Good Arguments
How Debate Teaches Us to Listen and Be Heard
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
“The rare book that has the potential to make you smarter—and everyone around you wiser.” —Adam Grant
Two-time world champion debater and former coach of the Harvard debate team, Bo Seo tells the inspiring story of his life in competitive debating and reveals the timeless secrets of effective communication and persuasion
When Bo Seo was 8 years old, he and his family migrated from Korea to Australia. At the time, he did not speak English, and, unsurprisingly, struggled at school. But, then, in fifth grade, something happened to change his life: he discovered competitive debate. Immediately, he was hooked. It turned out, perhaps counterintuitively, that debating was the perfect activity for someone shy and unsure of himself. It became a way for Bo not only to find his voice, but to excel socially and academically. And he’s not the only one. Far from it: presidents, Supreme Court justices, and CEOs are all disproportionally debaters. This is hardly a coincidence. By tracing his own journey from immigrant kid to world champion, Seo shows how the skills of debating—information gathering, truth finding, lucidity, organization, and persuasion—are often the cornerstone of successful careers and happy lives.
Drawing insights from its strategies, structure, and history, Seo teaches readers the skills of competitive debate, and in doing so shows how they can improve their communication with friends, family, and colleagues alike. He takes readers on a thrilling intellectual adventure into the eccentric and brilliant subculture of competitive debate, touching on everything from the radical politics of Malcom X to Artificial Intelligence. Seo proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that, far from being a source of conflict, good-faith debate can enrich our daily lives. Indeed, these good arguments are essential to a flourishing democracy, and are more important than ever at time when bad faith is all around, and our democracy seems so imperiled.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this enlightening introduction to the style, function, and variety of formal debate, Seo, a former coach of the Australian Schools and Harvard College debate teams, contends that the manner in which humans typically disagree is "painful and useless." Drawing on vivid historical vignettes, philosophy, and his own experiences on and off the debate circuit, Seo demonstrates effective methods for "achieving clarity" ("Start with the conclusion of your argument, and say the minimum amount required to prove it") and calls out common techniques used to derail and undermine debate, such as the straw man argument, which distorts or misrepresents the original speaker's position. Highlighting the ubiquity of disagreements over who should do the dishes, which government policies deserve support, and other personal and public matters, Seo asserts that debate is not something to be avoided, but that people must "save our energy for the right kind of disagreement" in order to "set ourselves up for a better conversation." Full of intriguing historical snapshots and practical advice, this is an inspiring study of how good-faith arguments can bring people together rather than tear them apart.
