A Rulebook for Arguments

"A Rulebook for Beginners" is made up of 45 discrete rules which have been categorised into nine chapters of general arguing techniques.
Not only does the author give positive rules for arguing, but he also lists about two dozen "Common Fallacies" in a glossary format at the end of the book.

The rulebook is written in an easy to read, and easy to reference layout. While you would definitely read it from front to back the first time, it has been specifically designed so that an engaged beginner can easily refer back to this rulebook when constructing arguments.
While it is clearly focused at the beginner, an intermediate `debater' will certainly glean some helpful hints from it.

Because it is only a concise rulebook, it doesn't do into detailed arguing techniques at all. So if you are interested in more advanced arguing methods, then you should definitely look elsewhere.

Overall this is a superb text for what it was designer for; A Rulebook for Beginners.

Four and a half stars

I always like to read these types of basic books on logical arguments as they remind us of exactly what biased arguments look like and how to break them down. Truly for anyone in research, it is important to review assumptions inherent in the formulation of a statement you are trying to refute.

I recommend given length (short) and adequate content.

The Rule Book for Arguments is a very nice shorthand version of the argumentation chapters to be found in ponderous debate textbooks. It is basic, to-the-point, and easy to understand. I intend to recommend it to my HS debate classes. The rules build in complexity, so kids just learning debate are not overwhelmed but can build their skills a little at a time.

The book was smaller than I thought, a pamphlet really, but there are a lot of good ideas and common sense contained in it. It's the right size to carry in your pocket and read when you're waiting somewhere or otherwise occupied. The book was delivered in a timely manner and arrived in excellent condition.

I just got a copy of the new edition (4th). I have used this previously in teaching college, and needed to upgrade so my students and I have the same edition and page numbers.

The content of the book is wonderful, and I think the extra chapter on oral argumentation is a welcome addition. I also think that the price is great. All my Ph.D. students have been happy to have a copy and enjoy working with it.

One downside of this particular edition: there are numbers for each argument rule, but the design of these is horrible: they are placed on top of the regular text as a light gray, overlapping the heading and some of the body text. This is distracting and annoying. Not sure who gave this design a green light, but I see this as a problem that I hope is remedied in the next edition (or even the next printing of this edition!).

Overall, a great book with one design flaw that shouldn't stop anyone from spending a little for a lot of book.