Thank You for Arguing: What Aristotle, Lincoln, and Homer Simpson Can Teach Us About the Art of Persuasion

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Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
Thank You for Arguing is your master class in the art of persuasion, taught by professors ranging from Bart Simpson to Winston Churchill. The time-tested secrets the book discloses include Cicero’s three-step strategy for moving an audience to actionNas well as Honest Abe’s Shameless Trick of lowering an audience’s expectations by pretending to be unpolished. But it’s also replete with contemporary techniques such as politicians’ use of “code” language to appeal to specific groups and an eye-opening assortment of popular-culture dodges, including:

The Eddie Haskell Ploy
Eminem’s Rules of Decorum
The Belushi Paradigm
Stalin’s Timing Secret
The Yoda Technique

Whether you’re an inveterate lover of language books or just want to win a lot more anger-free arguments on the page, at the podium, or over a beer, Thank You for Arguing is for you. Written by one of today’s most popular online language mavens, it’s warm, witty, erudite, and truly enlightening. It not only teaches you how to recognize a paralipsis and a chiasmus when you hear them, but also how to wield such handy and persuasive weapons the next time you really, really want to get your own way.

Customer Reviews: Read 20 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

This is an important book March 7, 2007
28 out of 31 found this review helpful

Don't let the humor and readable tone fool you. Heinrichs makes a great case for restoring some of the forgotten rhetorical principles behind the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. All the nation's founders had at least some training in rhetoric, he says. Our ignorance of it keeps us from restoring civility and sense to our national dialogue. This book should be required reading in high school and college.

5 out of 5 stars

Keys to advertising and political campaigns March 7, 2007
27 out of 29 found this review helpful

The book not only shows how to argue, it also reveals the tricks behind advertising and political campaigns. Heinrichs walks us through the basic rhetorical principles, starting with "ethos, pathos and logos," or character, emotion and logic. Character is the most important, he says, because your audience is much more likely to accept your point if it likes and trusts you. He shows how to construct the image of a leader to suit any audience--useful for anyone who manages people, or wants to.

5 out of 5 stars

Great Word Book March 7, 2007
22 out of 25 found this review helpful

The chapter on figures of speech is worth the price alone. They help you come up with snappy answers and intelligent things to say when you normally freeze up. And they've helped me write better. Some of the terms can be a mouthful, like paralipsis, anadiplosis and diazeugma, but there's a glossary in the back. Plus you don't actually have to know the words themselves, just the principles behind them.

5 out of 5 stars

A Teacher's View February 28, 2007
18 out of 21 found this review helpful

Heinrich's book allows students to understand and have fun with various rhetorical devices, and it is an invaluable tool for the teacher seeking to teach students about fallacies. This text is deceptive and seductive as it shows students how to identify forms of argument, suggests how they might use them in writing, and also makes them laugh. AP English Language/Composition teachers are particularly encouraged to get a copy of this book. If teaching fallacies is not your focus, but helping students craft well reasoned argument is, this is a terrific book. I am fortunate that Heinrichs tried out sections of his manuscript in my AP Literature classroom, and in my tenth grade Honors class. His anecdotes, his daily website, and his humorous exchanges have had an impact which remains evident in my teaching as well as in the writing journals and discourse of my students.

5 out of 5 stars

Better than sliced bread! March 13, 2007
16 out of 17 found this review helpful

This is the book every child in school and every adult should read and re-read. I am a Professor and Psychiatrist in Clinical Practice for over twenty years. Having just finished the book, I am stunned about how much I learned about listening and speaking! This book can also be read as a source for specific help, as I did last week when preparing a talk about Stage Fright for national musician convention.

Mr. Heinrichs is a master linguist as well as a superb writer. The take home message for me was learning to achieve your goals, instead of focusing on who's right or wrong.

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