A Field Guide to Lies

Synopsis

We Are Bombarded With More Information Each Day Than Our Brains Can Process, Especially In Election Season. It's Raining Bad Data, Half-truths, And Even Outright Lies. Daniel J. Levitin Shows How To Recognize Misleading Announcements, Statistics, Graphs, And Written Reports Revealing The Ways Lying Weasels Can Use Them. Outlines Recommendations For Critical Thinking Practices That Meet The Challenges Of The Digital Age's Misinformation, Demonstrating The Role Of Science In Information Literacy While Explaining The Importance Of Skeptical Reasoning In Making Decisions Based On Online Information. Introduction: Thinking, Critically -- Part One: Evaluating Numbers. Plausibility ; Fun With Averages ; Axis Shenanigans ; Hijinks With How Numbers Are Reported ; How Numbers Are Collected ; Probabilities -- Part Two: Evaluating Words. How Do We Know? ; Identifying Expertise ; Overlooked, Undervalued Alternative Explanations ; Counterknowledge -- Part Three: Evaluating The World. How Science Works ; Logical Fallacies ; Knowing What You Don't Know ; Bayesian Thinking In Science And In Court ; Four Case Studies -- Conclusion: Discovering Your Own -- Appendix: Application Of Bayes' Rule. -- Glossary. Daniel J. Levitin. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 263-282) And Index.