Short Absolute Beginner Books . . .
Being Logical: A Guide to Good Thinking by D. Q. McInerny – Less than 140 pages. A wide overview, not going into the details. The basics foundations are here.
A Rulebook for Arguments by Anthony Weston – Similar to Professor McInery’s book. Very practical with a focus on “informal logic” and public debates.
Informal Logic Books. . .
Informal Logic: A Pragmatic Approach by Douglas Walton – With hundreds of examples, arguments will be analyzed to find what’s sound and unsound. It’s a thorough guide on logical fallacies.
A Rhetoric of Argument by Jeanne Fahnestock and Marie Secor – Breakdown of argumentation. Learn to analyze and construct arguments with a good use of rhetoric in essay writing.
Traditional Logic Books. . .
Socratic Logic by Peter Kreeft – My “go to” recommendation for those wanting to master verbal style logic. This opinionated book is “packed with matter.”
Logic as a Liberal Art by R. E. Houser – Much easier to read than Dr. Kreeft’s text. Excellent book; yet, it’s lacking in its coverage of logical fallacies.
Introduction to Logic by Andrew H. Bachhuber – Old text recommended to me by Professor Casey. It’s a really easy read with lots of exercises. You can’t go wrong with it.
Principles of Logic by George H. Joyce – This old, classic text is the paradigm of a good manual in traditional logic. It’s to-the-point and philosophically mature, while remaining readable. A favorite of mine.
Logical Fallacy Book. . .
Fallacy: The Counterfeit of Argument by W. Ward Fearnside and William B. Holther – There are a lot of fallacy books out there. Most are fair or acceptable. But here’s a text that’s better than most. Lots of examples and in-depth discussions.
Hybrid Verbal/Symbolic Logic Book. . .
The Art of Reasoning by David Kelley and Debby Hutchins – This might be the best introductory logic book used in colleges today. It contains some traditional logic, but it also contains the symbolic logic of propositional logic and predicate logic. Easy to read.
Symbolic Logic Books. . .
First Course in Mathematical Logic by Patrick Suppes and Shirley Hill – Of course, I must list this – given the video series I’m producing on YouTube!
Introduction to Logic by Harry J. Gensler – Here’s an expansive – intermediate level – symbolic approach to logic. There’s propositional and predicate logic. Also, it explores modal, deontic, and belief logic. Lots of translations from English to symbolic logic.