Believing Bullshit: How Not to Get Sucked into an Intellectual Black Hole

Well composed, excellent coverage of critical knowledge, this will go on the "to re-read" shelf. I'm also adding to to the Must read homeschool list. Law does a very good job illustrating the traps and describing how to avoid, dismantle and negate them. The composition is dense, and I set it aside several times in order to digest the text (do note that nothing here is new, but it is presented in a rich narrative that can be off-putting for those who don't play in the debate sandbox every day). Law does put his perspective on the subject and does a nice job collecting the entire theme in a bonus narrative in the form of C. S. Lewis's The Screwtape Letters. I wonder if fans of Lewis will see the irony...

Religion is the target of pretty show more much each of the trap examples, but Law is careful not to actually say something is BS (for example, he offers that while "psychic" anything is probably BS, someday, someone might actually be able to prove the "ability"). Still, the recipients of the analyses will likely take offense. show less

A very lively introduction to the mistakes we make in our beliefs and thoughts. The author identifies eight intellectual "black holes" that a person can fall into when they have a cherished belief they are trying to defend, and demonstrates how to avoid getting sucked into those black holes. A couple of weak spots were in his definition of science (he seems to be one of those who defines science as what scientists do, requiring all sorts of special skills and equipment) and in his concept of evidence, which seemed very strange indeed, since he ruled out as evidence things that were, in fact, very much evidence. Other than that, a very strong defense of critical thinking. This should be read widely by the very people who are the least show more likely to read it. show less

Law's book isn't bullshit itself but it does smell a little. not because it's dishonest or trying to sell something cheap but because it's just a laundry list of logical fallacies that preaches to the skeptical choir. it's very title will put off those that might be the most "in need" of learning about these concepts and practices.

Law attempts to speak to an audience unversed in philosophy or critical thinking methods, he just comes across as pedestrian, pedantic, and authoritarian in its arguments. This also means that he almost waters things down too much for his would-be lay readers, sounding too colloquial and even poser-hipsterish at times. In addition to this, his refutations come out as statements of solid, immovable fact with show more little to no room for debate despite this ostensibly being a lesson in logic and critical thinking.

the only truly original and interesting piece of this book occurs at the very end with the section titled “The Tapescrew Letters.” based on CS Lewis Screwtape letters, Law attempts to parade the inner workings of an overtly, self-aware grifting cult before our eyes in a kind of satire of same. It seems poorly done, even so, as he trots out nearly every “black hole” he covered in the previous section of the book and uses a skeptic as a kind of savior. ugg.

so, if you have never been exposed to logical fallacies or would like to understand more about them, this is the book for you. otherwise, it's meh. show less