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

by Jay Heinrichs

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Writing

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

[Monica Pruitt · Rating 2 out of 5]

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.

[eddie · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[Macy ໒꒱ · Rating 3 out of 5]

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

[Kayleigh Gorey · Rating 3 out of 5]

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