My review of this book will remark on four aspects of the book: content, readability, insights, and audience. But first, to get a sense of the book, let me quote Burton from the end of the book: 

Well, that was a whirlwind, ten years of thinking, two years of writing, and I’m going to   wrap up with just three thoughts… The highest purpose of education is to unlearn what we once took for granted, to replace certainty with subtlety, prejudice with compassion, and destiny with possibility. If reason is slippery, knowledge is even more so. The oracle at Delphi called Socrates the wisest of all people because Socrates knew how little he knew. So instead of running around thinking that we know things, giving up our lives to those things and making trouble in the world, we would do better to sit down a bit, recognizing just how muddled we are and, if we are not in England, enjoying some sunshine at the same time.

“Whirlwind” is the perfect word here. The book is an easy read, stuffed with all sorts of things whirling around in the wind: logic lessons, examples, discussions of insight, emotion, mental stability, and, of course, hypersanity. He writes, “I first came across the word while training in psychiatry, in the Politics of Experience by RD Laing. In this book, first published in 1967, Laing presented madness as a voyage of discovery that could open out onto a free state of higher consciousness, or hypersanity. For Laing, the descent into madness could lead to a reckoning, to an awakening, to ‘breakthrough rather than breakdown’.” And “hypersanity is liberating and empowering.”

It is that liberating and empowering function that Burton is interested in: “This is a book about thinking, which, astonishingly, is barely taught in formal education. Our culture mostly equates thinking with logical reasoning, and the first few chapters examine logic, reason, their forms, and their flaws, starting with the basics of argumentation.” It is liberating to understand how to evaluate an argument, even to identify an argument, and to be attuned to the necessity of facts, especially in this time of a lack of interest in facts. 

Early chapters present a thoughtful review of basic logic, pointing out the limits of pure logic when engaging in social discourse on the many outlets available to us these days. You will even be able to test yourself to become more aware of “self-deception, cognitive bias and cognitive distortion” – the tools of the bullshitters of the world: “Someone who lies and someone who tells the truth are playing on opposite sides, so to speak, in the same game. Each responds to the facts as he understands them, although the response of the one is guided by the authority of the truth, while the response of the other defies that authority and refuses to meet its demands. The bullshitter ignores these demands altogether. He does not reject the authority of the truth, as the liar does, and oppose himself to it. He pays no attention to it at all. By virtue of this, bullshit is a greater enemy of the truth than lies are.” A valuable lesson indeed.

Along the way the discussion points to the relationship between language and thought, pointing out that “grammar, it seems, can directly and radically influence thought, perception, and action.” The discussion of reason is excellent. Burton argues that “Our emotions and desires define the aims or goals of our reasoning.” 

As for readability – the book is easy to read and filled with short chapters which cover the material thoroughly and thoughtfully. Examples abound to support points argued for and to buttress the thesis of the importance of thinking clearly for having a complete life. However, I do not want to leave readers, or potential readers, with the notion that this is a text-book, or boring to read. On the contrary, you will “whirlwind” your way through the book as I did.

As for insights. There are many; here are seven:

1. Wake up when your body tells you to. No one has ever been tired and inspired at the same time. To make matters worse, having our sleep interrupted by an alarm clock or other stimulus can leave us feeling groggy and grouchy, as though we had ‘woken up on the wrong foot’.

 2. Complete your dreams. REM sleep, which is associated with dreaming, is richest just before *natural* awakening. . . . 

3. Eliminate distractions, especially the tedious ones. Clear your diary, remove yourself from the world, take plenty of time over everything. You want to give your mind plenty of spare capacity. You want it to roam, to freewheel. Before going to bed, I check my calendar for the next day’s engagements, and am never happier than when I see a blank page. Don’t worry or feel guilty, the roof won’t fall down, the sun won’t drop out of the sky. . . . 

4. Don’t rush things. If you try to force inspiration, you will strangle it. You will achieve much less overall, if not also in quantity then at least in quality. . . . .

5. Be curious. John Locke suggested that inspiration amounts to a somewhat random association of ideas and sudden unison of thought. If something, anything, catches your interest, try to follow it through. Nothing is too small or irrelevant. Read books, watch documentaries, visit museums and exhibitions, walk in gardens and nature, interact with inspired and inspiring people…Feed your unconscious. 

6. Break the routine. Sometimes it can help to give the mind a bit of a shake. Try new things that take you out of your comfort zone. Modify your routine or surroundings. . . . 

7. Make a start. When I write an article or chapter, I make a start and come back to it whenever I next feel inspired. . . . If you learn to work with and never against your nature, things will get done as if by themselves.

Finally, as for audience: everyone can benefit from reading this book. 

And it is fun to read.

Bob Lane is a Philosophy Professor Emeritus at Vancouver Island University.