The Point of Pointless Work

An accidental author reflects on five years in publishing and discovers the transformative power of hobbies.


Praise for Ali Almossawi's previous non-fiction


Praise for Bad Choices


"One of the more clever ways of introducing computational thinking to the general public."

—Vint Cerf, Turing Award winner, chief internet evangelist at Google


"Perfect for anyone wanting to understand the basics of Computer Science."

—Cesar Hidalgo, professor at the MIT Media Lab, author of Why Information Grows


"What I appreciated most was how the book became a survey of things I take for granted every day, shining a light on these algorithms and showing me different ways to think about and consider them."

—Jamis Buck, author of Mazes for Programmers


"Read it with the kids and spent more than an hour arguing about different sock-sorting algorithms. Was great fun!"

—Daniel Whiteson, particle physicist, co-author of We Have No Idea


Praise for An Illustrated Book of Bad Arguments


"A very good book every scientist should have. Every scholar, really."

—Hope Jahren, author of Lab Girl


"Share [this book] with your friends. Encourage your family members to flip through it. Casually leave copies in public places."

—Jenny Bristol, GeekDad.com


"Bad arguments, great illustrations . . . gorgeous."

—Cory Doctorow, BoingBoing.net


"Seriously, An Illustrated Book of Bad Arguments should be on every school curriculum. Twitter will be a more civil place."

—Kevin Tang, BuzzFeed


"Now more than ever, you need this illustrated guide to bad arguments, faulty logic, and silly rhetoric."

—Dan Solomon, Fast Company


"Wonderfully digestible . . . I can’t think of a better way to be taught or reintroduced to these fundamental notions of logical discourse. A delightful little book."

—Aaron Koblin, creative director, Google’s Data Arts team


"I love this illustrated book of bad arguments. A flawless compendium of flaws."

—Alice Roberts, PhD, anatomist, writer, and presenter of The Incredible Human Journey


"This little book takes a potentially ponderous subject (logical fallacies) and makes it wonderfully entertaining."

—Omaha World-Herald


"[A] handsome newcomer’s guide to the world of logic . . . Almossawi and his McSweeney’s-ready artist Giraldo accessibly tackle such classic subjects as circular reasoning, false dilemma, straw man, appeal to ignorance, and genetic fallacy . . . an attractive, substantive read."

—John Wenzel, Denver Post blog


"A great primer for anyone looking to understand logical fallacies . . . Pass it along to the arguers—good and bad—in your life."

—Lauren Davis, io9


"[A] wonderful primer on the logical fallacies that have been screwing up our thinking . . . since shortly after the invention of dirt."

—Ron Kretsch, DangerousMinds.net