# How to Win Every Argument *By Madsen Pirie. Primary edition for this note: Continuum, London and New York, 2006 (hardcover), subtitled The Use and Abuse of Logic. An updated and extended recasting of The Book of the Fallacy: A Training Manual for Intellectual Subversives (Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1985). Paperback from Continuum / later Bloomsbury Academic, 2007. Second edition, Bloomsbury Academic, 2015, with new chapters on arguing in speech and in writing.* > I did not read the book. It is still in copyright (2006, with a 2015 second edition), and the Internet Archive scan (`howtowineveryarg0000piri`) is printdisabled; I did not log in or borrow it. What I could see: library and publisher catalog records (Internet Archive metadata with the Library of Congress number, Open Library, WorldCat identifiers, BYU, Martin Luther College, the Open British National Bibliography), Google Books' contents preview for the 2006 Continuum edition, Bloomsbury's product pages for the 2015 paperback, ebook and audiobook, Pirie's own *Spectator* article of 22 April 2006 announcing that week's publication, the Adam Smith Institute's biography and its 2015 announcement of a YouTube series tied to the second edition, Wikipedia, and a search-engine excerpt of Pirie's December 2012 note about a Chinese edition (his site itself returned 403 when I fetched it). Google Books' page-level preview of the introduction and of the straw-man entry hit a viewing limit, so I do not quote those pages. A public excerpt of the 2006 contents pages listed the complete alphabetical run of entries with start pages; every overlapping title and page number matched the Google Books contents preview, including the printed slip "Analogical fallcy". That is where the outline in section 5 comes from. I have not used or linked unauthorized full-text copies. Related in this vault: the source video note [[Video Summaries/Joel is Curious/The straw man (Logical Fallacies, Part 1)]]. There are no other Pirie dossiers yet. The book appears here because that Video Summaries note requested it (Logical Fallacies, Part 1, on the straw man). I did not recover a timestamp for the mention itself. ## 1. Book facts | | | |---|---| | Title | *How to Win Every Argument: The Use and Abuse of Logic* | | Author | Madsen Pirie (library catalogs: Pirie, Madsen, 1940–) | | Primary edition | London and New York: Continuum, ©2006. Hardcover. x, 182 pages; 21 cm. ISBN 0-8264-9006-9 / 978-0-8264-9006-3. LCCN 2006297609; OCLC 63400100; LC class BC175 .P573 2006 (also recorded as BC175 .P57 2006). Open Library editions [OL8169515M](https://openlibrary.org/books/OL8169515M) ("Rev Ed edition", dated June 2, 2006 in Amazon-derived data) and [OL22740109M](https://openlibrary.org/books/OL22740109M) (the Internet Archive copy). Google Books id `Gh5UjNNc0v4C` lists the publisher as A&C Black, 2006, 182 pages: Continuum belonged to that group, later absorbed by Bloomsbury | | Date | Copyright year 2006. Pirie's [*Spectator* piece of Saturday, 22 April 2006](https://spectator.com/article/a-short-guide-to-winning-arguments/) says the book "is published this week by Continuum", which is the best contemporary date I found for the hardcover. Catalogs and booksellers also show January 1, 2006 (a common placeholder), March 30, 2006 (Goodreads "first published"), and June 2, 2006 (Open Library hardcover record) | | Paperback reprint | Continuum International Publishing Group, November 2007, 192 pages. ISBN 0-8264-9894-9 / 978-0-8264-9894-6. Open Library [OL9901840M](https://openlibrary.org/books/OL9901840M); OCLC 141381097. Goodreads lists this printing under Bloomsbury Academic | | Second edition | London and New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2015. BYU catalog: "Second edition", xiii, 222 pages, 1 black-and-white illustration, 20 cm; ISBN 978-1-4725-2912-1 / 1-4725-2912-X; call number BC 175 .P57 2015. Bloomsbury's own paperback page gives May 7, 2015 and **240 pages**. Ebook (Epub & Mobi) ISBN 978-1-4725-2697-7, published March 12, 2015, also listed as 240 pages; Kindle ASIN [B00R6A38W4](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00R6A38W4) (Goodreads: 238 pages, ISBN-10 147252697X). Audiobook: Bloomsbury Academic, March 30, 2023, ISBN 978-1-3504-0501-1, 7 hours 53 minutes, narrated by Chris Courtenay | | Earlier book | *The Book of the Fallacy: A Training Manual for Intellectual Subversives*. