The Book of Common Fallacies

Falsehoods, Misconceptions, Flawed Facts, and Half-Truths That Are Ruining Your Life

By: Phillip Ward, Julia Edwards

Narrated by: Traber Burns

Everything you thought you knew was wrong!

Long before Snopes.com and Wikipedia, The Book of Common Fallacies set out to debunk popular beliefs and set the record straight. By tracking down the facts and citing experts in a multitude of fields, Philip Ward points out the senseless ideas that we have come to accept as fact. Newly updated with today’s common misconceptions, The Book of Common Fallacies exposes the truth behind hundreds of commonly held false beliefs.

©1978, 1980, 2012 Philip Ward and The Oleander Press. Additional content 2012 by Skyhorse Publishing, Inc. (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

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This book is a list of interesting facts. Hard to follow in an audiobook. Better as a bathroom reader. A few bits here and there over time.

You will never believe how dumb you really are.

What was the most compelling aspect of this narrative?

It is riveting! I never knew there were so many things I thought were true that aren't true!

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It makes me incredulous. I kept saying "What! You're kidding!"

Any additional comments?

The reader is a bit dry, but don't let that put you off. The book is a lot of fun!

All bases are covered: I misuse, HATE, or disagree with everything

(As posted in GoodReads)
It took me all the way till he"E" to realize that it was, actually, divided into alphabet initialization's, but even still, it was not always clear what word was actually being referred to. Certain terms, like "fallacy" were used numerous times despite the apparently appropriate letter. Even still, it was a kind of nice collection; of some of the words/phrases I was guilty; some of them have been particular annoyances of mine for sometime; with some of them I just didn't agree. I guess that means that all bases are covered :-)

Not so hot.

Reader's voice is somewhat monotonous, cant listen to this any more. A lot of old stuff re-hashed.

Engaging, But Needs an Update!

I enjoyed many of the tidbits in this book, especially the debunking of the countless little urban legends I believed as a kid. However, I found the lack of current citations distracting. When the authors are discussing fallacies held in the 19th century, debunking sources can also be old. However, one should never try to debunk aspects of linguistics, cognitive behavior therapy, or unified field theory, with citations no more recent than 1978.

highly entertaining & informative

well worth reading. Some really good stuff, funny stuff, & very interesting stuff in here.
Suprising how much we take for granted really is incorrect or used incorrectly.
Enjoy!

Know it all, but not the good way

21 hours listening to this book provided a lot of interesting information...yet the presentation and turns of phrase left me under the impression that I was listening to an opinionated know it all. Many "fallacies" were poorly researched yet presented as fact. Frustrating as well as interesting.

Can’t hardly bear to listen

The Author is very smart but it’s way to wordy and hard to listen to

A few good entries, but most are obscure

Was The Book of Common Fallacies worth the listening time?

I felt the urge to fast-forward often! I would say that more than half of these "common fallacies" are ones that I have never heard of. It should have been called "Very Obscure Fallacies". I thought it was going to have more "old wives tales" and things you hear every day. Most of these I can't believe that people would have thought was true, except maybe 1000 years ago! There are LOTS of common fallacies that I hear all the time in the general public that were not even mentioned, but yet very trivial things that no one would ever say or think of like "A phrase always means what it says", I mean huh? Also, quite a few of the "Fallacies" were merely opinions, or things that cannot even be proven or disproven - so how can those be fallacies?? I found myself saying "what the....??" a lot while listening to this book. Every now and then, however, I did hear something familiar, and it was neat to hear the origins behind the fallacy.

Any additional comments?

Just a weird book, so many trivial and uninteresting things that are passed off as being common. I'd love to know where on the planet most of these are common.

Just Don't.

the information might have been fun if I was actually reading it, but the narrators voice was soooooooo monotonous I couldn't even tell when we'd switched topics. I tried to tough it out, but I just can't do it.