Darren Lathen

Putting the ball in play

Revisado: 01-23-23

I'm always worried when I pick up a title like this that it will be one-sided defense or equally one-sided attack on ... whatever the subject is, in this case, capitalism. In this course, the author/lecturer expresses the ideas of thinkers on capitalism over the past few hundred years. He takes one notion, holds it up to the light, moves it around to examine from different angles, and then picks up another, gives it the same treatment and plays it off the previous. It is filled with nuance and really opens the door for ongoing discussion.

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Stories, not jab jab jab

Revisado: 12-31-21

When you buy a book called “Bedtime Stories” you expect stories, not a long speech about how you should not have your phone in your bedroom

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Interesting Guide

Revisado: 03-21-19

This was pretty good, certainly gave me a list of more reading material. It was organized well to bring the material to light, giving focus to the common thread.

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General storyline written by 12 year old

Revisado: 09-07-18

This was frustrating. I wanted to like it. It made me curious to learn more of the history of the 30-years war. The historical characters and plots surrounding them are not half bad. But the "modern" cast of castaway characters are just plain awful. People are divided up into the white hats and black hats. A black hat is BAD guy. Every motivation, every action, every word of the black hats is bad. The white hats are always good and right and true, oh, yeah, and they're all union dudes, so naturally anyone who has ever been a business owner (read: management) is BAD guy.

Contrast this approach with Harry Turtledove, "Southern Victory" series (also excellently read by George Guidall). In that series the reader is given a much more complete picture of characters -- a picture that demonstrates how characters are both good and bad; how they are often constructed by their experiences and upbringings. You might admire a character for certain aspects and just be furious at him for others. In comparison, this story falls flat.

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Outstanding story with exceptional performance

Revisado: 07-13-18

So there's a new Stephen King book on audible. You know you can count on great characters and a fascinating story with prose that transports you right into the scene. Match that with Will Patton reading though and everything becomes real. Send this audio book to your friends and they will serve The Audible forever. :)

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Interesting from start to finish

Revisado: 02-23-18

First, I have to give kudos to the narrator. I believed I was listening to the author until I watched a video of Thaler and it was obviously not him. outstanding presentation!

The book was thoroughly engaging for this non-economist. Though there are plenty of places I'd like to argue against some of his conclusions, one can follow his thinking and insights.

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Better with some supporting docs

Revisado: 01-23-18

This is a well done course. I question how much I'll be able to retain from just listening through.

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Well delivered history

Revisado: 08-07-17

One of the marks of a good survey course like this is leaving the user with key places he might like to look deeper. It both piques your curiosity, and leaves some breadcrumbs to follow when starting your search. This course accomplished that task many times. Enjoyable, well researched, and engagingly delivered.

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Decent Story, could be better

Revisado: 07-24-17

Found the overall story arc compelling enough to keep going, and probably even try another in the same series. However, there are some rather glaring issues. First, the women are poorly written characters -- hard to imagine a lady police detective as mentally delicate as in this book. She was the worst, but none of the female characters really seemed real to me.
A few times the pontification of the main character, or his indignant commentary goes on a little too long.

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Not all rhetoric is argument

Revisado: 03-15-17

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

When I see the word 'mastering' in the title, I think of a deeper dive into fallacies, to learn them almost from a mathematical level. Instead, this is more of a rapid fire name and example with just the briefest of descriptions.

Has Mastering Logical Fallacies turned you off from other books in this genre?

No, but I'll be reading reviews more carefully in the future -- that and the scant time on this audiobook should have been a giveaway that it would not have the depth I was looking for.

Have you listened to any of Nathan W Wood’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Haven't listened to this narrator before.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Mastering Logical Fallacies?

I would cut about half the political examples in favor of more obvious, generic examples on only drive to politics when necessary.

Any additional comments?

The author uses a LOT of political examples in his work. Although he does make a good effort to be fair using examples from both major political parties in the US, it gets a little tedious. Additionally, in the author's quest for political examples, some of the rhetoric he slaps with the label of "fallacy" is actually non-argumentative speaking. If a politician says to the crowd, "what a wonderful crowd", that's not an argument, it's just phatic communication.
While I share the author's frustration at the lack of logical argumentation in the current American political climate, the examination of fallacy should not be presented in the heat of that frustration, rather with a more careful, academic study.

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