Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time in Atheists and Skeptics

Jan 03, 2011 Robu-sensei rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2011, library-books, skepticism

Why People Believe Weird Things is kind of a modernistic blend of Martin Gardner’s pioneering Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science and Carl Sagan’s masterpiece, The Demon-haunted World. Author and prominent skeptic Michael Shermer begins with a recollection of his own conversion from evangelical Christian to skeptic, and generalizes from his personal experiences in an overview of the difference between science and pseudoscience/superstition starring the 25 Fallacies That Lead Us To Believe Why People Believe Weird Things is kind of a modernistic blend of Martin Gardner’s pioneering Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science and Carl Sagan’s masterpiece, The Demon-haunted World. Author and prominent skeptic Michael Shermer begins with a recollection of his own conversion from evangelical Christian to skeptic, and generalizes from his personal experiences in an overview of the difference between science and pseudoscience/superstition starring the 25 Fallacies That Lead Us To Believe Weird Things, a somewhat more technically oriented version of Sagan’s famous Baloney Detection Kit.

Shermer briefly discusses several of the usual suspects in pseudoscience—ESP, alien abductions and medieval witch hunts—and devotes considerable attention to two topics of current importance: creationism and historical revisionism, the latter with special emphasis on Holocaust denial. While the rotten corpse of creation “science” has been picked clean (see, for example, Why Darwin Matters: The Case against Intelligent Design by the same author; or, for a quicker read, Science Evolution and Creationism published by the National Academy of Sciences), Holocaust denial is not that commonly covered in general books on skepticism, and should be. Shermer, who has studied Holocaust revisionism in depth, going so far as to interview (politely) the principal deniers, takes this “weird thing” as a teaching example in why we should believe the Holocaust was as horrific and deadly as is claimed by mainstream historians. The trick, he explains, is to see how numerous lines of evidence, though none are complete and all may not be perfectly consistent (and we’d suspect them if they were), converge on a common historical narrative. It is also important to pay attention to the tactics the deniers use to cast false doubt, as they all show evidence of flawed reasoning. Though Shermer doesn’t make too much of it, there is an obvious parallel between the cumulative processes of science and history, and between the approaches of creationists and Holocaust deniers, respectively, to discredit them.

This book, with its somewhat different point of view and selection of topics, nicely complements The Demon-haunted World as a general guide to critical thinking. Or, in the words of Penn and Teller, “How about you buy this book? It’s a great real. It’s funny, it’s smart, and it’ll be really hip not to be a credulous nut and the world will be a better place.” ...more

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Aug 01, 2012 Casey rated it really liked it

Shelves: knowledge-is-good, cognitive-scientists-do-it-in-lab, relevant-for-teachers

“...no testimony is sufficient to establish a miracle, unless the testimony be of such a kind, that its falsehood would be more miraculous, than the fact, which it endeavors to establish.” - David Hume

What kind of person could deny that the holocaust actually happened? Who could argue against the evidence for evolution? And how do smart people believe such outlandish claims as ESP, alien abductions, and haunted houses? In his book, Michael Shermer explains the logical fallacies and cycles of bel ...more

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Apr 10, 2008 Meen rated it really liked it

Shelves: social-science, own-it, religion-spirituality-atheism

My undergraduate Research Methods professor used the 3rd chapter ("How Thinking Goes Wrong") as an introductory text for our class, and it was so invigorating! I finally had words to express why I found it so frustrating trying to refute fundamentalist religious arguments (which we've gotten a lot of in the last 8 years) about how life is and/or should be... We are essentially speaking two different languages, and as long as I am trying to argue from logic and reason, there's just no talking to ...more

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Mar 17, 2012 Judy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: great-gift-idea, my-2012-books, non-fiction, audiobooks

This is a highly readable and fascinating look at why seemingly "normal" and "rational" people believe weird things. Michael Shermer provides many examples of strange things people believe and also the reasons why they should not believe them. He takes aim at very specific things that are believed by some people with absolutely no evidence at all in favor of the belief and all kinds of good evidence against it. "More than any other, the reason people believe weird things is because they want to. This is a highly readable and fascinating look at why seemingly "normal" and "rational" people believe weird things. Michael Shermer provides many examples of strange things people believe and also the reasons why they should not believe them. He takes aim at very specific things that are believed by some people with absolutely no evidence at all in favor of the belief and all kinds of good evidence against it. "More than any other, the reason people believe weird things is because they want to." Clearly people believe many of the things they believe, like supernatural religious beliefs, because it is appealing and comforting to do so. Many of these beliefs are simple, satisfy some moral needs, give life meaning, and are gratifying to the believer. People believe weird things because weird things give them hope. I can certainly understand it, the desire for hope and meaning. I guess I just never had the ability to believe in things that have no scientific evidence.

Shermer has personally experienced many forms of weirdness. He's been abducted by aliens (that's a great story) and walked on coals barefoot. He has partaken of many new age therapies and challenged psychics. He explains that people have a tendency to forget the "misses", where the psychic or therapy does not work at all, and remember the "hits" only.

One of the most interesting and serious sections of the book deals with denial of the Holocaust. He goes step by weird step through the beliefs of those who deny the Holocaust occurred, or who deny much of it occurred the way the evidence says it did. For example, some people deny that ~6 million Jews were exterminated, that the real number was around 600,000, and that those missing Jews are all living somewhere in the world (Boca Raton, maybe?). I also enjoyed the section in which he discusses cults and uses Ayn Rand as an example of a cult of personality.

He also talks a great deal about the scientific method and evolution vs creationism. I like the fact that throughout the book he is not just saying what is true; he goes thoroughly through the details of the weird claims in order to elucidate point-by-point why they do not hold up to scrutiny.

Excellent book, I'm so glad I read it. Highly recommended. ...more

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Jan 21, 2010 Charles rated it liked it

While some pretty good tools for general skepticism are covered early on, in later chapters I think it falls victim to over specialization. Specifically, in the "Cults" chapter dealing with Ayn Rand and Objectivism and the "Denialist" chapter focusing on holocaust denial reading gets a little bogged down with all the specific claims and Shermers thorough refutations.
Perhaps the general reader would benefit more from a broader overview with more comparative examples. ...more

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May 09, 2008 Erin rated it really liked it

Shelves: atheism-religion-reason

One of many variations on a (very worthwhile) theme by this recently prolific author. If you are wondering why your friend joined that cult, or why your uncle believes he was probed by aliens, Shermer provides some solid insight into why and how humans come to accept implausible beliefs, in the abscence of any supporting evidence.

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