If there is a more concise and readable book on argumentation out there, I am unaware of it. I picked up this book to help me develop instructional materials on argumentation for advanced high school students. While it is an excellent resource for my endeavor, I think this book belongs, besides Strunk and White's The Elements of Style, on every college student's bookshelf; I wish I'd had it myself during my undergraduate years.

Anthony Weston created an indispensable handbook here. It's small, easy to carry, easy to read, and is incredibly useful as a resource to help one hone his or her skills in analyzing the logic of arguments. I strongly recommend keeping a copy of 'A Rulebook for Arguments' around and handy, it could be more frequently useful than one might imagine. Now, to be clear, Weston doesn't go much into giving a list of fallacies. Rather, he delves into structure of arguments and the ways to scrutinize their logic. It is a book of vital lessons in logic. ( )

A Rulebook For Arguments by Anthony Weston is a veritable entry-level book for those seeking information on how to employ critical thinking.

The book is quite short, but the value of the information this book provides more than makes up for the size considering the quality of information.

For those seeking a practical rulebook on the applications of logic, argumentation, fallacies and more, this book gives an easy to follow but robust approach.

Given the breath of the information, page for page, this book is a high-value item, especially considering it also offers a synopsis on some of the more common fallacies employed by people.

Some additional of the elements discussed in the book are generalizations, sources, deductive arguments, oral arguments, argumentative essays, arguments by analogy, and more.

The other benefit is that this book can be read by people of all ages, and it will aid them immensely. From adults, to young children, this book would fine-tune anyone’s repertoire.

To finalize, as a book to keep in hand to quickly reference this book will be crucial given the latitude that it offers individuals willing to apply its rules. ( )

Very concise and easy to understand reference when it comes to understanding and forming arguments. ( )

Anthony Weston encourages the use of representative examples and counterexamples, warns of the hazards of statistics (like I recently have), imparts the importance of impartial and reliable sources, explains the correlational relationship between cause and effect, presents deductive reasoning in the words of Sherlock Holmes, preaches the value of librarians, and can teach a thing or two to Badly Behaving Authors.

Criticisms and suggestions, as always, are welcome. ~ Page x, from the Preface

Writers --at all levels--need feedback. It is through others' eyes that you can see best where you are unclear or hasty of just plain implausible. Feedback improves your logic too. Objections may come up that you hadn't expected. Premises you thought were secure may turn out to need defending, while other premises may turn out to be more secure than they seemed. You may even pick up a dew new facts or examples. Feedback is a "reality check" all the way around --welcome it. ~ page 64, Rule 38

The Some Common Fallacies chapter is excellent. The examples I run into the most:

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On the Big Benefits Row Live, Katie Hopkins (a vile woman) responded to Annabel Giles's well-reasoned argument with a personal insult instead of refuting the argument: "All I hear is somebody that wanted to be a model, but didn't make it." (Er, she was the face of Max Factor, I think she 'made it'.)

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One word: X-Factor. The sob stories 'appealing to pity as an argument for special treatment.'

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"Everyone's doing it!" Sex (for teenagers). Brazilian waxes. iPhones. '...appealing to a person to go along with the crowd.'


As the author invites criticism, I have only one complaint: No forms of cognitive bias were included. Bias is explicitly mentioned once, during the introduction of section IV on Sources. I've tried to find a book that does include them and this was, in the end, the most likely candidate to cover this topic, so I'm a tad disappointed.

A Rulebook for Arguments really is what it says, a short and concise, but easy to understand, list of rules on how to construct a solid argument.

Recommended to everyone 12 , including authors of both fiction and non-fiction, for everything from a short and simple discussion to essays, oral presentations, and dissertations. ( )