Chap Four

Chapter four is about reading critically again as the heading would imply. Its focus is on the value of understanding what it is you read and knowing why it does or does not pertain to your topic. More so than the pertaining to the topic, does it support your position and opinion’s on the topic? It stresses the importance of not taking anything at face value.

The point of this chapter to me is that these articles are written by people just like me. People with thoughts and opinions just like me. People with biases just like me. So say the first article you ever read on the subject of cats talks about how awful a creature the cat is and how they are on top of the worst pets in the world list. Not having encountered any cat before you would be inclined to believe this man’s (or woman’s) article. However with further research you find the next ten articles simply adore the magnificence of the cat and how purrfect (pun very much intended) a cat is as a pet.  You will now have a much stronger idea of just what a cat is. Rereading that first article again might, at this point, invoke a blinding internal rage as you have now learned just how wonderful these creatures can be. Had you taken the first article at face value you would have avoided the cat forever missing out on a creature you actually love.