Developing Critical Thinkers : Challenging Adults to Explore Alternative Ways of Thinking and Acting (Jossey-Bass Higher...

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 312 pages
• Published by: Jossey-Bass July 29, 1991
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 1555423566
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-1555423568
• Book Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Weighs: 15.4 ounces

Product Review
"Developing Critical Thinkers is a book practitioners and others interested in applying critical thinking principles will find extremely useful. The writing is clear, the examples are many, and the ideas are well grounded in theory and research."

Product Description
1989 Winner of the Cyril O. Houle World Award for Literature in Adult Education

This award-winning book offers a practical, straightforward guide to helping adults develop their critical thinking skills in four key arenas of adult life: in their personal relationships, in their workplaces, in their political involvements, and in their responses to the media.

Reader Reviews
As an organizational psychologist, I found this book very well-written and informative. For those who are not educators or counselors, Dr Brookfield's thorough discussion in Part One of just what constitutes critical thinking, how to recognize it and learning to think critically as adults is well worth the read. Parts Two and Three deal in-depth with developing critical thinking in adults, particularly college students. There are only two things I feel distract from the book. First, almost all of Dr Brookfield's examples employ very politically liberal themes. I'm afraid Dr Brookfield, as a member of the Academy, is so steeped in this persuasion that he didn't consider that more moderate examples might appeal to a wider audience. The second weakness, ironically, involves an attempt to appeal to a wider audience. Someone (probably his editor or a Jossey-Bass marketeer) prevailed on the author to periodically insert references to the workplace, political institutions and the media. At the end of the book, Part Three contains whole chapters dedicated to these areas, and the back cover suggests that the book should be placed in either the Higher Education or Management sections of the bookstore. Unfortunately, I found his references to business and the workplace to be rather superficial and, well, forced. At the end of the day, however, I found the book interesting and well-written and a valuable find particularly for educators.