In order to get to where I am in terms of my thinking process when it comes to politics and science and the like, I’ve read a ton of things over the years. I am hardcore when it comes to making sure that when someone says something, that it be factually accurate and logically sound. Below is a list of the key books that I read along the way that got me to where I am.
Critical Thinking
- Curses! Broiled Again! (1989) – Jan Harold Brunvand
- Did Adam and Eve Have Navels? (2000) – Martin Gardner
- Don’t Think of an Elephant: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate (2004) – George Lakoff
- Evolution and the Myth of Creationism (1990) – Tim M. Berra
- How We Believe (2000) – Michael Shermer
- I Love Paul Revere, Whether He Rode or Not – Richard Shenkman (1991)
- Legends, Lies & Cherished Myths of American History – Richard Shenkman (1988)
- Lies My Teacher Told Me – James W. Loewen (1995)
- Logic and Contemporary Rhetoric, Seventh Edition (1995) – Howard Kahane
- The Baby Train and Other Lusty Urban Legends – Jan Harold Brunvand (1993)
- The Borderlands of Science (2001) – Michael Shermer
- The Choking Doberman and Other “New” Urban Legends (1984) – Jan Harold Brunvand
- The Demon-Haunted World (1996) – Carl Sagan
- Thinking Points (2006) – George Lakoff
- Voodoo Science (2000) – Robert L. Park
- Why People Believe Weird Things (1997) – Michael Shermer
Philosophy
- Ain’t Nobody’s Business If You Do (1996) – Peter McWilliams
- Brain Droppings (1997) – George Carlin
- How Democratic Is the American Constitution, Second Edition (2003) – Robert A. Dahl
- Political Control of the Economy – Edward R. Tufte (1978)
- Politics and Markets – Charles E. Lindblom (1977)
- Politics and the Bureacracy – Kenneth J. Meier (2000)
- The Dark Side of Christian History (1995) – Helen Ellerbe
- The Politics of Sin (1994) – Kenneth J. Meier
- The Semisovereign People – E.E. Schattschneider (1975)
- The Sometime Connection – Elaine B. Sharp (1999)
- Understanding the Constitution (1994) – J.W. Peltason & Edward Samuel Corwin
Ideology and Party
- 449 Stupid Things Republicans Have Said (2004) – Ted Rueter
- Big Lies (2003) – Joe Conason
- Decline of American Political Parties 1952-1996 – Martin P. Wattenberg (1998)
- Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them (2003) – Al Franken
- Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot (1996) – Al Franken
- Secrets, Lies and Democracy – Noam Chomsky & David Barsamian (1994)
- Stupid White Men…and Other Sorry Excuses for the State of the Nation! (2002) – Michael Moore
- Take Them At Their Words (2004) – Bruce J. Miller and Diana Maio
- Tell Newt To Shut Up – David Maraniss & Michael Weisskopf (1996)
- The Common Good (1998) – Noam Chomsky & David Barsamian
- The Emerging Democratic Majority (2002) – by John B. Judis & Ruy Teixeira
- The Rants (1996) – Dennis Miller
- The Truth (With Jokes) (2005) – Al Franken
- Up From Conservatism – Michael Lind (1996)
- Wait! Don’t Move To Canada! (2006) – Bill Scher
- We’re Right, They’re Wrong – James Carville (1996)
Issue-Specific
- 50 Facts That Should Change the World (2004) – Jessica Williams
- Acts of Aggression (1999) – Noam Chomsky, Ramsey Clark & Edward W. Said
- Downsize This (1996) – Michael Moore
- Drugs In American Society, Sixth Edition (2005) – Erich Goode
- Fast Food Nation (2002) – Eric Schlosser
- Take the Rich Off Welfare (1996) – Mark Zepezauer & Arthur Naiman
- The Government Racket – Martin L. Gross (1992)
- The Political Racket – Martin L. Gross (1996)
- The Politics of Gun Control – Robert J. Spitzer (1995)
- The Umbrella of U.S. Power (1999) – Noam Chomsky
- The War On the Poor: A Defense Manual – Randy Albelda, Nancy Folbre (1996)
- Understanding Politics: Ideas, Institutions and Issues, Fifth Edition (1999) – Thomas M. Magstadt & Peter M. Schotten
- Why Marijuana Should Be Legal – Ed Rosenthal & Steve Kubby (1996)
Media
- It’s the Media, Stupid (2000) – John Nichols & Robert W. McChesney
- Mediaspeak (1983) – Donna Woolfolk Cross
- The Way Things Aren’t: Rush Limbaugh’s Reign of Error (1995) – FAIR
- Virtuous Reality – Jon Katz (1997)
- What Liberal Media? (2002) – Eric Alterman
