Why People Beleive Weird Things

Name: Why People Beleive Weird Things
Availability: InStock
ISBN: 9780805070897

ISBN-10: 0805070893

ISBN-13: 9780805070897

Edition: 2nd 1998 (Revised)

Authors: Michael Shermer, Stephen Jay Gould

List price: $21.99

30 day, 100% satisfaction guarantee!

Semester Rental: $19.09 Due date: 8/14/2024

Rental notice: supplementary materials (access codes, CDs, etc.) are not guaranteed with rental orders.

Buy used: $7.05

Marketplace

4 new & used from $3.72

what's this?

Rush Rewards U
Members Receive:

You have reached 400 XP and carrot coins. That is the daily max!

Description:

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…

Book details

List price: $21.99
Edition: 2nd
Copyright year: 1998
Publisher: Henry Holt & Company
Publication date: 9/1/2002
Binding: Paperback
Pages: 384
Size: 5.43" wide x 7.99" long x 1.05" tall
Weight: 0.880
Language: English

Michael Shermer is the director of the Skeptics Society and the host of the Skeptics Lecture Series at the California Institute of Technology. He teaches science, technology, and evolutionary thought in the Cultural Studies Program at Occidental College.



Foreword: The Positive Power of Skepticism



Introduction to the Paperback Edition


Prologue: Next on Oprah



Science and Skepticism



I Am Therefore I Think: A Skeptic's Manifesto



The Most Precious Thing We Have: The Difference Between Science and Pseudoscience



How Thinking Goes Wrong: Twenty-five Fallacies That Lead Us to Believe Weird Things



Pseudoscience and Superstition



Deviations: The Normal, the Paranormal, and Edgar Cayce



Through the Invisible: Near-Death Experiences and the Quest for Immortality



Abducted!: Encounters with Aliens



Epidemics of Accusations: Medieval and Modern Witch Crazes



The Unlikeliest Cult: Ayn Rand, Objectivism, and the Cult of Personality



Evolution and Creationism



In the Beginning: An Evening with Duane T. Gish



Confronting Creationists: Twenty-five Creationist Arguments, Twenty-five Evolutionist Answers



Science Defended, Science Defined: Evolution and Creationism at the Supreme Court



History and Pseudohistory



Doing Donahue: History, Censorship, and Free Speech



Who Says the Holocaust Never Happened, and Why Do They Say It?: An Overview of a Movement



How We Know the Holocaust Happened: Debunking the Deniers



Pigeonholes and Continuums: An African-Greek-German-American Looks at Race



Hope Springs Eternal



Dr. Tipler Meets Dr. Pangloss: Can Science Find the Best of All Possible Worlds?



Why Do People Believe Weird Things?



Why Smart People Believe Weird Things


Bibliography


Index