How to Use This book his book is designed to help you improve your critical thinking and reasoning skills in 20 short les- ay. If you read through Fri cises carefully, you should see dramatic improvement in your ability to think critically and to soly problems logically and effectively by the end of your month of study Although each lesson is designed to be a skill builder on its own, it is important that you proceed through this book in order, from Lesson I through Lesson 20. Like most other skills, critical thinking and reasoning develop in layers. Each lesson in this book builds upon the ideas discussed in those before it. Each lesson provides several exercises that give you the opportunity to practice the skills you learn through- out the book. To help you be sure you're on the right track, you'll also find answers and explanations for these exer cise sets. Each lesson also provides practical suggestions for how to continue practicing the taught skills throughout the rest of the day and week-and the rest of your life. In addition, two special review lessons go over the key skills and concepts in each half of the book and provide you with practice applying them in practical, real-life situations. To help you gauge your progress, this book contains a pretest and a posttest. You should take the pretest before you start Lesson 1. Then, after you've finished Lesson 20, take the posttest. The tests contain different questions but assess the same skills, so you will be able to see how much your critical thinking and reasoning skills have improved after completing the lessons in this book. Be an Active listener and observer To make the most of this text, it,'s important to remember that critical thinking and reasoning skills are necessary for just about every aspect of life-whether personal, professional, or academic. Thats why it's so important to become an active listener and observerThis book is designed to help you improve your critical thinking and reasoning skills in 20 short les￾sons of 20 minutes a day. If you read one chapter a day, Monday through Friday, and do all the exer￾cises carefully, you should see dramatic improvement in your ability to think critically and to solve problems logically and effectively by the end of your month of study. Although each lesson is designed to be a skill builder on its own, it is important that you proceed through this book in order, from Lesson 1 through Lesson 20. Like most other skills, critical thinking and reasoning develop in layers. Each lesson in this book builds upon the ideas discussed in those before it. Each lesson provides several exercises that give you the opportunity to practice the skills you learn through￾out the book. To help you be sure you’re on the right track, you’ll also find answers and explanations for these exer￾cise sets. Each lesson also provides practical suggestions for how to continue practicing the taught skills throughout the rest of the day and week—and the rest of your life. In addition, two special review lessons go over the key skills and concepts in each half of the book and provide you with practice applying them in practical, real-life situations. To help you gauge your progress, this book contains a pretest and a posttest. You should take the pretest before you start Lesson 1. Then, after you’ve finished Lesson 20, take the posttest. The tests contain different questions but assess the same skills, so you will be able to see how much your critical thinking and reasoning skills have improved after completing the lessons in this book. Be an Active Listener and Observer To make the most of this text, it’s important to remember that critical thinking and reasoning skills are necessary for just about every aspect of life—whether personal, professional, or academic. That’s why it’s so important to become an active listener and observer. How to Use This Book ix