This book was quite an extensive read and it's certainly different to read a book written by my own teacher. As a fresh out of high school graduate that never really found a preferred major, I have not read many books out of the literature and science fiction genres. This was a new experience for me to read a book on a specific study.
The first section that really caught my attention was Chapter 3 on gurus. I never realized that, excuse me for being harsh, the ignorance some people hold for their guru can be so great. I always thought people looked at gurus as some sort of gifted leader, yet here I'm reading about people who worship gurus as gods. I had quite the laugh reading some of the excuses that people give when trying to defend the "holiness" of their gurus. Upon further evaluation, I start to empathize with some of these blind followers. They are gathered together under a certain guru, so that there is something for all of them to believe in, something that gives more meaning to their lives. However, I agree with Dr. Lane's conclusion that they are much like mindless sheep caught in the crossfire of people posing as gods. It's hard to believe there can be such a lack of skepticism when dealing with followers of certain religions or gurus.
Another interesting section was Chapter 7 of Richard Feynman. I mildly enjoyed the story in the introduction about his wife's watch. In order to be a critical thinker, one must look past his or her emotions. Instead of looking for what one wants to believe is the answer, one have to look for what is indeed the answer. Another thing about critical thinking is that one has to be able to think on all sides of an argument. In order to find the truth about something, one must be willing to doubt his or her primary beliefs.
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