Many commentaries have been devoted to Lewis Carroll's masterpiece, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. The interpretations range from Freudian analysis to speculations about the real-life people who may have inspired the animal characters. In this unique approach to interpreting Alice, the fruit of ten years of research, Dr. Bernard M. Patten shows that Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, aka Lewis Carroll, fused his passion for logic, mathematics, and games with his love of words and nonsense stories to produce a multifaceted, intricately structured work of literature. Patten provides a chapter-by-chapter skeleton key to Alice, which meticulously demonstrates how its various episodes reveal Dodgson's profound knowledge of the rules of clear thinking, informal and formal logic, symbolic logic, and human nature.As Patten makes clear, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, far from being just an entertaining children's book, is more complex and deeply reflective of Dodgson's character than it may seem. By making an effort to understand its deeper layers, both children and adults may profit from this masterful tale by learning to think better and, along the way, having fun. " Alice in Wonderland may well be the most interpreted book in history, but there are always new depths to be plumbed. Bernard Patten dazzles us with his analysis of key episodes in the book. Like Lewis Carroll, Patten obviously loves logic and uses wit and humor to draw serious lessons about the principles of clear and logical thinking." --Clare Imholtz, Secretary, Lewis Carroll Society of North America "Patten has done a remarkable job in explicating errors of our thinking as they relate to experience, memory, and reason. He makes it clear why issues of necessary versus sufficient, and reliability versus validity so often coalesce in our becoming unnecessarily confused. And, Dr. Patten nicely presents all of this to us in a setting of fun, literature and expanding our intellectual horizons. The book is a pleasure to read and highly informative." --David B. Rosenfield, M.D., Professor, Weill Medical College of Cornell University Bernard M. Patten, MD (Seabrook, TX), now retired, was formerly the chief of the Neuromuscular Disease Division, vice chairman of the Department of Neurology, and attending neurologist at the Baylor College of Medicine. He now lectures in clear thinking, mental gymnastics, logic, and neuroscience at Rice University and the Women’s Institute of Houston. Among other books, he is the author of Truth, Knowledge, or Just Plain Bull: How to Tell the Difference and Cruising on the Queen Elizabeth 2: Around the World in 91 Days. THE LOGIC OF Alice Clear Thinking in Wonderland By Bernard M. Patten Prometheus Books Copyright © 2009 Bernard M. Patten All right reserved. ISBN: 978-1-59102-675-4 Contents INTRODUCTION..............................................91. Down the Rabbit Hole..................................292. The Pool of Tears.....................................1113. A Caucus Race and a Long Tale.........................1294. The Rabbit Sends in a Little Bill.....................1535. Advice from a Caterpillar.............................1556. Pig and Pepper........................................1677. A Mad Tea Party.......................................2078. The Queen's Croquet Ground............................2559. The Mock Turtle's Story...............................26110. The Lobster Quadrille.................................27911. Who Stole the Tarts?..................................28312. Alice's Evidence......................................293VALE (FAREWELL)...........................................309SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY.....................................311BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES.....................................319INDEX.....................................................323 Chapter One Down the Rabbit Hole The phrase "down the rabbit hole" has become the symbol for adventure into the unknown. That is why Neo in the movie The Matrix is told to follow the White Rabbit, which he soon sees is a tattoo on a woman's arm. Neo's curiosity, like that of Alice, leads him to follow the signaling woman (her arm has a White Rabbit tattoo) to the disco. From thence he goes on to meet Trinity. Thus begins Neo's journey of enlightenment and adventure. Which pill would you choose, the red or the blue? Is ignorance bliss? Or is the truth worth knowing, no matter what? The blue pill contains nothing and will not change Neo's situation. The red pill has neurotrophins and lysins that will liberate Neo from the pink goop in the pink pod. The red pill will take Neo out of the (pleasant) unreal world of the Matrix and release him into the (harsh) real world of the non-Matrix. Those of you who saw the movie may recall that Neo took the red pill. His reason: he wanted to "see how far down the rabbit hole goes." What? What are we talking about here? What have a rabbit hole and The M