How to Read Nonfiction Like a Professor: A Smart, Irreverent Guide to Biography, History, Journalism, Blogs, and Everything in Between by Thomas C. Foster

Author:Thomas C. Foster
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Language Arts & Disciplines, Rhetoric, Subjects & Themes, Books & Reading, Literary Criticism, Politics
ISBN: 9780062895882
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2020-05-25T21:00:00+00:00

FIRST, DO THE “FACTS” SQUARE WITH WHAT WE ACTUALLY KNOW ABOUT THE WORLD? I often find myself balking at some claim that brings me up short with a response that feels more than says, that doesn’t sound right to me. From that little nagging voice, I know that sooner or later I’ll have to do some fact-checking. Might as well be sooner, so that dubious factoids don’t stick. Happily, this is easier than ever. When I read a newspaper, I nearly always have two devices at hand with which I can do a quick browser search (often, I’m reading it on one), and the results surface in about as long as it takes me to type the question. How do we develop that little nagging voice? Practice. Reading reliable, objective sources about what the world actually looks like. For all the abuse that mainstream media take from those on the loonier fringes, our major news sources are actually pretty trustworthy. Perfect? No. But more accurate than most of the alternatives.

SECOND, IS THE SOURCE OF THAT ASSERTION RELIABLE? If the issue is tobacco use and the source is the tobacco industry, I’m not buying. Hell, if the issue is anything and the source is the tobacco industry, I’m not buying. Those folks have not proved to be paragons of honesty down the decades. For me, and I hope for you, facts are more likely to be trustworthy if they come from independent sources whose money is not derived from products involved in the story. Facebook is no more likely to tell the truth about internet security than Koch Industries is about energy extraction. Each has too much at stake.

ARE THE FACTS BEING USED FAIRLY OR MISAPPLIED? Cherry-picked factoids are worse than none at all. If the columnist pulls out a tiny sliver of a statistic, my skin itches. What we want to know is if the columnist, before sending in his copy, could honestly add a disclaimer, “No facts were harmed in the making of this opinion.”

ARE FRIENDS AND ENEMIES (THE LATTER ESPECIALLY) BEING QUOTED ACCURATELY? We’ve all seen quotes taken out of context and made to say the opposite of what was originally intended. Yes, so-and-so did say those six words in sequence, but if you omit the “not” that preceded them, you’ve just committed intellectual fraud.

DO THE ARGUMENTS ACTUALLY SUPPORT THE CLAIMS THAT ARE MADE, OR DO THEY REQUIRE A PREEXISTING BIAS IN LINE WITH THE WRITER’S? If all you are doing is preaching to the choir, what’s the point? You don’t have to convert your opponents (a nearly impossible job in any case), but the argument should at least have a chance with an impartial, intelligent observer who has not yet decided what she thinks.

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