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1985. ISBN 0-7102-0521-X / 978-0-7102-0521-6. viii, 189 pages; bibliography pp. 188–189. Open Library work [OL3780472W](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL3780472W), edition [OL23749294M](https://openlibrary.org/books/OL23749294M); [Google Books `o0DYAAAAMAAJ`](https://books.google.com/books?id=o0DYAAAAMAAJ); [OBNB](https://obnb.uk/p7395757-the-book-of-the-fallacy-a-training-manual-for-intellectual-subversives). Library notes on the 2006 book (Internet Archive, BYU, Martin Luther College) say "Previous ed.: published as *The book of fallacy*. London : Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1985" — catalogs sometimes drop the inner "the". Wikipedia's bibliography shortens the title further to *The Book of Fallacy* and dates the Continuum book 2007, which looks like a slip for the paperback year | | Form | A lexicon of named logical fallacies, arranged alphabetically, framed by an introduction and a closing "Classification of fallacies". The 2006 contents list **79** headed entries plus that classification chapter (see section 5). Each entry, per the publisher's description, explains the fallacy, analyses an example, notes when it tends to occur, and shows how a reader might "perpetrate the fallacy on other people in order to win an argument" ([Google Books](https://books.google.com/books?id=Gh5UjNNc0v4C)). The 2015 second edition keeps an A–Z of 79 entries, according to Bloomsbury, and adds chapters on what an argument is, what success and evidence look like, and how to argue orally and in writing (including Facebook and "in 140 characters" on Twitter) | | Language | English | | Subjects | Fallacies (Logic) | | Other identifiers | Open Library works [OL3780486W](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL3780486W) and a duplicate [OL13668404W](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL13668404W) linked to the Internet Archive copy; LibraryThing 1195273; Goodreads work 108540 (hardcover show page 112731; paperback 1017249) | | Cover | [Open Library cover image](https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/id/630959-L.jpg) (work/hardcover cover id 630959; the Internet Archive-linked edition also has cover id 14387945) | **Where it came up.** - Video: [The straw man (Logical Fallacies, Part 1)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5F_teNsxJ6Q), *Joel is Curious*. - Requested by Video Summaries on 2026-11-04 from that episode. The queue does not record a timestamp, and I did not recover one from public pages. - Vault note: [[Video Summaries/Joel is Curious/The straw man (Logical Fallacies, Part 1)]]. - The 2006 contents list a headed entry "The straw man" beginning at p. 155. Pirie describes the same move, with a driving-test example, in his April 2006 *Spectator* article (section 5). ## 2. Book resources **Reference and catalog pages.** [Bloomsbury Academic, 2015 paperback (ISBN 9781472529121)](https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/how-to-win-every-argument-9781472529121/); [ebook, ISBN 9781472526977](https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/how-to-win-every-argument-9781472526977/); [audiobook, ISBN 9781350405011](https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/how-to-win-every-argument-9781350405011/); [Open Library work OL3780486W](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL3780486W), editions [OL8169515M (2006 hardcover)](https://openlibrary.org/books/OL8169515M), [OL9901840M (2007 paperback)](https://openlibrary.org/books/OL9901840M) and [OL22740109M (2006, Internet Archive copy)](https://openlibrary.org/books/OL22740109M); [Google Books (2006)](https://books.google.com/books?id=Gh5UjNNc0v4C); [WorldCat OCLC 63400100](https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/63400100) (2006) and [OCLC 141381097](https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/141381097) (2007 paperback); [Library of Congress LCCN 2006297609](https://lccn.loc.gov/2006297609); [OBNB, 2006 hardcover](https://obnb.uk/p13392091-how-to-win-every-argument-the-use-and-abuse-of-logic); [BYU catalog (2006 and 2015)](https://lib.byu.edu/search/byu/record/cat.6558590.item.31197235743272); [Goodreads editions](https://www.goodreads.com/work/editions/108540-how-to-win-every-argument-the-use-and-abuse-of-logic); [LibraryThing 1195273](https://www.librarything.com/work/1195273). **Free (legal).** I found no legal free copy of any edition of *How to Win Every Argument*, or of the 1985 *Book of the Fallacy*. The book is in copyright, and neither the author nor Bloomsbury has posted the text. Copies on general file-hosting and "PDF drive" sites are not authorized, and I have not linked them. - **Internet Archive (controlled / print-disabled).