Logic books! Forum

[nbhatia]

I am struggling in LR right now, and yes I am going through the powerscore bible right now.

I was wondering which one of these books, if any, would be most useful, and why. I am not really looking for a heavy read, maybe something i can read and jot notes down on my commute. And if the book has exercises, but no answers, is there a real point in buying it?

Also, is there a difference in the walton books?

And I know there are loads of threads on these books, but Ive never acutally seen them compared.

Thanks alot

[NaturalLawyer]

I think that the best preparation for the LSAT is to read very very thoroughly the Logical Reasoning Bible. If you understand the Bible inside and out, you know enough logic to score a perfect on the LSAT. (That is, of course, not meant as a sufficient condition for getting a perfect score on the LSAT.)

I think you should only read other logic books if you have a lot of time before the exam -- perhaps a year or so.

All that being said, Walton is very clear and would help for the LSAT, provided it doesn't take away any time from reading the LRB.

The other book that I highly recommend, which nobody has mentioned yet (as far as I can tell) is Nigel Warburton's thinking from A to Z. It goes through in alphabetical order, most of the informal fallacies and concepts in logic in a very clear and organized way using clear examples.

Good luck!

[LSAT Blog]

With regard to the Walton books, Informal Logic: A Handbook for Critical Argumentation is the older edition of Informal Logic: A Handbook for Critical Argumentation. It'd only be worthwhile to read one of them.

I'd like to suggest A Rulebook for Arguments by Weston. It's very clear and concise.

Better to read books on informal logic than books on formal logic. Most of LR is informal, and the formal stuff is pretty simple.