In this compact guide to training the brain for the new era of digital media, McCollough introduces his "Tenets of Critical Thinking" and provides clear, practical guidance on how to avoid the “pitfalls” that even intelligent people can fall for, especially online: confirmation bias, logical fallacies, misinformation, pseudo science, deep fakes, and more. A champion of the scientific method and principled debunking of misinformation, McCollough lays bare the urgency of the problem– "The Internet helps lies to spread much faster, and AI makes it much harder to detect the lies.” Through detailed research and real-world examples, this resource provides clear definitions of the ways that nonsense gets passed off as truth plus actionable steps to stop simply accepting what we're told—and to demonstrate, though time-tested steps, truth from falsehoods.

Writing in a personable tone, McCollough implores readers to apply logic and critical thinking skills to everything they are told, from the government, news outlets, in school curriculums, and especially any time we might feel pressed to surrender money or our personal information. "Be skeptical,"he writes, noting that “there is money to be made by feeding into people’s paranoia.” Through brisk, organized chapters, McCollough explores the history of scientific reasoning (science, he argues, is “the greatest good that humans have ever come up with”) and lays out how to incorporate its rigor and logic into everyday thinking. McCollough convincingly demonstrates the importance of parents learning this for themselves and also teaching it to their children.

Touching on conspiracy theories, faith and religion, and cause and effect, Debunk offers a quick, inviting introduction to the "real-world consequences" of misinformation and outdated science, providing multiple avenues—“Observe, Predict, Test”— to keep from being taken in. The book is not comprehensive, but readers new to the question of what we can do to shore our minds’ defenses up in this ever-evolving information age will find much here that is instructive and illuminating.

Takeaway: Clarifying introduction to critical thinking in the extremely online era.

Comparable Titles: Cindy L. Otis's True or False, John Grant's Debunk It!.

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