** [2006 Continuum scan, `howtowineveryarg0000piri`](https://archive.org/details/howtowineveryarg0000piri). Access is restricted (printdisabled collection); I did not log in or borrow it. - **Open Library borrow.** The work page currently says the book is unavailable to borrow. The 2007 paperback record is a library-holdings record, not a borrowable scan. - **Libby/OverDrive.** A title-and-author search returns a **2015 ebook** and a **2023 audiobook** (Chris Courtenay) on OverDrive: [OverDrive search](https://www.overdrive.com/search?q=How%20to%20Win%20Every%20Argument%20Pirie). Whether your library has licensed them is a local question. - **Hoopla.** Not found in a title-and-author search. - **Project Gutenberg.** Not applicable (a 1985/2006/2015 copyrighted book). - **Full text posted by the author or publisher.** None found. Bloomsbury sells the ebook and also lists the title on Bloomsbury Collections for libraries that subscribe. **Paid.** - **Publisher.** [Bloomsbury Academic paperback, $32.95 list](https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/how-to-win-every-argument-9781472529121/); [ebook (PDF and Epub & Mobi)](https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/how-to-win-every-argument-9781472526977/); [audiobook](https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/how-to-win-every-argument-9781350405011/). The original Continuum hardcover no longer has a live Continuum product page (Continuum is now part of Bloomsbury). - **Amazon print.** [2006 hardcover, ISBN 0826490069](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0826490069); [2007 paperback, ISBN 0826498949](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0826498949); [2015 second-edition paperback, ISBN 147252912X](https://www.amazon.com/dp/147252912X). - **Kindle.** [ASIN B00R6A38W4](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00R6A38W4), the 2015 second edition (Goodreads dates the Kindle release March 12, 2015). - **Audible.** Yes, for the second edition: [*How to Win Every Argument*, narrated by Chris Courtenay](https://www.audible.com/pd/How-to-Win-Every-Argument-2nd-Edition-Audiobook/B0BWZMB4HP) (Bloomsbury presents; 7 hours 53 minutes; Audible/Bloomsbury give 30 March 2023). I did not find a separate audiobook of the 2006 text. ## 3. Author biography **Duncan Madsen Pirie**, OBE (born 24 August 1940, Kingston upon Hull, England), is a British writer and the president and a co-founder of the [Adam Smith Institute](https://www.adamsmith.org/our-people/madsen-pirie), a London free-market think tank established in 1977. The biographical outline below follows [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madsen_Pirie), the Institute's own page, and Pirie's [Who I Am](https://madsen-pirie.com/who-i-am/) page (the last as summarized in a search excerpt; a full fetch of some pages on his site was blocked). He is the son of Douglas Pirie and Eva Madsen, and attended the Humberstone Foundation School (Clee Grammar School for Boys) in Old Clee, Lincolnshire (Wikipedia). His degrees, as he and the reference sources give them, are an MA in History from the University of Edinburgh (1970), a PhD in Philosophy from the University of St Andrews (1974), and later an MPhil in Land Economy from Pembroke College, Cambridge (1997). The Institute describes him as one of "three Scots graduates working in the US" who founded it; Wikipedia says "three Britons living in the United States". The "Scots" in the Institute's phrasing refers to the universities, not to his birthplace. Before the Institute he worked for the United States House of Representatives in Washington (the Institute; his own page specifies the Republican Study Committee) and taught philosophy and logic at Hillsdale College in Michigan. The Institute calls him Distinguished Visiting Professor of Philosophy there; Wikipedia says "visiting professor of logic and philosophy" and marks that line as needing a citation; his own page says "Professor of Philosophy at Hillsdale College". *How to Win Every Argument* grew out of those Hillsdale logic classes: he said so in the *Spectator* in April 2006, and again in a [December 2012 note](https://madsen-pirie.com/2012/12/12/how-to-win-every-argument-madsen-pirie/) on receiving a Chinese edition, where he wrote that the students liked his treatment of fallacies, that Routledge published it as *The Book of the Fallacy*, and that "many years later Continuum asked me to update it and extend it" under the present title. At the Institute he was part of the group that pushed privatization and market mechanisms in British policy. The Institute says his work on the Citizen's Charter led