Increase Productivty

As an example of this, a chess player, captivated by some daring plan of his own, will sometimes forget to look to his defences, and will find himself the subject of sudden disaster. Sometimes a duller mind, or at any rate a slower one, will be more balanced and will at last come nearer to the truth.

So, while you do want a quick mind, not one that is hard to warm up like a cheap motor-car engine on a cold winter’s morning, you do not want one that will start with a leap and run away with you, but one that will dwell long enough on a chosen subject to see it from every point of view, before it begins the varied explorations of thought in connexion with it that it should make upon different lines.

If I follow up the analogy of an engine, we require three things for the good working of our mental machinery— cleaning, lubrication, and control.

Taken From: MIND AND MEMORY TRAINING

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Those who commit the fallacy take the easy way out. Instead of building up a case which carries conviction, they resort to playing on the emotions of the multitude. This is not sound logic, although it may be very successful. Conceivably Mark Anthony might have developed a case for punishing Brutus and the other assassins, and restoring Caesar’s system of government. What he did was more effective. By appealing to popular rejection of disloyalty and ingratitude, and to popular support for public
benefactors, he turned a funeral crowd into a rampaging mob.

For several centuries the traditional villains of the ad populum appeal were landlords and corn merchants. Although they play a negligible role in society nowadays, so powerful was their hold on popular prejudice that I expect you could still raise a lusty cheer by castigating opponents as profiteering landlords and corn merchants. Their disappearance has left a gap in the ad
populum only partly filled by the mysterious ’speculators’. They are somewhat more nebulous because whereas letting property and dealing in corn were respectable occupations which could be identified, few people would write ’speculator’ in the space for their occupation. Still, their elusiveness imparts a shadowy and sinister quality to enhance their evil.

/ oppose enterprise zones because they will become sleazy red-light areas, characterized by sharp dealers and speculators. (You have to be careful, though. Some audiences would like the sound of this.)

Taken from : How To Win Every Argument

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Although all minds work under the same laws, they do so in different degrees of power and plenty. Some work quickly, others slowly; some have much to offer, others little. Several students may be called upon to write an essay on the subject of cats. Some of them will find their thoughts coming plentifully forward from the recesses of the mind, while
others will sit chewing the ends of their pens for a long time before their thoughts begin to flow.

Some minds are brighter than others, and you want yours to be bright and strong. You want to think of many ideas and to think them well. You want to think all round any subject of your consideration, not only on one side of it, as prejudiced or timid thinkers do.

While you are making the mind bright, however, care must be taken to avoid the danger that besets brilliant minds everywhere. The quick thinker who is about to write upon some social subject, such as that of prison reform or education, will find thoughts rapidly rising in his mind, and very often he will be carried away by some of the first that
come, and he will follow them up and write brilliantly along the lines of thought to which they lead. But probably he will miss something of great importance to the understanding of the matter, because he has left the central subject of thought before he has considered it from every point of view.

Taken From: MIND AND MEMORY TRAINING

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The argumentum ad populum appeals to popular attitudes instead of presenting relevant material. In other words, it is based on prejudice. It exploits the known propensity of people to accept that which fits in comfortably with their preconceptions. The popular prejudices may or may not be justified, but the speaker who makes his case depend solely upon them is guilty of an ad populum fallacy.

In recommending Higginbottom, I’d point out that the smart money on him.
(Few people think they belong with the stupid guys.)

The ad populum is often equated with mob appeal, with inflaming passions and prejudices more appropriate to mass hysteria than to rational discourse. Mob orators make a career of the ad populum, choosing words calculated to raise the emotional temperature.

Are we to see the streets of this ancient land of ours given over to strange
faces? (The prejudice is xenophobia and the implication is that the ’strange
faces’ do not fit in our streets; but no argument is advanced.)

Taken from : How To Win Every Argument

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Skilful use of poisoning the well should employ both of its main characteristics. The poison should not only incite ridicule from the audience, it should also act as a deterrent to anyone tempted to disagree with you. ‘Only an idiot’ will put off some, but there will be others who think they could shrug it off. A better poison would be one sufficiently dreadful or embarrassing to deter anyone from drinking willingly.

Only those who are sexually inadequate themselves now advocate single-sex teaching in our schools. (Any volunteers?)

