Critical Thinking for a New Age and Uncertain World - Book Report/Review Example

And Uncertain Science...Uncertain World mostly deals with showing different aspects of a globalized world in terms of economics, medical care, technology, development, and cultures. Such an approach by Pollack will warrant lesser ethnocentrism and a better approach to dealing with the world. However, I will be dealing largely with two chapters from the two respective books. The first would be on Chapter 6 of How to Think About Weird Things and Chapter 10 of Uncertain Science...Uncertain World.
Chapter 6 of How to think about weird things is on evidence and inference. To support a claim it must have evidence to back it up. However, the book also explains that evidence can be contrarywise and they also can be subjective to the bias of the one who puts forward such evidence, this is a needed measurement of understanding and this is explained in the subchapter ‘Confirmation Bias’. The evidence is therefore subjective and can be manipulated, Schick and Vaughn also go on to explain methods as to how to negate the claims as being untrue.
The other chapter that I would like to talk about is Pollacks’ ‘Predicting the future’. In predicting the future, Pollack talks about ways and means of using measurement to dictate what will happen in the future, there are reasonable estimates in the scope of science that can measure the probabilities of the future. For example, we can measure from the carbon emissions that are being released into the atmosphere daily can have adverse effects on the environment at the present historical time.
In conclusion, both these chapters are necessary for me to understand how certain claims made by people can be refuted. They are clear-cut, concise, and engaging enough for me to understand in layman’s terms. I think it is necessary, however, to read the whole book to understand the action and reaction of the way humans apply themselves to the world that they have to be cautious. I thoroughly enjoyed both books and they have helped me considerably in forming a good opinion as well as countering a bad argument.