Logic Made Easy: How to Know When Language Deceives You | 
 enlarge | Author: Deborah J. Bennett
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Category: Book
List Price: $15.95
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Rating:  8 reviews
Sales Rank: 479561
Media: Paperback
Pages: 256
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.8
ISBN: 0393326926
Dewey Decimal Number: 511
EAN: 9780393326925
Publication Date: July 11, 2005
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Product Description
"The best introduction to logic you will find."—Martin Gardner "Professor Bennett entertains as she instructs," writes Publishers Weekly about the penetrating yet practical Logic Made Easy. This brilliantly clear and gratifyingly concise treatment of the ancient Greek discipline identifies the illogical in everything from street signs to tax forms. Complete with puzzles you can try yourself, Logic Made Easy invites readers to identify and ultimately remedy logical slips in everyday life. Designed with dozens of visual examples, the book guides you through those hair-raising times when logic is at odds with our language and common sense. Logic Made Easy is indeed one of those rare books that will actually make you a more logical human being. 36 illustrations.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 3 more reviews...
 Learn logic in a friendly way April 19, 2004
Jeff Selles (Midwest USA)
23 out of 25 found this review helpful
I really enjoyed this book. I've taken Critical Thinking, Philosophy, and Discrete Math at University but this book clarified ideas to me that I found difficult in formal classes. The book is a friendly, popular version of formal logic. The author presents history, nuances, and examples of logic that we easily misunderstand. Please realize the book is a readable subject of logic and not meant to replace expensive course textbooks. Afterall, look at the difference in price. If you truly love logic as I do, you'll find the book interesting and informative. If you read this book, then you will learn more about logic than you already know.
Lies are easy; the logic of truth requires effort September 8, 2006
Bruce Bain (Englewood, CO United States)
5 out of 10 found this review helpful
"Logic Made Easy" by Deborah J. Bennett
A peculiar shortcoming of rationalism, is that it is no better than the people who practice it. There are those who claim to be rationalists, and who pride themselves, thinking that they are embodiments of logic, but who still embrace flawed propositions. Why? The method may be a perfect science, but those who practice the method may operate with errors, bias, and ulterior motives. This is why books like "LOGIC MADE EASY" can help us.
There is other generalized information that I wish to communicate to you. From an early age, I have been fascinated by matters of LOGIC. Learn from me, so that you do not enter into discouragement. I have taken up and failed at studying LOGIC many times. Allow me to tell you why. It is because in normal day to day activities, our minds do not function in the Logical manner suggested by the books. Why is that? How does our Mind operate? Only formal efforts produce book-like syllogisms. Life itself, operates on the principle of a hidden syllogism. We have the conclusion of logic, without the syllogism being made explicit, or objectively clear.
Pause and think for a moment. The Greeks postulated CHAOS. Even now, from the swirling CHAOS around us, Life itself has no stated propositions, empirically observable. Physical matter itself does not speak to us. It offers only silence. From that silence, our mind must operate selectively, choosing Primary Assumptions, and from this will follow logical corrollaries, or extensions by logic. This is why the book of life is readeable. It is for us to discover the Hidden Syllogisms. There are more obscure obstacles.
The authors of books on formal logic almost never write about the fundamental duality of life; that only part of life is Objective. That the greater manifestation of life is entirely Subjective.
Then there are the myths that logic ought to make us into some kind of perfectly logical automaton, like a robot. I'm sorry, but that is silly. One of the shortcomings of Logic books is that they almost never clarify the Subjective side of Life, and the relationship between the Objective and the Subjective. That is why we have books by some, proclaiming themselves to be "rationalists" (and scientists), that they have proven the NON-EXISTENCE of the Super-Subjective, otherwise known as "God". Worse still is the implication that sometimes creeps into writings by "rationalists" who infer that pure rationalism prohibits belief or faith in our spiritual life.
