The Power of Critical Thinking: Effective Reasoning About Ordinary and Extraordinary Claims is the #1-selling critical thinking textbook, primarily intended for the Critical Thinking, Informal Logic, and Critical Thought and Reasoning courses. These courses, and where this book is successful, is taught out of the Philosophy department--not to be confused with the student-success-oriented Critical Thinking course.
The text explores the essentials of critical reasoning, argumentation, logic, and argumentative essay writing while also incorporating important topics that most other texts leave out, such as "inference to the best explanation," scientific reasoning, evidence and authority, visual reasoning, and obstacles to critical thinking. It is praised for Vaughn's clear, concise, and lively writing, its real-world applications, and its focus on teaching students how to write critically and effectively, which is covered in Appendix B (Essays for Evaluation) and Appendix E (Critical Thinking and Writing). People also appreciate that the book is more economically priced than most competing texts.
The text integrates many pedagogical features, including hundreds of diverse exercises, examples, and illustrations; text boxes that apply critical thinking to student experience; step-by-step guidelines for evaluating claims, arguments, and explanations; a glossary of important terms; and many reminders, summaries, and review notes.
The Power of Critical Thinking is now available as 2026 digital-only updates that include a brand-new chapter. The text ends with a concise guide for students to using AI effectively and responsibly in coursework and critical thinking skill development-skills that will help students throughout college and beyond.
