Thank You For Arguing, Revised and Updated Edition: What Aristotle, Lincoln, And Homer Simpson Can Teach Us About the Art of Persuasion

I teach rhetoric, and I have used this book for years. I was thrilled to see the updated edition released. Jay Heinrichs takes all the complicated techniques of this ancient discipline and makes them appealing and accessible to everyone through using examples from popular culture, politics, and everyday life. He writes in a personable, engaging way, as though he is talking to you over dinner. He has created a wonderful companion website called ArgueLab with videos and many other resources. Whether you are an educator, a student of rhetoric, or someone who is interested in using language to meet your goals and obtain your desires, Thank You for Arguing is the best book you can buy. This is the one book my college students rave about and swear that they will never sell back to the bookstore. And how often does that happen?! I give it my highest recommendation!

This is a fascinating book I didn't expect to enjoy reading. As soon as I started it, I moved to a quiet area of the house because I realized that I will be learning a lot from Jay and I wanted to make sure I didn't miss anything. Besides the depth of the topic, I enjoy Jay's banter and sense of humor and the family background that I found interesting. This is a book about communications. If you are selling, negotiating, relating your ideas to others or in general have opinions that you enjoy sharing, the techniques presented in this book will provide you with options. The more options you have to convince another to see your point of view, the better chance you have of watching them nod their head YES as you speak. Shifting the perspective of the conversation may be one of the most valuable tools I've obtained from the program. I am not yet done reading the book, but I've already reread the sections I read to really absorb the material. In short, if you are a conversationalist, an avid communicator, an extrovert with a point of view, then you will love reading this book.

This book has a ton of great information to become better at arguing. Especially in today’s political climate, it has useful tips and tools to make dealing with people on social media a little easier. Already used it to win a Facebook debate! And maybe almost as useful, applicable info for presentations and other work situations. Subtracted a star only because it can get a bit long winded at times.

I really liked this book! It is very well organized, with small and very rich chapters and very clear tips and examples. The author starts with simple techniques at the beginning, and improves the details and more techniques in the following chapters. Smaller chapters are a nice touch, because it allows you to read an important point, get the main idea and think about it every day. That's the plan I use and it works quite well. Even when referring the "formal" names of the techniques, the language it is not too scientific, it just proves the point but returns to a language that anyone can understand. Has a lot of tips for personal, social and professional life. It is improving my life! I am a very exigent person before buying a book, I research a lot, and I bought this one and I am very happy with it!

I teach AP Language and have used this book for the past four years in my classes. My students have strongly benefited from studying the art of rhetoric for seven months and then reading this. I have not found most people learn how to persuade in a linear manner, but rather by holistically repeating and revisiting the ideas. The primary skill of a good rhetorician is the ability to get into someone else's head, to perceive reality through the lens of the other. Mr. Heinrichs' work helps accomplish this understanding. Apparently, this book was first conceived for adults, but it has truly found a receptive audience in the AP Lang world. I have to add that I have many colleagues, perhaps 45-50, who have also used this book to help students learn the art. That might be anecdotal evidence, but it is pretty convincing when some of the smartest people you know all agree that this is a rare and wonderful book.

As a current high school junior in AP Language and Composition, this book is so incredibly helpful. My class uses the book as a substitute textbook, which we read chapters from to tie into our lesson that day. The book is quite humorous, so it is never boring to read and draws readers in to keep them reading and reading and reading! This book is perfect for the classroom, but it is also a book that I would have loved to read without classroom instruction. "Thank you for Arguing" is wonderful because it goes in great depth about different concepts, but uses simple wording and humorous examples to break down the concepts.

I use this for a text book in a Critical Thinking writing course. The students love it, it is easy to teach and use and they really see another side of arguing. They start to apply the information in their relationships right away and they "feel" the essence of argument. Nothing I have ever taught in this area has given students such an intuitive understanding of the art of argument. Other books rely so much on logic and IMHO students today just cannot relate to that left brain perspective. They are more in touch with their feelings, more aware of human interactions and needs; the humor, videos and extra sources provided give them a real personal involvement in the topic. This is real learning. Love it.

For being a book about argument, this book is quite uneven and wildly unfocused. The author seems to have a haphazard approach to explaining various points of argument and rhetoric and jumps all around in his discussion. Just when he is coming to a point, he ventures off and gets sidetracked on something else. For that reason, it was really hard to get into this book. Additionally, the examples and analogies he uses for appeals or persuasive strategies are either repetitive or overly simplistic in nature. He basically tries to use his family as a way to illustrate means of being persuasive, but goes to that well way too often. And sometimes the logic is a bit head-scratching as well. It also didn’t help that the author’s tone is a mixture of smart allecky and slightly annoying. His own sense of audience is way off kilter or something, and I think I put the book down several times just because of that. One minute he is using “nefarious” in a sentence, and the next minute trying to crack a joke. Complaints aside, there a few nuggets of rhetorical wisdom contained in Thank You For Arguing. Some of the bits on capturing your audience’s attention, for example, were helpful. However, you have to wade through quite a bit to find many of those said nuggets. I would call this rhetoric light, as in half the depth of a book about rhetoric, and not as insightful. While there are some points of insight, there are far better books about argument and rhetoric out there.

This book is about rhetoric - the art of verbal persuasion - a subtle skill that I wish more people mastered, especially myself. Of course, to acquire those skills there is some learning to do, but this author makes it as easy as it can be to learn. Highly recommended.

Takes time to practice the tools mentioned here. Be prepared for the long ride. Extremely useful stuff.

Jay writes with a really engaging style that draws upon some of his personal situations, as well more infamous examples. His amusing asides poke fun at his own life in one sentence, while gently mocking you as the reader in the next. A well constructed, thought-provoking, comprehensive breakdown of rhetorical techniques and ideas, that I know I'll be returning to for inspiration in years to come.

Ich habe mir dieses Buch für das nächste Schuljahr bestellt, um einen Einblick in die Materie des Unterrichtsstoffes zu bekommen. Ich muss sagen dass dieses Buch auch interessant ist obwohl es für mich als Schulbuch fungiert, denn es ist mit gewitztem Humor, überzeugenden Fakten und interessanten Theorien gefüllt. Ich bin mir sicher dass jeder der Interesse an dem Englischen Sprachgebrauch und insbesondere an der "Kunst der Überzeugung" interessiert ist, viel Freude an dieser Lektüre haben wird.

Great read, the subject is presented in an interesting way.