Moreover, the role of FEELINGS are also left unclear. Logic books are their own worst enemy. When people find that they have FEELINGS, and operate in a world where logic is all very fine and nice, but POWER is the rule of the day, they become very discouraged with the idea that Logic is of any real use. "What's the point?" they demand, and angrily toss aside the books on Logic. Logic books rarely clarify the role of subjective principles such as Power, Feeling, Intuition, and the like. Losing a student in this manner is the fault of the expert teacher, not the fault of the student, who will wrongfully conclude that he or she is "stupid".
I rate this 5 stars, but I do not agree with the cover language that this is:
"The best and the most lucid introduction to logic you will find." --Martin Gardner (from the book cover)
Much struggle with complex ideas has taught me that we often do better to start simple and work up to the more definitive lessons. I have reviewed 2 other INTRODUCTIONS to logic in the past few months. Both are simpler, but I must make the observation that "LOGIC MADE EASY" is more thorough, more complete, including SET THEORY and SYMBOLIC LOGIC and LME is profoundly rich in historical background material. For those of us who are fascinated by What Aristotle learned from Plato concerning Logic, this is of interest. Credit Deborah J. Bennett for including this historial material. It shows good scholarship.
Allow me to clarify some of these remarks, lest the reader think that my review is intended to suggest that you PREFER one book to the exclusion of others. I recommend buying several books. If you see three book reviews, rating all 5 Stars, I mean to say that you should buy all three, not just one. These must be studied patiently. The goal is Truth, and the great difficulty in Life, is that Truth requires work, always, whereas Lies are quick and easy. The student of Truth must literally sacrifice himself and his opinions to reach the Truth. This is the reason why not everyone claiming to be a "scientist" or a "rationalist" is an Einstein, or a Faraday.
Our inclinations may lead us in one direction, whereas the logic of basic facts tend to go in the other. Let me remind with a serious WARNING also, that there is much published in books today by authors who are very biased, who have no regard for facts, whose popular literature on hot issues of public debate is rife with logical and philosophical error. Logic has nothing to do with "shouting louder" than the other fellow. In fact, C.G. Jung liked to point out that when argumentation passes a particular point in emotionality, it no longer is rationally useful. Truly, men can function as beasts at times, losing sight of their heritage.
Great Book at a Great Price February 26, 2008
jk (Canada)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Geez, go ahead and buy this book. If you get it, and it is way to simple, then give it away as a gift. for others it will 'fit the bill' by doing exactly what the title claims, make logic easy.
It's Logic made simple and easy! May 9, 2008
Sylviastel
Dr. Deborah J. Bennett, a professor of mathematics, writes about logic making it easy and simple for us to understand. Logic is not always up front. Dr. Bennett writes the book to help us understand logic. I would recommend this book for anybody interested in opening their minds. This book would be great read for an aspiring college student. High School students heading off to colleges and universities should have some idea of logic. It's not taught enough in the earlier grades. Dr. Bennett's approach is simple and practical advice and much more common sense. She writes to the reader rather than preachy and out of tone. Dr. Bennett writes as if you are right there with her having a discussion. It's a good discussion.
very good intro May 23, 2006
Mitch Baywatch (Brighton, NY)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
If you read this book, you'll be sure to understand that 'All S are P' does not imply that 'All P are S.' If you don't read this book, you may understand this anyway. But if you don't understand this, then you must not have read this book (modus tollens!). Most of the book covers basic syllogisms and All/Not/Some/If statements.
Throughout the book are a number of logic problems from standardized tests. The book discusses modus ponens and affirming the consequent, and gives an overview of common fallacies, such as begging the question. I would have liked to see more of the latter, however. Bennett further spends many pages addressing the issue of why people are illogical, frequently citing recent research. This is nice, but repetitive. How many times does she have to mention the common problem caused by bringing external knowledge into logical reasoning?
I disagree with those who say this book is advanced. It seems simple enough to me. For example, although Bennett mentions Barbara, Celarent, etc., she clearly doesn't think the average reader needs to memorize this. Nor does she spend much time on symbols used in formal logic.
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