The Power of Logical Thinking: Easy Lessons in the Art of Reasoning...and Hard Facts About Its Absence in Our Lives

by Marilyn vos Savant

A classic of critical thinking that is now more urgent than ever!

America has become a society devoid of understanding of the power of logic and numbers. All too often, we rely on our intuition or on empty statistics to formulate opinions about ourselves and our world. As a result of inadequate schooling in the art of reasoning, we have become a people unable to make truly logical decisions, intimidated by numbers, and too passive to reverse this disturbing trend.

The Power of Logical Thinking addresses these concerns, illustrating how you can reason better, how numbers are used against you, and how your vote may be affected. Marilyn vos Savant writes, "We can't trust our intuitions, our statisticians, or our politicians. The 1992 presidential campaign is a case in point. Numbers were used, abused, and misused by the candidates as never before in the history of our country. Voters were easily manipulated, setting a precedent for years to come."

Part One of The Power of Logical Thinking explains the most provocative of the counterintuitive problems that Marilyn vos Savant has encountered in recent years, such as the now classic "Monty Hall Dilemma," the improbability of winning the lottery, and much more.

Part Two shows how statistics have quietly become a tool of persuasion instead of education. In addition to exploring puzzles and paradoxes, this sections explains the underlying reasoning to help you answer questions such as which surgery should you choose? What are your odds of having breast cancer? Do drug-testing and AIDS-testing give you yes/no answers?

In Part Three, vos Savant illustrates how our votes are affected, with examples of selective logic, specious reasoning, and outright sophistry collected from the campaigns of the '80s and '90s...techniques that politicians and corporations still use to manipulate voters today.

Genres: Psychology, Philosophy, Logic, Mathematics, Nonfiction, Self Help, Politics

228 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1996

About the author

Marilyn vos Savant is an American magazine columnist, author, lecturer and playwright who rose to fame through her listing in the Guinness Book of World Records under "Highest IQ". Since 1986 she has written Ask Marilyn, a Sunday column in Parade magazine in which she solves puzzles and answers questions from readers on a variety of subjects.

Reviews

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy to read with some fun puzzles.

It also has a chapter on the way statistics and reasoning is abused in politics, using examples from the 1992 American Presidential election.

[Jonathan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't get much out of this book. The Monty Hall problem is certainly fascinating (so much so that the academic paper discussing it, included as an appendix, is the best part of the book!) but many of the other problems highlighted by the author seemed dully academic, and useful more for showing off than for achieving real practical benefits. The section on politics at the end was not convincing at all; vos Savant tries to apply strict mathematical logic to political and economic issues, but the real world is far messier and its problems much more complex than she seems willing to admit. It's enough to simply say, "politicians play fast and loose with numbers and facts, so take what they say with a large grain of salt." Common sense is more useful here than above-average numeracy.

[Jaime Portillo De la O · Rating 5 out of 5]

Después de leer acerca de un poco de lógica (o mucho de lógica) creemos que entendemos conceptualmente como utilizar el raciocinio adecuadamente.

Definitivamente, la lógica, en la práctica no es tan fácil de encontrar. Aquí tenemos que Vos Savant, famosa por ser la persona más inteligente del mundo en su tiempo (según su coeficiente intelectual) nos enseña a navegar por muchas trampas al pensamiento lógico.

Más de alguien puede quedarse de brazos cruzados, pensando que el pensamiento equivocado obedece a la emoción, pero ello no debe de ser así necesariamente. Para pensar mejor, basta con abrir las páginas de El poder del pensamiento lógico.

[Huw · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant. So much to take from this book

[RJ Patten · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most fascinating part of this book, and the subject given the most space is Marilyn's treatment of the math problem known as The Monty Hall Dilemma. The appendix by Donald Granberg "To Switch or Not to Switch" explains how our reactions to this math problem illustrate many of the findings from the new science of Behavioral Economics. For that reason Granberg's appendix is worth the price of the book.

[James P · Rating 3 out of 5]

Don't be afraid of a book written by arguably the world's most intelligent woman. (She happens to be married to Dr. Jarvik who invented the artificial heart.) You will love some of her logic problems which, if you can solve or understand quicly, will make you a MENSA candidate. Not that there is anything wrong with not being a candidate.

[Mattheus Guttenberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a foray into our statistical ignorance and irrationality through a number of paradoxes and probability riddles. Anyone interested in learning more about logic, mathematics, statistics, economics, and politics will be thrilled by vos Savant's counter-intuitive but ultimately compelling answers on these topics.

[Evan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Picture Martin Gardner who can’t explain things well but writes smhgly.

So... fun content, too-short explanations that don’t help elucidate, and add in a chapter of defending the rich “what’s wrong with some people earning just $250 a week? Or choosing to be uninsured for health care?”

Luckily it’s a quick read and I get to read more about the confusing problems.

[Mina Oh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Logical thinking. I thought I had thought fairly logically, but no.

[Saint No Stopping Us · Rating 2 out of 5]

Four out of ten.

The logical problems and explanations brought up to demonstrate the issue in hand (ie. the Monty Hall dilemma) were interesting enough. Dull and repetetive after that...