to a place on the Prime Minister's Advisory Panel from 1991 to 1995. Wikipedia, citing Ed Pearce in *The Guardian* (19 April 1993, "The prophet of private profit"), reports that he helped Douglas Mason devise the poll tax; I have not read that article, and I record the claim as reported rather than independently checked. He was secretary of Mensa International from 1979 to 1992 (Wikipedia). In February 2010 he and Eamonn Butler jointly received the National Free Enterprise Award (his Who I Am page). He was appointed OBE in the 2024 New Year Honours for services to public policy (*London Gazette* supplement, 30 December 2023, as cited by Wikipedia). Other books commonly listed alongside this one include *Micropolitics* (1988), *Privatization: Theory, Practice and Choice* (1988), *Blueprint for a Revolution* (1993), *101 Great Philosophers* (Continuum, 2009; the Institute's page says *101 Great Philosophers*, Wikipedia *101 Great Thinkers*), *Freedom 101* (2008), *Economics Made Simple* (2011), *Think Tank: The Story of the Adam Smith Institute* (BiteBack, 2012), and, with Eamonn Butler, a run of popular IQ books including *The Sherlock Holmes IQ Book*. He has also written children's science fiction (*The Waters of Andros*, *Tree Boy*, and others). *The Logic of Economics* (Adam Smith Institute, 1982) is an earlier logic-adjacent title on his Wikipedia bibliography. ## 4. Author interviews and talks None that I found in which an interviewer walks through this book chapter by chapter. The closest items, including Pirie speaking about the same material, are: - [*The Spectator*, "A short guide to winning arguments", 22 April 2006](https://spectator.com/article/a-short-guide-to-winning-arguments/). Pirie's own article, published the week the Continuum book appeared. He describes teaching logic at "an American university", the fun of naming fallacies, and how spotting a broken step can undermine a case to onlookers even if it does not change the speaker's mind. He walks through the runaway train (a 60 mph motorway limit justified only by "saving lives"), *argumentum ad temperantiam* ("England's national fallacy"), apriorism (illustrated with climate examples), the straw man, poisoning the well, *cum hoc ergo propter hoc*, a "everything must have a beginning" style of argument that contradicts its own premise, *tu quoque*, and the gambler's fallacy. He ends by naming this book. - [Adam Smith Institute, "Logical Fallacies: 1. Argumentum ad Temperantiam"](https://www.adamsmith.org/blog/miscellaneous/logical-fallacies-1-argumentum-ad-temperantiam) (the post is dated 16 January, with no year on the page I fetched; it announces the "forthcoming" second edition, so 2015). It introduces a planned run of **20** short YouTube videos, tied to the new edition, and says "the book explains 90 of them" — a figure that does not match Bloomsbury's "79 A–Z entries" (see section 6). The first video is at [YouTube, `eQRbkon7R6Y`](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQRbkon7R6Y). A later Institute post covers [no. 20, *Argumentum ad numeram*](https://www.adamsmith.org/blog/miscellaneous/logical-fallacies-20-argumentum-ad-numeram). The videos are collected as ["Logical Fallacies with Madsen Pirie"](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlHK21DLxc2QqlLo9JUV9ALnHOI3ODyYX). The same announcement mentions his earlier "Economics is Fun" YouTube series, from about three years before. - [Pirie, "How to Win Every Argument", 12 December 2012](https://madsen-pirie.com/2012/12/12/how-to-win-every-argument-madsen-pirie/). A short author's note: he had just received six copies of a Chinese edition; he traces the book from the Hillsdale classes through Routledge to Continuum, and admits he is "not sure about the title" even though it "does sell steadily". The page returned 403 to a direct fetch; the description is from the public search excerpt. - [TPA Talks with Madsen Pirie, TaxPayers' Alliance, 9 August 2022](https://old.taxpayersalliance.com/tpa_talks_with_madsen_pirie). A career conversation: the founding of the Adam Smith Institute, the Thatcher years, parallels he draws between the 1970s and the 2020s, and how free-marketeers might "tell better stories". It is not about this book. The Alliance's current hostname returned 404 for the same slug; the archived host still listed the episode. ## 5. Summary **Thesis.