Who Is Jay Heinrichs Thank You For Arguing

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Jay Heinrichs’ book, Thank You for Arguing: What Aristotle, Lincoln, and Homer Simpson Can Teach Us About the Art of Persuasion, teaches the art of persuasion, and how and when to use it successfully, whether it be debating or situations in everyday life. Jay Heinrichs is the best selling author of Thank You For Arguing and has won many journalism awards and has taught persuasion at Ivy Leagues schools. This analysis will comprise the summary of the book, the best chapter, and an argumentative paragraph defending the book’s continued use. Heinrichs uses four parts in the book to show how the art of rhetoric can help people in different aspects of life and how rhetoric can improve one’s life because argument is everywhere nowadays. Heinrichs introduces plans, strategies, and tips throughout the book for arguing such as when arguing you could say “ ‘I’m not here to make personal attacks...I just want to...’ then name the opposite of your opponent’s weakness”(121). In the book Heinrichs discusses both modern and classical rhetoric and references to real life examples in today’s society. Examples of the author referencing to today's society is shown when the author mentions situations in which someone might be having an …show more content…
This chapter gives the most valuable advice for arguing effectively. This is the best chapter because it addresses that there is a “difference between fighting and arguing” and “the distinction can determine [important things like] the survival of a marriage”(15). Another interesting topic this chapter addresses is that setting a goal can help make an argument not turn into a fight. Knowing what you want out of an argument can help you work towards that and can help you organize your thoughts and what you should say to persuade others. This approach to arguing is meaningful because a lot of arguments end up turning into unnecessary fights when it could have been