Richard L. Epstein
First comes clear thinking—then comes clear writing.
This handbook distills the essentials of critical thinking into an ideal supplementary textbook for introductory philosophy and composition courses.
A summary and guide to the art of reasoning well, this book is a concise aid to reasoning in daily life. Using everyday examples and an extraordinary clarity of presentation, this Pocket Guide allows you to learn all the basic skills of how to reason well in a short, readable introduction. It is also the basic text for how to think clearly enough to write well. The Pocket Guide to Critical Thinking is a perfect supplement for any course, for self-study, or as a reference when writing.
New in this 5th edition!
Chapters on reasoning in the sciences that provide the basics for students to begin the study of any science: explanations, experiments, the scientific methods, and models and theories.
"The Pocket Guide’s overall combination of accessibility, rigor and succinctness make it stand out from the crowded field of critical thinking texts, and the material new to this edition makes it an even more valuable resource for the teaching of critical thinking. This book should prove useful to instructors of critical thinking courses who are looking for a short text on critical thinking to supplement their own homework and exam materials as well as to any philosophy teacher looking for a relatively condensed treatment of critical thinking to recommend or assign to their students." —Timothy G. Murphy, SUNY Potsdam. Click here for the entire review in Teaching Philosophy
"I have used Richard Epstein's Pocket Guide to Critical Thinking in all of my introduction to philosophy and ethics courses. All of my students have found this book quite useful in becoming better at argumentation in both class discussions and writing assignments. Some students have even explicitly expressed that this book has helped them in other non-philosophy courses (e.g. biology, chemistry, physics, sociology, political science, and law). I highly recommend this book to any instructor who is looking for helping students understand critical thinking skills in the most accessible way possible." —Arsalan Memon, Lewis University
Read a review of our texts from Logic and Logical Philosophy.
See our Free Critical Thinking Supplements.