Well-poisoning is recommended whenever your claim might not survive sustained scrutiny. It is also useful for dealing with an opponent whose point goes against received opinion but is, unfortunately, valid. Judicious poisoning will make such an opponent look so foolish that people will ignore the validity. It will also make you look witty and confident, and may even serve to conceal the fact that you are wrong.

Taken from : How To Win Every Argument

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IMAGINE yourself to be standing with a party of friends in some Oriental market-place, or in a palace garden. Enter, a conjurer with a magic box. The strange man spreads a square of cloth upon the ground, then reverently places upon it a coloured box of basket-work, perhaps eight inches square. He gazes at it steadily, mutters a little, removes the lid, and takes out of it, one by one, with exquisite care, nine more boxes, which seem to be of the same size as the original one, but are of different colours.
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Of course, there may be those with defective judgement who prefer to trains.
(There may be those who take into account such factors as price, cleanliness, convenience, and running on time. To admit the preference
now, however, would be owning up to defective judgement.)

In its crude and simple form, poisoning the well is seen to be great fun and can engender spectacular coups of withering scorn. A version which is only slightly more subtle appears in a game called ’sociology of knowledge’. To play the game, one player starts by asserting that everyone else’s view about society and politics is only the unconscious expression of their class interest. Next, he shows that for specialized reasons this analysis does not apply to him because he is unprejudiced and can see things objectively. When another player disagrees with any of his views, the first player triumphantly shows that the opinion of his opponent can be ignored as the mere expression of class interest.

Choice in education is only a device by which the middle classes can advantage for their children.

(There is no point now in pointing to any role which competition might
play in improving standards, or to the advantages of allowing parents
some say in the type of eduction given to their children. You have already been convicted of trying to buy advantage; the rest is just cover.)

Taken from : How To Win Every Argument

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To further your study of speed reading, you can continue to build upon these techniques for greater speed. With practice, you may be able to see an entire line as an object, or two to three units to a line. Your peripheral vision will increase and your concentration will be better focused on the material. You will be skimming more reading material and will achieve greater understanding of the material you read by using the dynamic reading techniques.

There are a number of good books available on speed reading and on building vocabulary. Examine these at your local book store. Remember, skim them first to see if they will be of any help to you.

Happy speed-reading!

Taken From: THE SPEED READING WORKBOOK

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The most attractive feature of poisoning the well is that the opposition is discredited before they have uttered a single word. At its crudest, the fallacy consists in making unpleasant remarks about anyone who might disagree with a chosen position. When some willing victim steps forward to dispute that position, he only shows that the unpleasant remarks apply to him,
Everyone except an idiot knows that not enough money is spent on education.

(When someone comes forward to suggest that enough money is being spent he identifies himself to the audience as the idiot in question.)

The whole discussion is fallacious because it invites acceptance or rejection of the proposition on the basis of evidence which has nothing to do with it. The claim is only an insult, offered without evidence, and does not have to be accepted. Even if it were true, we would still have to examine the argument on its merits.

Closer inspection shows that poisoning the well is a highly specialized version of the ad hominem abusive. Instead of insulting the arguer in the hope that the audience will be led to reject his argument the well-poisoner sets up the insult for anyone who might argue. It is cleverer than simple abuse because it invites the victim to insult himself by drinking from the poisoned well. In doing so, it discourages opposition.

Taken from : How To Win Every Argument

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The techniques of this step have helped you further increase your comprehension. The summarizing, questioning and review will together help you retain more of the material that you read. This method is a very powerful method for all kinds of reading material.

CONCLUSION
You have now completed the techniques that have been presented in this workbook. These should have helped you increase your reading speed by a measurable factor. Most students find a three or five fold increase in reading speed. You may find you have done better than this, or maybe not quite as well. It often helps to review the techniques again and spend more time on the exercises and indicated practice sessions, repeating them several times each day until you are comfortable with the methods.

A summary of the techniques that will allow you to read faster is given below.
(a) Improve placement. Use a pointer.
(b) Increase your perception span. Read groups of words rather than single words.
(c) Avoid vocalization. Do not pronounce words as you read them.
(d) Improve your vocabulary so that you do not get stuck on a word you do not know.
(e) Determine your purpose of reading the material. Skim to evaluate its relevance.
(f) Read, Summarize, Question, Review. Improve comprehension and retention.

Taken From: THE SPEED READING WORKBOOK

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