Nonsense

Nonsense. Red Herrings, Straw men, and Sacred Cows: How We Abuse Logic in Our Everyday Language. By Robert J. Gula.

From the forward to the book: "Robert John Gula had a relatively short life of forty-seven years. But he wrote or co-wrote seventeen books ranging from Mythology: Greek and Roman to Precision: A Reference Handbook for Writers., and taught Latin, Greek, algebra, geometry, chemistry, English composition, and logic at the Groton School, one of the best secondary schools in America."

Bob Gula described why he wrote Nonsense, a handbook of verbal logic. "Nonsense came about because of my frustration in seeing how people, even highly intelligent people, are often simply unable to communicate when in a group. Having seen many meetings and discussions that floundered, I began to wonder why. That wonder led to a course on informal logic, and that course led to Nonsense."

Nonsense was intended to be the best compilation and study of verbal logical fallacies available anywhere, and it is that and more. On one level, it is a handbook of ways that people deceive themselves and others. On another level, it is a short course in nonmathematical logical thinking, a form of thinking that all of us use and often abuse everyday.

Great little book!