أرض عجيبة: في نقد الخرافات والأساطير المرتبطة بكوكب الأرض وتفنيدها

by Donald R. Prothero, المجتبى الوائلي (Translator), Nadia Al-soufi نادية الصوفي (Translator)

تحتل نظريات المؤامرة الخرافات مساحة كبيرة في الثقافة الشعبية المعاصرة. في هذا الكتاب سيُحاول بروثيرو تتبُّع كل معتقد أو خرافة أو نظرية مؤامرة ترتبط بكوكب الأرض، يُشرِّحها ثم يفنّدها. فصول الكتاب سسستجول في العديد من تلك الخرافات الأرضية، بداية من الاعتقاد بتسطح الأرض والتشكيك بالهبوط على القمر، وليس انتهاءا بالاعتقاد في حدوث طوفان عظيم أو وجود قاة مفقودة تدعى أطلانتس.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Skepticism, Geology, Audiobook, Politics

373 pages, Paperback

Published November 11, 2021

About the author

Donald R. Prothero is a Professor of Geology at Occidental College and Lecturer in Geobiology at the California Institute of Technology. He teaches Physical and Historical Geology, Sedimentary Geology, and Paleontology. His specialties are mammalian paleontology and magnetic stratigraphy of the Cenozoic. His current research focuses on the dating of the climatic changes that occurred between 30 and 40 million years ago, using the technique of magnetic stratigraphy. Dr. Prothero has been a Guggenheim and NSF Fellow, a Fellow of the Linnean Society, and in 1991 received the Schuchert Award of the Paleontological Society for outstanding paleontologist under the age of 40, the same award won by the renowned paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould. He has authored or co-edited numerous books, including Horns, Tusks, Hooves and Flippers: The Evolution of Hoofed Mammals, the best-selling textbook from McGraw-Hill, Evolution of the Earth, Evolution: What the Fossils Say & Why it Matters, Bringing Fossils to Life, After the Dinosaurs, and the textbook Sedimentary Geology. He is also a Technical Editor of the Journal of Paleontology.

Reviews

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reviewed for Foreword Books INDIES Awards.

First of all, when you're writing a book about debunking pseudoscience, you might want to avoid quoting "renowned scholar" Paracelsus. Second, this "purple-haired weirdo" doesn't appreciate being lumped in with the crystal believers--in fact, I bet if the author branched out from his bubble, he'd probably find a fair share of other scientists who enjoy their wild-colored hair and don't believe in crystals.

Those two points aside, the author has a really distinct tone throughout the book. He sneers at the pseudoscience believers, which is completely understandable because we all should--but usually it comes in small doses and we get a reprieve between a person's snide comments. But when an author writes an entire book with a sarcastic tone, it really gets overwhelming. I struggled to get the content because of how mocking the author was in basically every single sentence.

Which brings me to my final point about the book: who was it written for? If it's so negative and confrontational to pseudoscience believers, then it's definitely not written to convince them to change their opinions. If it's written for actual scientists, then why do we need a large section devoted to how the scientific method works? I don't think the author really thought about who he's writing for.

Okay, really last point now: I don't know that this book is really anything new. The author refers to several other books that he's previously written on the same and similar subjects of debunking bad and pseudoscience, so how does this book actually contribute new information?

[The Inquisitive Biologist · Rating 4 out of 5]

Weird Earth is an entertaining slaying of geological fringe ideas that educates the reader on the actual evidence and how we gather it. See my full review at https://inquisitivebiologist.com/2021...

[Prooost Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

We come into the world with whatever basic genetic equipment we have, and we're immediately beset with what comes in through our senses. We're born into a set of circumstances, for better or worse. Perhaps our parents take us to church; we go to school one place or another. In addition, as we grow up and meet other kids and their families, we hear all sorts of competing claims. When I was a boy, for example, I was introduced to the folk belief that you could dowse for water with a forked stick. Other people told me, no, it doesn't work.

