Critical Voter – Out Today

So what are you planning to do to pass the time as the fate of the Republic gets decided tomorrow by a quarter- to half-a-million Iowans?

If I can make a modest (if self-serving) suggestion: why not relieve your stress by cracking open a copy of Critical Voter and starting down the road towards becoming that which the candidates fear most: a free and independent critical thinker.

Presuming you decide to follow this advice, the good news just keeps coming for today is the official release day for Critical Voter, which means the book is now available in both print and ebook editions from Amazon.

In this age of ebooks, I guess fewer people crack open books than they used to. But if you thumb through the pages of Critical Voter, you will learn:

• How biases can cause you to damage the very causes you believe in
• What Aristotle’s modes of persuasion: logos, pathos and ethos can tell you about which candidates are likely to make it to the next round (or into history)
• The use of a few basic logical principles that allow you to organize your thinking and make better decisions
• The tricks and techniques the persuaders use to convince (or try to bamboozle) you
• How to read the media and use the Internet to make up your own mind

And much, much more! (I’ve always wanted to type that sentence.)

On Wednesday, this blog will turn to the results of Tuesday’s Iowa Caucuses to see what a healthy dose of critical thought might tell us about what happened. But before then, allow me one brief self-serving link dump:

• If you want to buy a copy of Critical Voter, you can do so here.
• Thanks to everyone who asked for a review copy, and any other reviewer or book blogger can still visit this page to request a book.
• If you’re a member of the press (or know someone who might want to run a story on Critical Voter), you can obtain a press release here.
• If you’re interested in subscribing to a newsletter that will provide more in-depth coverage of subjects discussed on this blog, you can sign up over there to the right.
• Finally, I set up an author page on Amazon that can be seen here.

So enough already with the hustling. Thanks to everyone who wrote to express well wishes and now it’s on with the show.