I believe there is an incredible deficit in critical thinking. Those of us who actively think critically are seen as negative from people who just want to be told exactly what they want to hear and never have their thoughts and beliefs challenged.
But critical thinking isn’t about being negative by always pointing out why something sucks; it’s about expanding one’s point of view to see how something can be improved. The bottom line is we need more people using critical thinking!
“Critical thinking is not just pure logic. It’s a cluster of things. But its aim is to be clear about what is being argued, what follows from the given evidence and arguments, and to detect any cognitive biases or rhetorical moves that may lead us astray”
With that said, here are 5 books I recommend you read to improve your critical thinking skills:
- Thinking Fast And Slow by Daniel Kahneman. This is a book written by Nobel prize winning psychologist on how cognitive biases affect our ability to think clearly. It’s a well researched book and worth the read to have a foundation on how our brain decides.
- The Art of Thinking Clearly by Rolf Dobelli. This is a light book in comparison with the others. It’s really a summary of 99 moves in thinking, some of them psychological, some of them logical, some of them social. What I like about it is that he uses lots of examples.
- The Great Mental Models by Shane Parrish. I picked this one up a soon as it was released a few months ago. The author, Shane Parrish is the man behind the popular Farnam Street blog that covers a wide variety of topics including critical thinking. The books is about mental models, specifically 9 that will help you think more clearly. This is a must read!
- Factfulness by Hans Rosling. This is one of the best books I read this year because it’s very hard to think clearly about things that are more complex as the state of the world. Worth reading, you’ll be surprised how
- Critical Thinking by Tom Chatfield. This is a highly detailed book on critical thinking, no stone left unturned. Well worth the read.
The last decade brought the rise of fake news, irrationality bubbles and nonsense. Critical thinking is required to be less fallible, arm yourself or be swept along with the crowd.