How to Think: Your Essential Guide to Clear, Critical Thought

by Tom Chatfield

This is a book about thinking. Engaging and down-to-earth, it captures the habits and practices that are fundamental to clear thinking and effective study.

In his warm and friendly style, Tom Chatfield shows you how to:

Identify and examine your biases Engage in lively, curious skepticism See the value in emotion and use rhetoric persuasively Know when to say ′I don′t know′ Construct reasoned arguments and explanations Think critically about how you engage with technology. Short and punchy, the book views critical thinking as a skill to be continually practiced and developed. It equips you with a toolkit for clearer thinking, describing ten key concepts that help you to apply what you have learned. Including regular reflective exercises, key concepts, further readings, each chapter also offers recommendations for how to put the ideas it discusses into practice.

This book is for undergraduate students and anyone looking to understand the core ideas behind critical thinking. Celebrating both self-reflection and collaboration, this book empowers you to pause, think twice and, above all, think well.

Genres: Psychology, Philosophy, Nonfiction

ebook

Published June 2, 2021

About the author

Dr Tom Chatfield is a British writer, broadcaster and tech philosopher. Tom’s books exploring digital culture—most recently "Critical Thinking" (SAGE Publishing) and "Live This Book!" (Penguin)—have appeared in over two dozen countries and languages. He's currently writing a series of thrillers for Hodder set in the world of the dark net.

Reviews

[Chris Boutté · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most important skill we can develop is learning how to think better, which is why I love books like this. I’ve heard of Tom Chatfield from quite a few people, but this is the first book of his that I’ve read, and it was fantastic. It’s difficult to reach the average person and teach them the importance of critical thinking, but this book from Chatfield is perfect. It breaks down a ton of common thinking errors, and he touches on relevant topics to use as examples such as COVID, parenting our kids, looking at the news, and much more. Each chapter has reflections as well to go back over what was discussed, and it’s great to take some time during the reflections to see how you can apply the tools to daily life. For anyone who wants to improve their thinking and decision-making, I highly recommend this book, and I’ll most likely be reading it again at some point.

[Joao O · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brief but yet insightful, this book is a great compilation of the key ideas and concepts around critical thinking. A must read for anyone starting on these topics.

[Forensic Psych Student · Rating 4 out of 5]

This short accessible book covers the key concepts of critical thought ranging from meta cognition, communication and writing, examining assumptions, constructing arguments, collaborative thinking, statistics and technology.

I especially liked the way Chatfield approached communication. By introducing concepts such as the principle of charity, he showed how it’s possible to disagree constructively. This is especially important in the digital age, where people can be pushed apart and separated along ideological lines. Interacting with people who have different assumptions can improve and enrich your own thinking.

COVID is discussed throughout and the way it is used to highlight how we use assumptions to make decisions is interesting. In particular, Chatfield talks about how vaccine hesitancy may be underpinned by an assumption that natural is better than unnatural, and how this “intuitive heuristic” oversimplifies complex questions regarding what is natural, how vaccines actually work and the benefits and risks involved with getting vaccinated. Nonetheless, it’s possible its presence may alienate some people, preventing them from assessing the underlying arguments.

The importance of seeking refutation is emphasised throughout, detailing how pervasive confirmation bias is. Chatfield highlights how conspiracy theories have a circular logic; any evidence that refutes the theory is dismissed as part of the conspiracy. I found this thought-provoking and wished he had unpicked this further. It’s a phenomenon that plagues our information environment and a fuller exploration would have been appreciated.

In summary, this is a good book that explains the fundamentals of critical thinking. Its scope and depth makes it a great introduction, and it would be a shame if readers were dissuaded from reading it by the presence of discussions about COVID. I personally found the discussions around COVID made the book relevant and topical, as did the related topic of conspiracy theories.

[Carolina Neves]

3.5*

A very simple reading, feels like you can talk and argue with the author. However, Covid is the main example throughout the book and I got slightly bored. I still recommend since it has some key concepts that can help you think, understand and argue better.