The Thinker's Way : 8 Steps to a Richer Life - Hardcover

Chaffee, John

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0316133175 ISBN 13: 9780316133173

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company, 1998

Synopsis

The author of Thinking Critically presents an eight-step program to enhance one's personal and professional life, explaining how to utilize the principles of critical thinking to change one's view of oneself and relationships with others. 125,000 first printing. Tour.

About this title

About the Author

John Chaffee, Ph.D., is Director of the New York Center for Critical Thinking and Language Learning and Professor of Philosophy at the City University of New York.

Reviews

Beginning with the provocative assertion that "we have become a society of non-thinkers," Chaffee sets out to replicate for a trade audience the academic course in critical thinking he created for the City University of New York and says he has taught to "thousands of people for the past 20 years." He offers a thorough, detailed method for "analyzing complex issues," "evaluating evidence," solving problems creatively and "making informed choices." Using such examples as the recent court case of nanny Louise Woodward, the issue of human cloning and the Roswell UFO incident, Chaffee meticulously examines factual evidence, various perspectives and possible biases in assessing each case. While providing an excellent course in critical thinking, he seems to trip, however, over one of the very obstacles he describes by focusing solely on rationality and presenting it as a panacea for just about every problem and area of life. In particular, his chapters on relationships and freedom suffer from inattention to emotional, psychological and spiritual perspectives. Chaffee unrealistically advises readers to simply "will yourself to break free from constraints," be they addictions, anxiety attacks or dead-end jobs. As an introductory course in logical reasoning, this effort is superb; as a self-help guide promising that "your life will be transformed in every area," it falls far short. Simultaneous TimeWarner audio; author tour.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

"It is never too late to be what you might have been," is the wonderful quotation from George Eliot that opens this work. Chaffee (humanities, CUNY; Thinking Critically, Houghton, 1987) follows this help with topics such as living creatively, solving problems, and developing enlightened values. Although Chaffee includes lists of thinking activities and encourages readers to keep a "thinking journal," his approach is more abstract, philosophical, and inspirational than it is practical. This book does not have a clearly delineated introduction outlining the author's goals. This omission, combined with Chaffee's sophisticated style, will limit the appeal to many mainstream self-helpers. Such readers would do better with works such as Napoleon Hill's Keys to Success (Dutton, 1994). For academic and the largest public libraries.
-?January Adams, Franklin Twp. P.L., Somerset, NJ
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0316133175
• ISBN 13: 9780316133173
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 432