** Pirie's public case for the book, in the publisher's language and in his *Spectator* article, is that fallacies are common, nameable mistakes (or tricks) of reasoning, and that learning their names has two uses. The respectable use is to tighten your own arguments and to show an audience where an opponent's chain of reasoning has cracked. The mischievous use, which the title leans on and which the publisher flags with a "warning", is to commit the same moves deliberately "and get away with it". The Google Books description of the 2006 edition says each entry explains the fallacy, analyses an example, notes when and why it tends to occur, and then shows how to perpetrate it. The 2015 jacket keeps that double purpose and adds practical chapters on arguing with a friend, in a group, in a formal debate, in a meeting, in a letter or newspaper article, on the internet, on Facebook, and in a tweet. I did not read the introduction, so I am not quoting it. The *Spectator* article is the longest piece of Pirie's own prose about this material that I could read in full, and the outline below is a table of contents, not a paraphrase of the entries. **Outline (2006 Continuum edition).** Acknowledgments p. viii, Introduction p. ix, then an alphabetical lexicon and a closing classification. Start pages are as printed. Google Books' contents preview independently showed the entries and pages marked with a dagger (†) below, sometimes with punctuation dropped (for example "Hominem abusive argumentum ad", "Thatchers blame", "Nonanticipation"). The remaining titles and pages come from a public excerpt of the same contents pages; they are consistent with that preview and with the unusual titles it did show, but I did not see those particular contents lines on Google Books itself. One printed contents slip is almost certainly a typesetting error: **"Analogical fallcy"** (p. 11) for "Analogical fallacy". The excerpt also printed **"Ignorantio elenchi"** at p. 94; Google Books' term index for the volume uses the standard spelling *ignoratio elenchi*, so I am not sure which form stands in the book. - Acknowledgments — viii - Introduction — ix - Abusive analogy — 1 - Accent — 3 - Accident — 5 - Affirming the consequent — 7 - Amphiboly — 9 - Analogical fallcy — 11 † - Antiquitam, argumentum ad — 14 - Apriorism — 15 - Baculum, argumentum ad — 17 - Bifurcation — 19 - Blinding with science — 22 - The bogus dilemma — 24 † - Circulus in probando — 27 - The complex question (*plurium interrogationum*) — 29 - Composition — 31 - Concealed quantification — 33 - Conclusion which denies premises — 35 - Contradictory premises — 38 † - Crumenam, argumentum ad — 39 - Cum hoc ergo propter hoc — 41 - Damning the alternatives — 44 - Definitional retreat — 46 † - Denying the antecedent — 49 - Dicto simpliciter — 51 - Division — 53 - Emotional appeals — 55 - Equivocation — 58 - Every schoolboy knows — 60 † - The exception that proves the rule — 63 - Exclusive premises — 65 - The existential fallacy — 67 - Ex-post-facto statistics — 69 - Extensional pruning — 72 - False conversion — 74 † - False precision — 76 - The gambler's fallacy — 79 - The genetic fallacy — 82 - Half-concealed qualification — 83 - Hedging — 86 - Hominem (abusive), argumentum ad — 88 † - Hominem (circumstantial), argumentum ad — 90 - Ignorantiam, argumentum ad — 92 - Ignoratio elenchi (contents excerpt: "Ignorantio elenchi") — 94 - Illicit process — 97 - Irrelevant humour — 99 - Lapidem, argumentum ad — 101 † - Lazarum, argumentum ad — 104 - Loaded words — 106 - Misericordiam, argumentum ad — 109 - Nauseam, argumentum ad — 111 - Non-anticipation — 114 † - Novitam, argumentum ad — 116 - Numeram, argumentum ad — 118 - One-sided assessment — 121 - Petitio principii — 123 - Poisoning the well — 126 † - Populum, argumentum ad — 128 - Positive conclusion from negative premise — 130 - Post hoc ergo propter hoc — 131 - Quaternio terminorum — 133 † - The red herring — 136 - Refuting the example — 138 - Reification — 140 † - The runaway train — 142 - Secundum quid — 145 - Shifting ground — 147 † - Shifting the burden of proof — 149 - The slippery slope — 151 - Special pleading — 153 † - The straw man — 155 - Temperantiam, argumentum ad — 157 - Thatcher's blame — 160 † - Trivial objections — 162 - Tu quoque — 164 - Unaccepted enthymemes — 166 † - The undistributed middle — 168 - Unobtainable perfection — 171 - Verecundiam, argumentum ad — 173 † - Wishful thinking — 176 - Classification of fallacies — 179 † Count: **79** headed fallacy entries plus the classification chapter. That matches Bloomsbury's later "79 A–Z entries". I could not see how the classification chapter divides them, and I have not invented a scheme. **Outline additions in the 2015 second edition.