I went to college in the 1960s. College is a time for experimentation and trying out ideas. The 1960s were an experimental time, with exposure to all sorts of exotic beliefs: eastern religions, alien visitation, and more. I do remember someone talking about space aliens living inside the earth. There was a New Age hippie bookstore in Washington, DC, called Yes. I went there once. It was full of books on the occult, eastern religions (very popular), and all manner of mysticism. I realized that there was almost nothing there that I was interested in, except maybe books about drugs. I did read the first four or five Carlos Castaneda books, and some books by Ram Dass, before losing interest in all of that. Books like Chariots of the Gods I thought were ridiculous.

Somewhere along the line, I had chosen the science I had learned in school, and especially geology, over any kind of religious or New Age belief. It's hard to know how each of us ends up the way we do. Some people are perfectly able to compartmentalize, and believe perfectly happily in the scientific world and also in things that are decidedly unscientific. A case in point is a very dear friend of mine who, although having received a solid grounding in science (she was a registered nurse), was attracted to all things mystical: the Harmonic Convergence, the healing power of crystals--just about anything you could name, she believed. She even lived in Mt. Shasta, California, for a time. (Weird Earth has a whole chapter on Mount Shasta.)

But the compartmentalizers are not really a big problem. Donald Prothero chooses for the subjects of his book people whose belief in the supernatural and the paranormal pit them against science and scientists altogether: young earth creationists, for example. In one chapter about people who believe that the Grand Canyon was formed by Noah's flood, the author tells about his participation in a British TV series called The Conspiracy Road Show, in which the host takes true believers on trips to confront the scientific evidence for things they don't believe in. One thing I learned watching the episode is that some people think that the whole purpose of the scientific enterprise is to disprove religion. Of course, history tells us that many of the scientists of the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries were clergymen. They were trying to understand nature, in order to understand God. For some of these scientists, what they found out about nature shook their religious faith. But that was never their intent. In addition, one person on the Grand Canyon trip allowed that the scientific evidence was plausible, but that she was afraid to change her mind about the literal inerrancy of scripture, for fear that her whole life might turn out to be rubbish.

So, all of us enter the world, and need to decide what sorts of things to believe. It's good to have a book like Weird Earth that explains the workings of the world to the curious, and the possible pitfalls of believing untrue things.

[Doa'a Ali]

يشمل الكتاب جميع الفرضيات الغريبة او القديمة التي تم ضحدها علميا واستبدالها، او نظريات المؤامرة، المتعلقة بكوكب الأرض.. الفهرس شامل جدا ،، يتحدث بكل قضية عن ادعاءات خرافية ويقوم بتفنيدها وعرض الجانب العلمي المثبت ..
لكن يصبح مزعجه ببعض الفقرات بسبب اسهابه في محاولة التذاكي على المعتقدين، او محاولة شتمهم والتقليل من قدراتهم... رغم انه حاول تفسير اسباب هذه المعتقدات وطريقة عمل الدماغ لتصديق أمور منافية للمنطق، لكنه وقع بحفرته ...

