Review: Conspiracies and Conspiracy Theories by Michael Shermer

Conspiracies and Conspiracy Theories by Michael Shermer

There is no denying that this is a fascinating book, but it is not the book I expected it to be. Where I was expecting each lecture to be dedicated to a famous conspiracy theory or two, most of the book is dedicated to the psychology of people who believe in conspiracy theories and trying to understand why they find them attractive. It turns out that everyone believes in conspiracy theories of some sort—the political left and right, the rich and the poor, people of every race, people of every religion, the young, the old, and everyone in between. The book is a lot of fun, but you won’t come away knowing a lot more about specific conspiracies and conspiracy theories.

 

View more on Gilbert M. Stack's website »
1 like ·   •  2 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on July 14, 2021 05:40
Comments Showing 1-2 of 2 (2 new)    post a comment »
dateUp arrow    newest »

message 1: by Chris (new)
Jul 16, 2021 05:14AM

Chris Adams I can see why it's easy to fall victim to conspiracy theories. Many of them sound so plausible. If they're plausible, they're believable. And if the parties involved have acted similarly in the past, well then, even more believable. Sounds interesting!


message 2: by Gilbert (new)
Jul 16, 2021 01:13PM

Gilbert Stack Chris wrote: "I can see why it's easy to fall victim to conspiracy theories. Many of them sound so plausible. If they're plausible, they're believable. And if the parties involved have acted similarly in the pas..."
Yes, it is interesting, and some conspiracy theories are actually not that hard to understand why people believe, but you also have those who believe lizard aliens secretly control the earth, so there's a huge range.


back to top