** From Bloomsbury's table of contents (no page numbers given there, except that the publisher lists the book at 240 pages). I have not seen a contents page for this edition, so I cannot say whether any 2006 entry was renamed, dropped or added. The new front matter is: - Introduction - 1. What is an Argument - 2. What does a Successful Argument Look Like? - 3. What counts as Evidence? - 4. Oral Arguments - a) arguing with a friend - b) arguing in a group - c) arguing in a formal debate - d) Presenting your case in a meeting - 5. Written Arguments - a) arguing in a letter, article of newspaper (Bloomsbury's wording; probably "or") - b) arguing on the internet - c) how to argue on facebook - d) winning an argument in 140 characters (arguing on twitter) - Then "79 A–Z entries, including" (Bloomsbury's sample): Abusive analogy; Blinding with science; The complex question; Damning the alternatives; Exclusive premises; The gambler's fallacy; Hedging; "Irrelevent humour" (so spelled on the publisher page); Loaded words; The red herring; Shifting ground; Trivial objections; Wishful thinking Those sample names all appear in the 2006 list. Bloomsbury's 2015 description also mentions arguing "in the pub", which does not appear as a separate heading in the contents block I saw; it may live inside the oral-argument chapter. **Key ideas (from the sources named above; not from a reading).** - **A lexicon, not a textbook.** The 2006 book is an A–Z of named moves, mixing standard formal faults (affirming the consequent, denying the antecedent, undistributed middle, exclusive premises, *quaternio terminorum*) with informal and somewhat Pirie-flavoured labels (the runaway train, every schoolboy knows, Thatcher's blame, unobtainable perfection, *argumentum ad crumenam / lazarum / lapidem / numeram / novitam / antiquitam / temperantiam*). I can see the names; I cannot see his definitions except where he repeated them in the *Spectator*. - **How he presents a few of them**, from that article: a "runaway train" is an argument whose stated reason (saving lives by cutting the motorway limit to 60 mph) has no reason to stop at the proposed figure. *Argumentum ad temperantiam* is the assumption that a middle course must be right; he calls it "England's national fallacy" and notes that if one person says two plus two equals four and another says six, the Englishman in the pub will nod at five. Apriorism, in his sketch, is holding a theory so that no fact can count against it. A straw man attacks a cruder position than the one on offer (his example: knocking down the claim that all old people should be kept off the roads, rather than the proposal of an extra driving test at 75). Poisoning the well casts disagreement itself as evidence of lunacy. *Cum hoc ergo propter hoc* treats things that happened at the same time as cause and effect; *tu quoque* treats a critic's past as a reason to ignore the criticism; the gambler's fallacy treats a run of heads as making tails more likely next time. - **Latin as theatre.** In the same article he says that calling an opponent's error by its Latin name can "make it look as though he or she is suffering from a rare tropical disease." That is of a piece with the book's mischievous subtitle. - **Origin and revision.** Hillsdale logic classes, then the 1985 Routledge book, then a Continuum "update" and "extension" (his 2012 note). The 2015 edition extends it again into venues that did not exist in 1985 (Facebook, Twitter's 140 characters). A Chinese edition existed by December 2012; I do not have its title or ISBN. - **Reception.** Bloomsbury quotes Zoe Page in *The BookBag*: "A highly thought provoking, enjoyable and entertaining read" ([review](https://www.thebookbag.co.uk/reviews/How_to_Win_Every_Argument_by_Madsen_Pirie); the page timed out when I fetched it, so I have only the publisher's extract). Longer unpaid reviews exist, including [Gruts (Steve Morris)](http://gruts.com/reviews/pirie-how/) and a 2008 note at [The Bibliophage](http://thebibliophage.blogspot.com/2008/03/how-to-win-every-argument-use-and-abuse.html); I did not rely on them for the contents list. Goodreads shows on the order of a thousand ratings for the hardcover record, with an average a little above 3.5; I have not treated that as a verdict. ## 6. Fact-check Overall verdict: **mixed**. Publication facts and the 2006 table of contents check out against catalogs and the Google Books preview. I could not read the entries themselves, so the book's treatments of individual fallacies are largely unchecked here. A few of Pirie's own public examples are noted below. At least one marketing figure (90 fallacies) does not match the published contents count (79). | Claim | Verdict | Evidence | |---|---|---| | Madsen