Looking for amazing books to read? Well, so am I! I found myself on a bit of a buying spree when it comes to books these past few days, probably since I spent so much time in waiting rooms with a family member. As much as I love reading on my phone, I found myself longing for a paper book without the distractions of a email, social media, etc. popping up as banner notices.

Critical Thinking

A few of the books I read came about as recommendations from listening to the Thinking Clearly podcast. Melanie Trecek-King (Thinking Is Power website) introduced me, inadvertently as I was researching my critical thinking blogs and presentations. She was a guest on Thinking Clearly, and I’ve identified a few of my favorite podcasts from their series. I have had so much fun listening to Bob Froehlich and Julia.

Note: You can catch Bob and Julia on Facebook, too.

My favorites feature Melanie Trecek-King. They include the following:

In anticipation of the 2024 election, I would listen to these three podcasts at least:

Of course, there are TONS of great podcasts with YEARS of content. I intend to listen to all of them at some point, but one is an education in and of itself. All of them, well, it may as well be a university education in Critical Thinking.

Books To Read

Given all that content to listen to, I’m finding myself split between text and audio. Some of the books I have on my shelf to read:

That last book is a deeper exploration of CRITIC, a critical thinking process I adapted for a workshop on critical thinking. I have to admit that I enjoyed the brief Skeptical Inquirer article over the book so far. Of course, the book is focused on knocking holes…or, revealing the holes already present…in religion and faith. It’s a bit of a downer from that perspective and sure to raise the hackles of the faithful. Too bad Bartz didn’t approach the text from solely critical thinking rather than going straight for the jugular of religious contradictions.

And, in a bit of old fiction (good to revisit “old friends”):