Books for the development of critical thinking

They are manipulating us, they are trying to deceive us and mislead us. Therefore, in our time it is very important to be able to find and understand deception, tricks of manipulators, etc. Critical thinking is a necessary skill for a modern person.

To develop critical thinking, you will need two types of books: those that will give you tools for critical thinking, and those that you can use to work out your skills. Therefore, there is no one book that will teach you everything. First you need to figure out where you make mistakes in thought, where you are being manipulated, etc. The following books are suitable for this.
https://alpha.iodide.io/notebooks/4142/files/african-school-inside-and-out-html.pdf
“I am manipulating you: Methods of counteracting hidden influence” Nikita Nepryakhin
A great book that I recommend reading to everyone. It contains various examples of manipulations, describes their mechanism and ways to counter them. The subject of manipulators, lies in the media, various tricks, tricks, distortions, etc. are also touched on.

Written in an accessible language, the book is a sea of ​​useful and interesting information. Closes a lot of questions on this topic. If you want to know who controls you and how, this book is for you.
https://alpha.iodide.io/notebooks/4142/files/be-careful-poisoned-what-to-do-with-bullying-at-html.pdf
“A guide to lies. Critical Thinking in the Post-Truth Era »Daniel Levitin
The author of the book undertakes to teach you to distinguish truth from lies - a really important skill in our time. Where is the fact, and where is the fiction? In what ways do they distort the truth? What you need to know to counter deception? In the book you will find answers to these and other questions.

The book has many examples, after meeting with which you will begin to look at the world differently. Now your unblocked gaze will notice every trick and manipulation.
https://alpha.iodide.io/notebooks/4142/files/better-to-just-hit-or-10-surefire-ways-to-html.pdf
“Predictable irrationality. The hidden forces that shape our decisions ”Dan Arieli
Our brain is irrational, this is no longer a secret. The book will tell about many cognitive distortions and irrational aspects of thinking, as well as how it is used, for example, by the media.

“The Eristka, or the Art of Winning Arguments” Arthur Schopenhauer
In this book, the German philosopher has compiled many heuristic tricks that help win the argument. But many of these tricks can be used not only during polemics: they are also used by many politicians who are trying to deceive you, the media, etc.

This book on 4brain has a series of articles in which you will find all the tricks described by Arthur Schopenhauer and examples for them (the book is useful and well written, but there are practically no problems in it, which can complicate understanding when reading the original).
https://alpha.iodide.io/notebooks/4142/files/calm-and-not-calm-html.pdf
Some other books:
"Mistakes of Thinking" Chip Heath and Dan Heath.
“Skeptic: a rational view of the world” Michael Shermer.
"Do not let yourself be deceived" V. A. Kuvakin.
"Naked statistics" Charles Whelan.
“Pseudoscience and paranormal. Critical Look ”Jonathan Smith.
In addition to books, you can develop your critical thinking skills and better understand what it consists of using a free course on the site.

Now let's move on to the second type of books: those by which we can work out our skills. Strictly speaking, this can be any book: here, reading skill is more important than content.

In short, you should not believe the author without arguments and facts. Evaluate each judgment: is this consistent with your experience? Does the author provide reliable information? Are there any logical errors in his argument?
https://alpha.iodide.io/notebooks/4142/files/flipped-classroom-as-a-means-of-boredom-html.pdf
It is best to dwell on philosophical books that are rich in reasoning. To get started, choose books that are simpler written, for example, “Aphorisms of Worldly Wisdom” by Schopenhauer or “Moral Letters to Lucius” by Seneca.

You can also read books about various pseudosciences. How do authors flip facts? What tricks are used? Some people believe in pseudoscience because books about them are written well enough and the average reader does not always realize that he is being led by the nose. In this sense, they are an excellent simulator for training critical thinking. But unlike philosophical books, they do not carry any additional benefits.

The main advice: approach any reading critically. Then any book will be useful to you and will not be able to do harm.