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Book

Weaponized lies : how to think critically in the post-truth era

Call Number

  • 153.42 L6664.2 (OSH)

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Edition

[Updated edition].

Publication Information

New York, New York : Dutton, [2016]

Physical Description

xxii, 294 pages : illustrations, maps ; 21 cm

Uniform Title

Field guide to lies

Summary

It's becoming harder to separate the wheat from the digital chaff. How can misinformation, pseudo-facts, distortions, and outright lies be distinguished from reliable information? The author groups his field guide into two categories - statistical information and faulty arguments - ultimately showing how science is the bedrock of critical thinking. Infoliteracy means understanding that there are hierarchies of source quality and bias that distort information feeds via media channels, including social media. We may expect newspapers, bloggers, the government, and Wikipedia to be factually and logically correct, but they often aren't. We need to think critically about the words and numbers we encounter if we want to be successful at work, at play, and in making the most of our lives. This means checking the plausibility and reasoning - not passively accepting information, repeating it, and making decisions based on it. This book aims at teaching readers to avoid the extremes of passive gullibility and cynical rejection.

Notes

"Previously published as A field guide to lies."

"Updated and with a new introduction"--Cover.

Contents

  • Thinking, critically
  • Evaluating numbers. Plausibility ; Fun with averages ; Axis shenanigans ; Hijinks with how numbers are reported ; How numbers are collected ; Probabilities
  • Evaluating words. How do we know? ; Identifying expertise ; Overlooked, undervalued alternative explanations ; Counterknowledge
  • Evaluating the world. How science works ; Logical fallacies ; Knowing what you don't know ; Bayesian thinking in science and in court ; Four case studies
  • Discovering your own
  • Appendix : Application of Bayes's Rule.

Subjects