Pirie; Continuum, London and New York, 2006; x, 182 p.; ISBN 0826490069 | Supported | [Internet Archive metadata](https://archive.org/details/howtowineveryarg0000piri); [Open Library OL8169515M](https://openlibrary.org/books/OL8169515M) and [OL22740109M](https://openlibrary.org/books/OL22740109M); [Martin Luther College catalog](https://library.mlc-wels.edu/Record/191066); [BYU](https://lib.byu.edu/search/byu/record/cat.3625374.item.31197226918834); LCCN 2006297609; OCLC 63400100 | | The hardcover appeared in the week of 22 April 2006 | Supported as reported by the author | ["published this week by Continuum"](https://spectator.com/article/a-short-guide-to-winning-arguments/). January 1 / March 30 / June 2 dates in retail databases look like placeholders or later listings | | Previous edition: *The Book of the Fallacy* (Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1985; viii, 189 p.; ISBN 071020521X) | Supported | [Open Library OL23749294M](https://openlibrary.org/books/OL23749294M); [OBNB](https://obnb.uk/p7395757-the-book-of-the-fallacy-a-training-manual-for-intellectual-subversives); IA/BYU/MLC notes on the 2006 book; Pirie's 2012 note. Catalogs vary slightly on whether the older title includes an inner "the" | | Continuum "updated it and extended it" rather than merely reprinting the 1985 book under a new title | Supported as the author's account | [Pirie, 12 December 2012](https://madsen-pirie.com/2012/12/12/how-to-win-every-argument-madsen-pirie/) | | 79 alphabetically arranged fallacy entries, plus "Classification of fallacies" at p. 179 | Supported for the 2006 edition | Google Books contents preview plus the matching complete contents excerpt; Bloomsbury still says "79 A–Z entries" in 2015 | | The 2015 second edition adds chapters on oral and written argument, including Facebook and Twitter | Supported | [Bloomsbury paperback TOC](https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/how-to-win-every-argument-9781472529121/) | | "The book explains 90 of them" (Adam Smith Institute, announcing the second edition) | Disputed / unverified | The [Institute's own announcement](https://www.adamsmith.org/blog/miscellaneous/logical-fallacies-1-argumentum-ad-temperantiam) says 90; Bloomsbury's TOC for that edition still says 79 A–Z entries. I could not see a 2015 contents page, so I cannot tell whether entries were added or the "90" is loose wording | | Wikipedia's date "Continuum, 2007" for this title | Disputed as a primary date | That is the paperback year. The hardcover and the copyright year are 2006 | | Each entry explains the fallacy, gives an example, and shows how to perpetrate it | Supported as the publisher's description; unverified as a reading | [Google Books](https://books.google.com/books?id=Gh5UjNNc0v4C); jacket text on [OL22740109M](https://openlibrary.org/books/OL22740109M) | | Straw man: attacking a cruder position than the one actually offered | Supported as Pirie's own published example | [*Spectator*, 22 April 2006](https://spectator.com/article/a-short-guide-to-winning-arguments/). The contents list the entry at p. 155; I did not read that page | | Runaway train; *argumentum ad temperantiam*; the gambler's fallacy; *cum hoc ergo propter hoc*; *tu quoque*; poisoning the well — as sketched in the *Spectator* | Supported as his account of those labels; the sketches themselves are ordinary textbook points | Same article. The gambler's-fallacy sketch (a run of heads does not make tails more likely) is standard; so is treating coincidence as causation | | *Argumentum ad temperantiam* is "England's national fallacy" | Opinion | His joke in the *Spectator*, not a historical finding | | He helped devise the poll tax, with Douglas Mason | Unverified here (reported) | Wikipedia cites Ed Pearce, "The prophet of private profit", *The Guardian*, 19 April 1993. I did not read the article | | Birth date 24 August 1940, Hull; Edinburgh MA 1970; St Andrews PhD 1974; Cambridge MPhil 1997; ASI co-founder 1977; OBE, 2024 New Year Honours | Supported as reported | [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madsen_Pirie), citing among other things *The London Gazette* no. 64269, 30 December 2023; [ASI biography](https://www.adamsmith.org/our-people/madsen-pirie) | | The treatments of the other 70-odd fallacies inside the book | Not checked | I did not read them | ## 7. Citations and references **What the book draws on.