

I had the displeasure of being forced to read this for an assignment. Guy who wrote this is an absolutely insufferable geek trying to sound witty and cool. Nobody cares about his life or his family so I don't know why we have to hear about them so much. Literally EVERYTHING he wrote about is just common sense yet he tries to pass it off as some profound insights we so desperately need because we couldn't figure out anything ourselves. Additionally I can't fathom a single reason the size and length of this have to be bigger than the bible and dictionary combined with how little information he covers. I'm praying to every god that I'll never have to read anything else by him and you all should too.

[Isla ☆]

Very interesting and on point, but thank goodness for Heinrichs’ ability to write conversationally or else I would have been done for.
Four stars only because I was forced to read this against my will. (Who ever thought of making summer reading assignments a thing??)
*Side note: I live in a red state — how on earth did this manage to make it past Trump’s education… ideas? It bashes him all throughout. Don’t tell him, though — I wish to keep reading more of that! ;)

[Monica Pruitt]

1.5, i just wasn't the intended audience in a way. i really loved these type of non fiction several years ago when i grabbed this, but i wonder if even back then i'd have liked it.
the author was really knowledgeable though and had some fun and sometimes funny examples of what he was teaching. i couldn't think of a circumstance where i'd recommend this.

[Lily]

2.75 Better than I thought

[victoria datlow]

Funny but soo soo boring

[Lu Carney]

This book was incredibly boring

I only wish I'd read the assignment sheet, because I could've been done at page 226. Biggest mistake of my life.

[Chad Manske]

Jay Heinrichs’s “Thank You for Arguing: What Aristotle, Lincoln, and Homer Simpson Can Teach Us about the Art of Persuasion” is that rare book which makes an ancient subject feel not merely relevant, but urgently alive. It is a lively, shrewd, often hilarious guide to rhetoric—the practical art of influencing other people without necessarily bludgeoning them with facts, titles, or volume. Heinrichs begins with Aristotle, but he does not leave the reader stranded in a marble forum with men in togas. Instead, he moves effortlessly from Greek philosophy to Lincoln’s political genius, from Shakespeare to advertising, from family arguments to contemporary popular culture. Homer Simpson becomes as useful a rhetorical specimen as Cicero. The result is less a textbook than a field manual for daily life: the office meeting, the difficult conversation with a spouse, the sales pitch, the public speech, the social-media dispute, and the inevitable dinner-table argument. The book’s central insight is both simple and unsettling: winning an argument is not the same as proving oneself right. Persuasion depends on character, emotion, timing, shared values, and the ability to make an audience want the conclusion before it realizes it has been led there. Heinrichs explains Aristotle’s trio of ethos, pathos, and logos with exceptional clarity, then expands into useful concepts such as framing, concession, decorum, code language, and the strategic use of humor. His finest achievement is making these tools memorable rather than academic. Heinrichs is especially good on the difference between fighting and persuading. A quarrel fixates on the past—who was wrong, who caused the problem, who must apologize. Rhetoric shifts attention toward the future: what should we do now? That distinction alone makes the book valuable, particularly in an age saturated with ideological trench warfare and performative outrage. The prose is brisk, conversational, and mischievous. Heinrichs has the confidence to teach serious intellectual material without becoming solemn, and his examples frequently provoke a laugh before delivering a lesson. At times, the abundance of anecdotes and rhetorical labels can feel like drinking from a fire hose; readers may need to pause, reread, and practice rather than simply absorb. Still, “Thank You for Arguing” is immensely rewarding. It teaches readers not how to become manipulative, but how to listen more carefully, speak more effectively, and recognize when others are trying to steer them. It is a smart, entertaining, and surprisingly humane book about one of civilization’s oldest—and most necessary—arts.

[eddie]

I picked this up because I saw that it was one of the few highly recommended books for anyone interested in learning about rhetoric and debate. After getting through it, I mostly want to say that I was very disappointed in its presentation.

One of my main gripes with it is the conflation between the words “manipulation” and “persuasion”. The author often chooses the more confusing and provocative word, “manipulation”. A lot of his language in the beginning implies that we should strive to “win” most conversations through manipulating even those closest to us. I strongly believe that just using persuasion instead of manipulation would make his ideas much more clear. The author’s quirky sense of humor was also very much not for me and just muddied his framing of rhetoric. I would have appreciated a more disciplined approach to such a broadly misunderstood subject. While there is still a lot more I could criticize about his writing, the actual content and lessons he gave were really insightful. I can’t say I didn’t learn anything from reading it. I mean, I did somewhat enjoy the book. It was just that it was a lot more enjoyable when he stopped trying to be funny and provocative, and began to seriously defend the art of rhetoric.

[Jhenny]

I just don’t know why he did not hold up and zone in to argue with himself to have made this a masterpiece- this had the recipe to be such a good book but at the end of the book - It was not as good as I thought it would have been. For those who don’t know about the elements of an argument it would give you a base line- and even as I write that- not even a baseline more of another space that mentions those points but with no real guide. I’m sorry if the author read this- I do not mean to be harsh just I think redoing this book and getting some feedback would be helpful and I think it would create such a good book- so many good ingredients that you have to work with just needs reframing.

[Mika]

Useful information but like I think it could have been organized better. More specific sections like logos, pathos, ethos, what not to do, etc. would make each tool easier to remember. The examples were super helpful though, it made reading a lot more fun.

Really hope I won’t have to remember terms like phonesis once school starts but I guess I’ll find out soon enough

[Adriannka]

There are many take aways from this book that you can apply into daily interactions and conversations with people. Fantastic strategies you can use on the individual’s in your life that like to start arguments for no reason, or lack of reason.

[Macy ໒꒱]

I genuinely enjoyed reading this book and how the author speaks to the reader casually. It felt less like I was being lectured.

[Grace Tull]

1.5 stars

[Carrie 🤎🍁]

(Was forced to read for school) this could’ve been 100 pages but this guys likes to ramble and say things he already said

[Osman Yaşar]

So being annoying is how you argue with people, thank you.

[Kayleigh Gorey]

Read this for a course on rhetorical arguments and thought it provided thoughtful and informative examples.