The book To Save the Earth is so persuasive that no one who reads it

Question

The book  To Save the Earth  is so persuasive that no one who reads it can fail to heed its environmentalist message. Members of the Earth Association have given away 2,000 copies in the last month. Thus the Earth Association can justly claim credit for at least 2,000 people in one month converted to the environmentalist cause.

Which one of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?

(A) No other environmental organization gave away copies of  To Save the Earth  during the month in which the Earth Association gave away its 2,000 copies.

(B) The people to whom the Earth Association gave copies of  To Save the Earth  would not have been willing to pay to receive it from the Earth Association.

(C) The copies of  To Save the Earth  given away by members of the Earth Association were printed on recycled paper.

(D) None of those who received  To Save the Earth  from a member of the Earth Association were already committed to the environmentalist cause when they received this book.

(E) Every recipient of  To Save the Earth  will embrace the environmental program advocated by the Earth Association.

yashwardhan · Answer

Premise - everyone will heed the message (Fact)
Conclusion - The Earth Association can justly claim credit for at least 2,000 people in one month converted to the environmentalist cause.

Possible assumption(s)
Will all 2k people embrace it?

A - not concerned about other org.
B - we cant derive a correlation saying if someone who pays for it will definitely read it
C - printed on recycled paper does not matter

D- Leave it in. Ex - if 2k were not committed and on reading the book, they get persuaded to commit to the cause, then the company's claim is valid.

E - Hits the assumption. Leave it in.

hmm..? tough choice between D and E
but wait if we observe the premise carefully, it clearly states that the book is so "persuasive" that any one who reads it would definitely heed the cause. Hence, the earlier stated assumption(Will all 2k people embrace it?) can be neglected.

Consider a negation technique for D
Some or All those who received the book were already committed to the cause, say 500. This implies the remaining 1500 were persuaded to commit to the cause after reading the book, hence the conclusion - "atleast" 2k people have converted to the envt cause fails because only 1500 did(1500<2000), fails.

Answer : D

churuand · Answer

Obviously it is D since if there are 100 people who are already members of the environmentalist, so at max will be 1900 people will become ones. Option D is necessary for the author to make that conclusion

rocky620 · Answer

But the argument is dependent on  reading the book  and  not on owning the book , what if none of them read the book?

nasgmatbag · Answer

Can anyone please elaborate why D is the correct answer choice and not E?

My reasoning went like this:

Conclusion: the EA can claim credit for at least 2k people in one month converted to the cause
- members of the EA have given away 2k copies in the last month
- the book is so persuasive that everyone who reads it, understands the message

(D) None of those who received To Save the Earth from a member of the Earth Association were already committed to the environmentalist cause when they received this book.
So the people who received the book weren't committed to the cause. If the EA gave away 2k copies in the last month, how can we assure that the EA converted these people? I understand that the book is so persuasive that everyone who reads it understands the message, but what if some or most of the recipients didn't read the book?

(E) Every recipient of To Save the Earth will embrace the environmental program advocated by the Earth Association.
If every recipient of the book (stating that they've read the book) embraced the environmental program, then surely that MUST BE TRUE for the author to reach it's conclusion that the EA claim credit for at least 2k people converted to the cause

Champer21 · Answer

That could be a right anwser generally, but you cant choose it on this one.

btsaami · Answer

One assumption is that the MEA gave 2000 copies to people, all of whom read the book and were persuaded to convert to environmentalist cause.

Option A, B & C can be easily eliminated.
Finding the correct answer between D and E will need some careful analysis.

I see 2 flaws in E.-  Every recipient of To Save the Earth will embrace the environmental program advocated by the Earth Association. 
1) Every recipient of the book doesn't equate to them, actually reading the book and converting to the cause.
2) Even if every recipient actually read the book, they would not necessarily embrace program advocated by MEA. They might just become little more aware and contribute at their respective levels. 
Basically, lot of indirect linkages which may or may not be true. Hence, E is rejected.

(D) None of those who received To Save the Earth from a member of the Earth Association were already committed to the environmentalist cause when they received this book.

D is correct because if none of the people were earlier committed to the cause, then it makes sense that after reading the persuasive book, they will convert. 
On the other hand, if some of them were already committed to the cause, it would falsify the conclusion that MEA converted at least 2,000 people to environmentalist causes. Hence, D is the correct answer.

isthisajoke · Answer

While reading the options I was confused between D & E but then had to really break down D & E option

Premise 1: The book is so persuasive that no one who reads it can fail to heed its environmentalist message. 
 Premise 2: Earth Association gave away 2,000 copies in the last month. 
 Conclusion: Earth Association can claim credit for at least 2,000 people converted to the cause.  
Now for all 2,000 recipients to count as newly converted, two things must be true:
 
 They all actually read it (premise covers that — says it’s persuasive if read). 
 They weren’t already environmentalists before receiving the book.  
If they already supported the cause, they wouldn’t be “converted,” so the association couldn’t claim credit for them.

Option A, B & C are irrelevant 
 (D)  If some recipients were already environmentalists, they wouldn’t be  converted . The argument  assumes  they were not already committed.
 (E)  Too strong. It says “every recipient will embrace the program advocated by the Earth Association,” but the passage only requires embracing the book’s environmentalist message (not necessarily the exact program of the Association).

Hence D is the answer

The book To Save the Earth is so persuasive that no one who reads it

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The book To Save the Earth is so persuasive that no one who reads it

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