Product Description

Updated examples, streamlined text, and the chapter on definition reworked in a rule-based format strengthen this already strong volume. Readers familiar with the previous edition will find a text that retains all the features that make Rulebook ideally suited for use as a supplementary course book-including its modest price and compact size.

Unlike most textbooks on argumentative writing, Rulebook is organized around specific rules, illustrated and explained soundly and briefly. It is not a textbook, but a rulebook, whose goal is to help students get on with writing a paper or assessing an argument.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7560 in Books
• Published on: 2000-01-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 90 pages

Review
This is the ultimate 'how-to' book for anyone who wants to use reasons and evidence in support of conclusions, to be clear instead of confusing, persuasive instead of dogmatic, and better at evaluating the arguments of others. No one outgrows its forty-five timeless rules, all explained and illustrated with vivid examples. The fourth edition, even more elegantly organized and concise than before, adds new material on oral presentations and Web sources that everyone needs. --(Debra Nails, Michigan State University)

About the Author
Anthony Weston

Customer Reviews

And Outstanding Overview of Logic, Reason, and the Compilation of Formidable Conclusions
A Rulebook for Arguments should be required reading as it presents a definitive outline of the basis for reason.

As a centerpiece of what separates humans from animals, the ability to reason represents a critical element in all human endeavors. Illogical reasoning is regrettably everywhere we look; advertisements, politics, religion, business, and even ordinary personal justifications. As a result, improving the ability to reason properly is of vital importance to the individual intellect.

Weston presents a concise overview of the critical aspects of logical reasoning. The subjects covered are designed to strengthen argumentative writing, help avoid common fallacies, and promote the organization of sound conclusions that hold up under any level of scrutiny.

The knowledge base of logic and formation of arguments presented in this book represents a path to improved reasoning abilities and therefore should be essential reading. As an added benefit, the book is brief and the writing is coherent from start to finish, making it an effortless read and one I highly recommend to all.

Solid and Concise
A Rulebook for Arguments is certainly competent in its approach to intellectual debate. It is ideal for novices as the author's explanations are quite clear. My only reservations about it were due to my belief that Mr. Weston's examples were skewed in a leftist direction. By this I mean that his political orientation was evident based on the examples cited. One of which was an illustration of loaded language that referred to conservatives as people who describe themselves as those with a realistic view of human limits. Well, that's not the whole story of course, but it does accurately convey the contrast between the political right and leftists whose view of what is viable has no correlation with human nature. Another irksome proof was on display in regards to begging the question whereby one claims to know God exists because the Bible says it does. That is accurate but a convenient choice in my view. None of this is surprising as politicizing is ubiquitous among professors today who excuse their attempts at improper persuasion with the excuse of being "engaged." This manages to only detract slightly from the work as it remains technically solid. However, if one is looking for a book on fallacies you might look elsewhere. A Rulebook for Arguments has but an 8 page chapter concerning them.

Useful scientific writing tool
As the title says, and as Weston writes in his introduction, this is "...not a text book, but a rule book." This short book is a useful desk reference for technical and scientific writers looking for practical approaches to structure written arguments clearly and logically.