Logic

Logic can be stratified into a quite broad array of sub-categories (formal, informal, symbolic, computational, etc.), and I hope to eventually be able to recommend books on all forms. However, at present, I haven’t yet discovered any I’m comfortable endorsing for lay-readers except in the largely informal domain. By informal, I mean (as is generally meant) something like “Rhetorical” fallacies—the tendency to use language poorly or malevolently so as to obfuscate the chain linking axioms to premises to conclusions. As language lacks the iron-clad significance of mathematics and computation, and as language is the principal means of exposure average people have to arguments, having recommendations only for informal uses doesn’t seem like a huge loss. Furthermore, it seems of especial importance to acquaint oneself with how language can be abused (and used to better effect).