[Vasilis St. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall good but there are two mistakes. In the chapter for the Hollow earth the author says: "A similar idea was pushed by “Dr. Raymond Bernard” in his 1964 book, The Hollow Earth. He claimed that flying saucers and UFOs emerge from the earth’s interior and that Atlantis is connected to the earth’s interior. To support his idea, he suggested that the hollow earth is like the Ring Nebula in space, which is a gigantic mass of stars and cosmic dust, enormous compared to the earth. Then, skeptical investigator Martin Gardner did some research and found that “Dr. Raymond Bernard” is a pseudonym for another fringe author, Walter Kafton-Minkel. As recently as 1989, the title of Walter Kafton-Minkel’s book Subterranean Worlds: 100,000 Years of Dragons, Dwarfs, the Dead, Lost Races and UFOs from Inside the Earth indicates how far into the realm of paranormal the entire notion of the hollow earth had gone." In the article for the same subject from Wikipedia you can read the original quote: "A book by a "Dr. Raymond Bernard" which appeared in 1964, The Hollow Earth, exemplifies the idea of UFOs coming from inside the Earth, and adds the idea that the Ring Nebula proves the existence of hollow worlds, as well as speculation on the fate of Atlantis and the origin of flying saucers. An article by Martin Gardner revealed that Walter Siegmeister used the pseudonym "Bernard", but not until the 1989 publishing of Walter Kafton-Minkel's Subterranean Worlds: 100,000 Years of Dragons, Dwarfs, the Dead, Lost Races & UFOs from Inside the Earth did the full story of Bernard/Siegmeister become well-known". Also in the chapter for the myth of Atlantis the author says: "Minoan culture was famous in the Greek legends of King Minos, who destroyed people by letting them wander in the labyrinth until they were devoured by the Minotaur, a half-man, half-bull beast. According to the myths, Theseus went into the labyrinth and slew the Minotaur and then used a thread from the king’s daughter Princess Arachne to find his way out again and claim his victory". Ariadne was the name of the Cretan princess and not Arachne who was a shepherd's daughter, the protagonist of a tale in Roman mythology known primarily from the version told by the Roman poet Ovid.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book came out about a year to early (2020). Author still had hope in humanity. That ship is long sailed. America is in a death spiral of science misbeliefs. Our own president does not believe in it. The issue i have with this book is who the audience is. He actively makes fun of various believes. Yes some are very silly and stupid, but that is NOT how to win people to your side. The people that most need to read this book wont make it past the back blurb. We are in the age where people graduate high school with third grade or less reading skills, AI is everywhere, and no one can concentrate for longer than a tic-tok video clip. The issue the author most fails at is understanding 95% of science is boring (testing and retesting) and the general public has no interest in any of it, when they are just trying to live paycheck to paycheck.

[Ciara Adams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting read. It was a random pick up at the library so I didn’t know much about author or what that book was going to be like. He covers topics I didn’t even know were issues. You can definitely feel his frustration in his words. Understandably so. I remember when I first heard of people who still believe that the Earth is flat and that there are massive conventions being held. I was shocked. He goes into detail about different views and I will say more detail then he needs specially when you don’t agree with them. I’m big on not share ideas that I believe are stupid or ideas that want a response out of you. I would say give it a read if you are curious about humans and their psyches, give it a read.

[Fatima Sarder · Rating 2 out of 5]

Having just read a lengthy book arguing the case for a creator, it's a bit jarring to return to the scientific adage of: evolution explains all and we're just a bunch of atoms whizzing on a planet of atoms with zilch purpose.

The author's extremely sarcastic tone in the book is off putting and while he does a phenomenal job of explaining the scientific method and setting out parameters of how to debunk a particular conspiracy, he constantly inserts himself into the narrative in a highly unprofessional manner.

As a result, the entire book seems skewed to his opinions. It's like he's shouting at a bunch of people he considers idiots and doesn't allow for differing viewpoints.

Reading this was a disappointment.

[Robert Clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

In a word, excellent. He covered a number of the idiotic ideas still widely held, such as flat earth, hollow earth, geocentric solar system, etc., and, for anyone willing to deal with facts and reality, demolished them. The one unfortunate down side is that people who believe (a word not properly used in science, where you deal with facts and reality, not belief) have already shown they don't want to deal with facts or reality, and on the off chance they read the book, will ignore it. As much as I enjoyed the book, I'm afraid the author was preaching to people who didn't actually need to be made to use their brains and already agree with him.

[Chris Jaffe · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a good book, and the last 8-10 pages or so are fantastic as Prothero makes an impassioned defense for science, and importance of scientific knowledge. (The quarter-century old quote from Carl Sagan at the end sounds so accurate discussing modern America that it's scary).

Mostly, it debunks the easily debunked ideas, but he does the work for the debunking, patiently explaining why things like flat earth are bunkum.

[Nicholas Smeaton · Rating 4 out of 5]

A rather specialised entry in skeptical writing, this book explores some of the strange ideas still circulating about the planet we all live on. It also introduces a couple of new ideas. The author uses his knowledge and experience in geology to explore the history of these ideas and demonstrate how science refutes them, including a few experiments that the reader can do themselves. Overall a fascinating read, not just for the debunking but as a general introduction to the earth sciences.

