Survivor Rob Posted September 4, 2007 Report Share Posted September 4, 2007 Does anyone know of any decent TOK textbooks/books?I'll start off by recommending:The Enterprise of Knowledge: A Source Book for Theory of Knowledge John L. TomkinsonIts good for all the TOK you need throughout the course.Of course TOK is about learning as an individual etc etc but I still think people need some guidance? Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruan Chun Xian Posted September 4, 2007 Report Share Posted September 4, 2007 Nicholas Alchin's Theory of Knowledge!!! It's a great book! It's purple with a picture of a dandelion on the front. I it. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Survivor Rob Posted September 4, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 4, 2007 Nicholas Alchin's Theory of Knowledge!!! It's a great book! It's purple with a picture of a dandelion on the front. I it. Its worth getting then? Did it help with your TOK essay? and did it contain all the ways of knowledge and problems of knowledge and stuff? Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruan Chun Xian Posted September 4, 2007 Report Share Posted September 4, 2007 Well I think it's worth it. It's written specifically for for course and it follows the course pretty well. Otherwise, it makes for good reading, just for fun. Buy it and if you dont think it's worth it, sell it back to me. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
~Lc~ Posted September 4, 2007 Report Share Posted September 4, 2007 yes the alchin book is amazing!!! the new one has a a pic of the world and some stars on it my friend who relied solely on the book got a C, and this is because he doesn't understand one word of TOK. He's one of those science people who understands things put out as "1+1=2" but can't really question the truth behind it so him getting a C is like a miracle Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
winter Posted September 5, 2007 Report Share Posted September 5, 2007 We have no prescribed text, and I personally cannot see the need for one. I wrote a good essay, and I did a good presentation. Our TOK teachers are, by general agreement, absolutely shocking. They have proved to be good at predicting grades, however.So long as you have a list of the ways and problems of knowing, and the areas of knowledge, I think that it is possible to do well. Maybe it's because I've never used one, but I can't understand what a textbook could possibly do to help with TOK and the existential crisis that it seems to offer! The texts that I have seen all seem to be pretty large - what do they contain? Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Survivor Rob Posted September 5, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 5, 2007 We have no prescribed text, and I personally cannot see the need for one. I wrote a good essay, and I did a good presentation. Our TOK teachers are, by general agreement, absolutely shocking. They have proved to be good at predicting grades, however.So long as you have a list of the ways and problems of knowing, and the areas of knowledge, I think that it is possible to do well. Maybe it's because I've never used one, but I can't understand what a textbook could possibly do to help with TOK and the existential crisis that it seems to offer! The texts that I have seen all seem to be pretty large - what do they contain?Well the textbooks cover all the TOK material, but usually leave you to do the deep thinking and essay writing, i personally think that you need some sort of other source not just teachers. That way you can be sure they are teaching you right even if they are shocking! Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
winter Posted September 6, 2007 Report Share Posted September 6, 2007 *laughs*We didn't get taught anything!They told us the Areas of Knowledge, the Ways of Knowing, and to "use the Socratic Method".What's the course meant to contain?(I'm done now, but I might just go and get one of these texts to read) Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
~Lc~ Posted September 6, 2007 Report Share Posted September 6, 2007 The course is meant to teach you where knowledge comes from, how you gain it and whether or not your supposed to consider everything as a truth. On the first day of TOK I remember my teacher telling us "till today, you've been taught what your teachers have been teaching you and considering it the complete truth. From today on you will start questioning your teachers!" and she was right, because through TOK she gave us the opportunity to asses knowledges rather than blindly accept it. If your teachers haven't taught you anything other than what the AOKs and WOks, the you've definitely missed out on TOK. I might have gotten a B on my essay, but I was lucky to learn what TOK is really about. Don't get me wrong we were taught all the AOKs and WOks, but we were taught to see what were the strengths and limitations in each, we were also taught why we would accept certain knowledge as truth and others not so much... so really makes you think Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruan Chun Xian Posted September 6, 2007 Report Share Posted September 6, 2007 And just to make something absolutely clear. TOK isn't a textbook subject. It's not the end of the world if you don't have a good textbook. It should be a talking class more than a notetaking class. The book is there to guide you, but your teacher should be able to do that anyway. The way you develop your critical thinking skills in TOK is practice and that only comes with talking and writing about it, not reading some other people's words about it and memorising (that would be irony...kind of defeats the point of the subject ) Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
beli16 Posted September 6, 2007 Report Share Posted September 6, 2007 we use "theory of knowledge for the ib diploma" by richard van de lagemaatfor the most part its really good..other parts are ok.. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest yeemonkyaw Posted September 7, 2007 Report Share Posted September 7, 2007 we use " ways of knowing- an introduction to the theory of knowledge" by Micheal Woolman. eventhough the book is provided, ironically we dont really use it much. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruan Chun Xian Posted September 7, 2007 Report Share Posted September 7, 2007 Michael Woodman you mean? I think Lc had him for classes at OSC. Right? Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
~Lc~ Posted September 7, 2007 Report Share Posted September 7, 2007 Michael Woodman you mean? I think Lc had him for classes at OSC. Right? he's an English genius! if it weren't for him I wouldn't have dreamed of a 6 in English A1 SL!!! plus I tried side tracking him into talking a bit of TOK with me.. but he wouldn't give in he was too focused hehe Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest fierybabe14 Posted November 4, 2007 Report Share Posted November 4, 2007 Nicholas Alchin's Theory of Knowledge!!! It's a great book! It's purple with a picture of a dandelion on the front. I it. Ditto, best book invented for TOK, has everything I personally needed in it Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashika Posted November 11, 2007 Report Share Posted November 11, 2007 Alchin is amazing.The quotations in his book are awesome.And it's such an easy read!Sometimes I use it for bedtime reading haha. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Sykoelf Posted November 24, 2007 Report Share Posted November 24, 2007 (edited) In my class we use Theory of Knowledge for the IB Diploma by Richard van de Lagemaat. It's blue with a picture of The Thinker on the front.I like it well enough, it's fun to read and hits all the main topics of TOK, but it doesn't have a section about the essay writing part though. Edited November 24, 2007 by Sykoelf Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Mr Canada Posted November 25, 2007 Report Share Posted November 25, 2007 In my class we use Theory of Knowledge for the IB Diploma by Richard van de Lagemaat. It's blue with a picture of The Thinker on the front.I like it well enough, it's fun to read and hits all the main topics of TOK, but it doesn't have a section about the essay writing part though.We use the same. I think it covers all parts of TOK, except just the essay but that one the teacher goes through plus it's in the syllabus, really well. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kc4293 Posted November 25, 2007 Report Share Posted November 25, 2007 We have two books. One of them is the Tomkinson, and that book makes me so mad. It's the opposite of what's its trying to teach. So much of what it says is obviously biased, and there are SO many typos! There are also random things that make no sense but are used as casual facts, like the report in the mathematics section on women claiming to have been killed by their husbands... are they dead or not!? It also uses circular reasoning sometimes, I think, and has a tendency to repeat itself over and over, and its examples, while interesting, often are a small portion of a much bigger idea and therefore hides the truth. Sometimes I don't know whether to laugh at the book or throw it. Maybe the author did that on purpose, so that we'd have to use our TOK skills while reading? It's just plain annoying. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
eylin Posted February 2, 2008 Report Share Posted February 2, 2008 We don't have any Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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