
Good Arguments
What the Art of Debating Can Teach Us About Listening Better and Disagreeing Well
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Buy Now for $26.99
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Narrated by:
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Bo Seo
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By:
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Bo Seo
About this listen
At a time when every disagreement turns toxic, world champion debater Bo Seo reveals the timeless secrets of effective communication and persuasion.
When Bo Seo was 8 years old, he and his family migrated from Korea to Australia. At the time, he did not speak English, and, unsurprisingly, struggled at school. But, then, in year five, something happened to change his life: he was introduced to debating.
Immediately, he was hooked. It turned out, perhaps counterintuitively, that debating was the perfect activity for someone shy and unsure of himself. It became a way for Bo not only to find his voice, but to excel socially and academically. He went on to win world titles with the Australian schools and Harvard University teams.
But debating isn’t just about winning or losing an argument: it’s about information gathering, truth finding, lucidity, organization, and persuasion. It’s about being able to engage with views you disagree with, without the argument turning toxic.
Good Arguments shares insights from the strategy, structure and history of debating to teach listeners how they might better communicate with friends, family and colleagues. Touching on everything from the radical politics of Malcom X to Artificial Intelligence, Seo proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that, far from being a source of conflict, good-faith debate can enrich our daily lives. Indeed, these good arguments are more important than ever at time when bad faith is all around, and our democracy seems so imperiled.
©2022 Bo Seo (P)2022 Simon & Schuster AustraliaCritic Reviews
"From two-time world champion debater Bo Seo, a thoughtful, instructive and eloquent meditation on the art of debate and why its central pillars—fact-finding, reason, persuasion and listening to opponents—are so valuable in today’s alarming ecosystem of misinformation and extreme emotion. When Bo Seo’s family immigrated from South Korea to Australia, he was a shy, conflict-averse eight year old who worried about being an outsider, and in Good Arguments, he recounts how debate not only helped him to cross language lines, but also gave him confidence and a voice of his own.” —Michiko Kakutani, New York Times-bestselling author of Ex Libris and The Death of Truth
“In a world increasingly rent by division within and between nations, Bo Seo’s lucid and humane search for ‘better ways to disagree’ could not be more timely or valuable.” —Kevin Rudd, former Prime Minister of Australia and author of The Case for Courage
“Good Arguments is a book so timely and needed in this fraction-ing world we are living in. It assumes that a quarrel is something you first have with yourself, get it out of the way and start to respect and listen to the person across the room from you. Seo has written a book that forces us to think and then speak as the philosopher he knows is right on the tip of every tongue. This book is brilliant and a pleasure to read; in the end, he instructs us not to win but to convince and unexpectedly, it teaches how to persuade for words are deployed as weapons of love.” —Jamaica Kincaid, author of See Now Then, Mr. Potter, and The Autobiography of My Mother
Great book!
Part of the family
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About so much more than just good arguments
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Enjoyable development and analysis
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Good book!
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A great breakdown of constructing and deconstructing an argument
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Biography
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surprisingly compelling
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Don't buy the book because of the title. The book is about Bo Seo and his accomplishments in school and university. For sure his achievements at the Bush School, Barker College and at University are impressive - also considering that he achieved this as a migrant which is a point he stresses many times. Yet, this book is not what it says on the cover.
It doesnt answer what ths subtitle proclaim, and honestly if I had known that it is a memoir of someones school years, rather than a book about good arguments and what the art of debating can teach us about listening better and disagreeing well, I would probably not have purchased it.
Inaccurate title and subtitle - its a memoir
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wish there were *3 speed at time I were skeptical if he was intentionally gatekeeping by not including detail of debate and ways they strategised to win but only showing the emotional journey
fake advertising
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I'm an outsider though, I'm sure others will love this.. I'm probably neurodivergent or something.. I just don't like stories and tend to phase out when authors start to describe hair, facial expressions, settings.. I just want facts and tools, I didn't want to be taken on a journey of someone's debating career.
More of a biography than a intellectual tool kit
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