[viviana · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was interesting. The author was NOT shy to call out groups and individuals and there were references for every chapter. He was very descriptive and sounded mad! I enjoyed reading this because he explains the evidence that supports things we know to be true but are debated within conspiracies and myths about the earth. Though I didn’t i wasn’t totally sold in the vibe (not the content)… still good though

[Matthew Whalen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fairly entertaining read regarding the various strange (conspiratorial) ideas many people hold regarding our existence. The title should really be "Weird Earthlings" as the weirdness isn't the planet but its occupants. In our current era, where science seems less important and more dismissed, this book could be an antidote. However, the misguided believers of the strange concepts are, unfortunately, not likely consumers of the tome.

[Daniel Farabaugh · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very enjoyable book. The author did a very good job of addressing both the beliefs of the misinformed and how they come to those beliefs. It was especially useful in how he listed the evidence that proves them wrong as this is a refresher in the science that many of us have forgotten as we age further and further away from our schooling.

[Breann Thompson · Rating 2 out of 5]

This I read was much more sanctimonious, preaching to the choir, “look at these idiots and watch as I eviscerate them” than I was prepared for.

I suppose that the intended audience for this book are readers who are like minded with the author but even as a scientist (and a science educator), I was out off by the ton taken throughout this book.

[Jesse Wilson · Rating 2 out of 5]

This author is as biased and naive as many of the people he rightfully skewers. The first and last chapters expose his biases and naivety. I wonder if he still ridicules, in May 2022, the Trump administration as he did two years earlier. If he thinks the current administration is good for this country, there is little hope for him.

[Spen Cer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really wanted to give 4 stars but I just can’t. I agree with some of the other reviewers that the sarcastic and condescending tone of the book is too much even for me who wants to point out the ridiculous ideas this book debunks. I think it could probably have been half its size and just focus on why we know these things to be wrong and it would have been a better read.

[And vice versa · Rating 3 out of 5]

If your earth is flat, read this book!

This is a nicely organized and readable takedown of anti-science conspiracy theories (the earth is flat, Atlantis was real, dinosaurs didn’t exist, etc.) that too many people still embrace. But will those gullible or misinformed folks pick up this book, and on the off chance that some do, will they accept it? I fear too few will.

[Elissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dropped

A sneering know it all dismisses ideas he disagrees with without even looking at the claims carefully. Maybe he improves later in the book, but humoring and disproving ideas is how we do the scientific method, not scoffing at every idea that rolls by, pinching our nose and saying "Akshually the earth is billions of years old.."

[Peter Fox · Rating 5 out of 5]

Weird Earth – Donald Prothero

This is a most excellent book. It covers assorted nutty fringe ideas, such as flat earth, hollow earth, crystal, ley lines and so on. Prothero goes into the science of why we know each topic is how science says it is and not how the conspiracy theorists believe it to be. This is a book that is thorough, but also very readable and enjoyable.

[Dahlene · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm doing a research paper about conspiracy theorists, specifically those who believe that the earth is flat. This boom is more about the scientific side of it. There were a few ideas I may use, but it wasn't one of my favorites on this subject.

[David Akeroyd · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's all been covered before and better. The tone is of someone trying to be funny and misses more than it hits. It isn't bad so much as unneeded.

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite enjoyable.

[Doug · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars rounded down. Overall a good look at weird beliefs about the Earth, but a few chairs went into a little too much detail and dragged. Still, a worthwhile read.

[Kathy Riley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Engaging writing and lots of strategies for talking with conspiracy-inclined folks.

[John Ens · Rating 5 out of 5]

The last chapter made the whole book worthwhile.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating summary of the various forms of mis-information around (sic) Earth and its history.

[Terry Miller · Rating 1 out of 5]

Elementary school-level science. A little scary that it is finding complimentary readership among adults.

[Tia Seymanski · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author did a great job of explaining popular conspiracy theories & then giving the scientific facts as to why it wasn’t true. I found it hilarious reading “flat earth” folks reasoning!

[Abe Hasner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Using wry humor, Prothero debunks a succession of bizarre ideas about our planet (and the moon)