Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time by Michael Shermer, Stephen Jay Gould
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(Paperback - Revised Edition)
Details from Seller
- ISBN: 0805070893
- Publisher: Henry Holt & Company, Incorporated
- Pub. Date: September 2002
- Condition:
Comments from the Seller: 2002 Paperback New Publisher overstock. May have remainder mark.
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Seller Name: PlumCircle PA
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Synopsis
Revised and Expanded Edition.In this age of supposed scientific enlightenment, many people still believe in mind reading, past-life regression theory, New Age hokum, and alien abduction. A no-holds-barred assault on popular superstitions and prejudices, with more than 80,000 copies in print, Why People Believe Weird Things debunks these nonsensical claims and explores the very human reasons people find otherworldly phenomena, conspiracy theories, and cults so appealing. In an entirely new chapter, "Why Smart People Believe in Weird Things," Michael Shermer takes on science luminaries like physicist Frank Tippler and others, who hide their spiritual beliefs behind the trappings of science.Shermer, science historian and true crusader, also reveals the more dangerous side of such illogical thinking, including Holocaust denial, the recovered-memory movement, the satanic ritual abuse scare, and other modern crazes. Why People Believe Strange Things is an eye-opening resource for the most gullible among us and those who want to protect them.
Annotation
For the past five years, Skeptic magazine has been at the forefront of debunking beliefs that, at least according to its publisher, Michael Shermer, can't stand up to scientific inquiry. In Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, & Other Confusions of Our Time, Shermer collects pieces, some reworked for this provocative volume, from Skeptic. They cover the expected-UFO abductions, psychics-but also the less predictable, including the "unlikeliest cult" of Ayn Rand and the phenomenon of Holocaust-denial. Illustrations.
School Library Journal
Dedicated to Carl Sagan, with a foreword by Stephen Jay Gould, this book by the publisher of Skeptic magazine and the Director of the Skeptics Lecture Series at California Institute of Technology, has the pedigree to be accepted as a work of scholarly value. Fortunately, it is also readable, interesting, and well indexed and provides an extensive bibliography. The author discusses such topics of current interest as alien abduction, near-death experiences, psychics, recovered memories, and denial of the Holocaust. Never patronizing to his opponents, Shermer explains why people may truly believe that they were held by aliens (he had a similar experience himself) or have recovered a memory of childhood satanic-ritual abuse. He clearly explains, often with pictures, tables, or graphs, the fallacy of such beliefs in terms of scientific reasoning. While teens may find the first section of the book about "Science and Skepticism" a bit too philosophical and ponderous, the rest of it will surely captivate them. -- Carol DeAngelo, Garcia Consulting Inc., EPA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
More Reviews and RecommendationsBiography
Michael Shermer, Ph. D., is the founding publisher of Skeptic magazine (skeptic.com), the director of the Skeptics Society, the host of the Skeptics Lecture Series at the California Institute of Technology, and a contributing editor and monthly columnist for Scientific American. He is the author of How We Believe: The Search for God in an Age of Science, Denying History and The Borderlands of Science.
Customer Reviews
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An interesting and well thought-out argumentby James-C
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06/09/2009: The issues and topics discussed within this book are intriguing. It covers everything from believers in ghosts, the paranormal and U.F.O.s to the adamant creationists and holocaust deniers. This book covers such a wide array of topics in an interesting and analytical. It breaks down the means and methods that every cult following unknowingly (or sometimes knowingly) employs to gain a follow and use psuedoscience to justify. This book could very well be a skeptics reference book.
Readers who want to leave their odd interests and beliefs unchecked or unchallenged should avoid this book because it will cause you to think about them and analyze them yourself.Overall a well-researched inviting book with its share of anecdotes and personality to counter the austere delineation of cult mentality. I would recommend this to anyone looking to broaden his sociological understanding and gain a thorough understanding of the issues contained within.To believe in weird things, or not.by urcamajerka
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06/08/2009: It is difficult for me to conclude whether or not I can concur with Michael Shermer's overall theories. For numerous reasons, such as his exploitations of the juvenile foundations behind various beliefs and superstitions in our society and myself as an individual, I applaud his conclusions. Shermer has successfully implanted in me a stronger sense of skepticism, adjusting the way I perceive things. His exemplifications reveal the effect my childhood has had on my decision making, and the strong correlation it has had on my superstitions which are inherently just ridiculous in a scientific outlook. Regardless if I am a scientific person, the way he dissects specific examples of his life displaying his thoughts with out, and then with bold skepticism, it purely makes sense for me to let go of certain things which have held me back due to fear and false notion. However, I do believe that he had lost a sense of his spirit in looking for such skeptical, straight forward answer, so in many respects his novel has left miniscule impact on me.
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