Logic of Alice: Clear Thinking in Wonderland

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Lenny's description:
Dr. Bernard M. Patten provides a chapter-by-chapter skeleton key to Alice, which meticulously demonstrates how its various episodes reveal Dodgson's profound knowledge of the rules of clear thinking, informal and formal logic, symbolic logic, and human nature.

Seller's description:
Many commentaries have been devoted to Lewis Carroll's masterpiece, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. The interpretations range from Freudian analysis to speculations about the real-life people who may have inspired the animal characters. In this unique approach to interpreting Alice, the fruit of ten years of research, Dr. Bernard M. Patten shows that Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, aka Lewis Carroll, fused his passion for logic, mathematics, and games with his love of words and nonsense stories to produce a multifaceted, intricately structured work of literature. Patten provides a chapter-by-chapter skeleton key to Alice, which meticulously demonstrates how its various episodes reveal Dodgson's profound knowledge of the rules of clear thinking, informal and formal logic, symbolic logic, and human nature.As Patten makes clear, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, far from being just an entertaining children's book, is more complex and deeply reflective of Dodgson's character than it may seem. By making an effort to understand its deeper layers, both children and adults may profit from this masterful tale by learning to think better and, along the way, having fun.

Features:

ISBN13: 9781591026754
Condition: NEW
Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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Product details:

Item number (ASIN): 159102675X
Author: Bernard M. Patten
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.8
ISBN: 159102675X
Manufacturer: Prometheus Books
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 336
Package Dimensions: 90 x 590 x 890 (hundredths-inches)
Publication Date: January 29, 2009
Publisher: Prometheus Books
Binding: Paperback

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Amazon.com customer reviews:

Average Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars

Rating:

- Curious and Curiouser
I have thoroughly enjoyed this book. I found it quite by accident, but it turned out to be exactly what I was looking for. He makes logic and logical reasoning very clear, interesting, and most amazingly, fun. Buy this book it you want to learn about logic, clear thinking, and to find out exactly how far down the rabbit hole goes...

Rating:

- Defending Reason against the Unreasonable
Reading the reviews of Bernard Patten's The Logic of Alice after having read the original is a true test of one's sanity. Because if one believes the third review, and one reads the book, you have a true crisis: are you and the reviewer reading the same book??? Patten is incredibly insightful into the logical issues that Lewis Carrol wrestled with, giving us the truest available reading of that work's complex logic. For a reviewer to posit his own religious biases, then search for the tiny shards that might conceivable bear negatively against them, is for that reviewer to engage is the shoddiest form of intellectual assassination. I'm delighted with this book. And if you think that the writer's own religious views are relevant, take another look at this work without having your eye poisoned by a religious nut!

Rating:

- Not for the weak in Spirit
What I find interesting is there are some who hold their faith as if it is something so fragile they cannot test it, confront it, or determine its truth. Science seems to clash with Christians as the null hypothesis would have to be "there is no God." It doesn't mean there is no God. It means to test His existence, one must approach the hypothesis there is none. All of a sudden there are defenses going up all over the place! Which is a red (not communist) flag for insecurity within their beliefs. If a person is that insecure in their belief of God, they should NEVER read this book! BUT, if you enjoy seeing how truth can be twisted into something it is not by illogical thinking -- even in religion -- (I believe this is what Satan did to Eve in the garden?) one might find both enlightenment and deeper faith in TRUTH rather than doctrine by perusing this book. Maybe some might find it light reading. But I needed my old book of "Alice in Wonderland" and my Strong's to plow through its depths. It is only my suspicion, but it may be Dr. Patten has only scratched the surface of his intellect just giving us a glimpse of how deep his thoughts really are through the fanciful words in this "childhood book."

Rating:

- Logic, easier than I thought.
Reading logic intimidates me with technicalities but Logic of Alice was easier to read than I thought. Multiple examples of statements by Alice and the colorful characters are absurb. The author unrattles them by explaining the illogical thinking and pointing out the type of logic error. He then connects the reader to present day thinking examples that inflict our daily lives. I found in this manner I don't find myself preoccupied in memorizing the classification of logic but rather associated with the classical statemnets of Alice which is memorably vivid and if I need to know a specific logic error I just look it up in the index. The book also entertains the reader with historical information, it was a delight to read about Carol Lewis and few glimpses of his dairy. The author seduces the reader to learn by using his wit; I found each page refresing; I liked the large headings, sometimes up to three in some pages. I was impressed to read the extensive selected bibliograghy with the authors own writen reviews. It reflects the scholarly work. Cleverly brilliant.

Rating:

- Not what I expected
I was expecting this book to be about Alice in Wonderland and Carroll's use of logic in the text---but it is not. It is full of the author's personal thoughts about politics (liberal) and religion (atheist), and what he assumes is the wrong-thinking of those who disagree with him. I say "assume" purposely because I haven't found a place in the book where he acknowledges that he brings his own presuppositions to the table when it comes to evaluating the relevance and acceptability of evidence, which means that he begs the question throughout. If you're looking for a text to accompany Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, look elsewhere. If you want to read an egotistical rant that is posing as logic, this might be for you.