Thinking books · Logic & argumentation · Ali Almossawi, 2013

An Illustrated Book of Bad Arguments — the big ideas

Common logical fallacies, one per page, with a picture.

Free — no account needed to read

The big ideas

Its value is recognition speed. Fallacies are easy to understand and hard to notice in real time, and a memorable image makes the second part possible.

It covers the ones that actually occur: attacking the person, appealing to popularity or authority, false dilemma, slippery slope, circular reasoning, and the strawman.

Naming a fallacy is not the same as refuting an argument — a fallaciously argued claim can still be true. The name tells you the support failed, not that the conclusion did.

Practise it — no need to have read it

Find one argument you made recently that would fail on one of these. Rewrite it so it does not need the fallacy.

A hint: If the rewritten version has no support left, that is worth knowing.

Where it shows up in real life

• Online arguments
• Reviewing your own writing
• Spotting rhetoric in a meeting

This book is old enough to be freely available in most countries.

Described in our own words with the source named — never quoted, and not a substitute for reading the book.