** I did not see a bibliography in the 2006 contents list (the last item is "Classification of fallacies", p. 179). The 1985 Routledge book did have one, at pp. 188–189, according to Open Library and the OBNB record; I have not seen that list, so I cannot say which authorities he named there or whether Continuum kept them. The tradition he is working in is the long catalogue of named fallacies that runs from Aristotle's *Sophistical Refutations* through medieval and modern handbooks; that is background, not a source list I recovered from his pages. In the *Spectator* he alludes to contemporary British politics (Thatcherism, Gordon Brown, Roy Hattersley) as illustration, not as scholarship. **Links this note used:** - Catalogs and copies: [Open Library work OL3780486W](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL3780486W); [OL13668404W](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL13668404W); [OL8169515M](https://openlibrary.org/books/OL8169515M); [OL9901840M](https://openlibrary.org/books/OL9901840M); [OL22740109M](https://openlibrary.org/books/OL22740109M); [1985 work OL3780472W](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL3780472W); [OL23749294M](https://openlibrary.org/books/OL23749294M); [IA `howtowineveryarg0000piri`](https://archive.org/details/howtowineveryarg0000piri); [LCCN 2006297609](https://lccn.loc.gov/2006297609); [WorldCat 63400100](https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/63400100); [WorldCat 141381097](https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/141381097); [Google Books 2006](https://books.google.com/books?id=Gh5UjNNc0v4C); [Google Books 1985](https://books.google.com/books?id=o0DYAAAAMAAJ); [OBNB 2006](https://obnb.uk/p13392091-how-to-win-every-argument-the-use-and-abuse-of-logic); [OBNB 1985](https://obnb.uk/p7395757-the-book-of-the-fallacy-a-training-manual-for-intellectual-subversives); [BYU (both editions)](https://lib.byu.edu/search/byu/record/cat.6558590.item.31197235743272); [BYU 2006 record](https://lib.byu.edu/search/byu/record/cat.3625374.item.31197226918834); [Martin Luther College](https://library.mlc-wels.edu/Record/191066); [Goodreads editions](https://www.goodreads.com/work/editions/108540-how-to-win-every-argument-the-use-and-abuse-of-logic); [LibraryThing 1195273](https://www.librarything.com/work/1195273); [Open Library cover](https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/id/630959-L.jpg). - Publisher and shops: [Bloomsbury 2015 paperback](https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/how-to-win-every-argument-9781472529121/); [Bloomsbury ebook](https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/how-to-win-every-argument-9781472526977/); [Bloomsbury audiobook](https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/how-to-win-every-argument-9781350405011/); [Amazon hardcover](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0826490069); [Amazon 2007 paperback](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0826498949); [Amazon 2015 paperback](https://www.amazon.com/dp/147252912X); [Kindle B00R6A38W4](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00R6A38W4); [Audible, Courtenay](https://www.audible.com/pd/How-to-Win-Every-Argument-2nd-Edition-Audiobook/B0BWZMB4HP); [OverDrive search](https://www.overdrive.com/search?q=How%20to%20Win%20Every%20Argument%20Pirie). - Author: [Wikipedia, Madsen Pirie](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madsen_Pirie); [Adam Smith Institute biography](https://www.adamsmith.org/our-people/madsen-pirie); [Who I Am](https://madsen-pirie.com/who-i-am/); [Pirie on the Chinese edition, 2012](https://madsen-pirie.com/2012/12/12/how-to-win-every-argument-madsen-pirie/). - Interviews and talks: [*Spectator*, 22 April 2006](https://spectator.com/article/a-short-guide-to-winning-arguments/); [ASI, Logical Fallacies no. 1](https://www.adamsmith.org/blog/miscellaneous/logical-fallacies-1-argumentum-ad-temperantiam); [ASI, Logical Fallacies no. 20](https://www.adamsmith.org/blog/miscellaneous/logical-fallacies-20-argumentum-ad-numeram); [YouTube, first video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQRbkon7R6Y); [YouTube playlist](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlHK21DLxc2QqlLo9JUV9ALnHOI3ODyYX); [TPA Talks, 9 August 2022](https://old.taxpayersalliance.com/tpa_talks_with_madsen_pirie). - Reception: [The BookBag](https://www.thebookbag.co.uk/reviews/How_to_Win_Every_Argument_by_Madsen_Pirie); [Gruts](http://gruts.com/reviews/pirie-how/); [The Bibliophage, March 2008](http://thebibliophage.blogspot.com/2008/03/how-to-win-every-argument-use-and-abuse.html). - Source video: [The straw man (Logical Fallacies, Part 1)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5F_teNsxJ6Q); [[Video Summaries/Joel is Curious/The straw man (Logical Fallacies, Part 1)]].