Michael Shermer - Why People Believe Weird Things (2002)

[color=#a00000]Michael Shermer - Why people believe weird things

Few can talk with more personal authority about the range of human beliefs than Michael Shermer. At various times in the past, Shermer has believed in fundamentalist Christianity, alien abductions, Ayn Rand, megavitamin therapy, and deep-tissue massage. Now he believes in skepticism, and his motto is "Cognite tute--think for yourself." This updated edition of Why People Believe Weird Things  covers Holocaust denial and creationism in considerable detail, and has chapters on abductions, Satanism, Afrocentrism, near-death experiences, Randian positivism, and psychics. Shermer has five basic answers to the implied question in his title: for consolation, for immediate gratification, for simplicity, for moral meaning, and because hope springs eternal. He shows the kinds of errors in thinking that lead people to believe weird (that is, unsubstantiated) things, especially the built-in human need to see patterns, even where there is no pattern to be seen.

Contents

PART 1: SCIENCE AND SKEPTICISM

1. I AM THEREFORE I THINK
A Skeptic's Manifesto

2. THE MOST PRECIOUS THING WE HAVE
The Difference Between Science and Pseudoscience

3. HOW THINKING GOES WRONG
Twenty-five Fallacies That Lead Us to Believe Weird Things

PART 2: PSEUDOSCIENCE AND SUPERSTITION

4. DEVIATIONS
The Normal, the Paranormal, and Edgar Cayce

5. THROUGH THE INVISIBLE
Near-Death Experiences and the Quest for Immortality

6. ABDUCTED!
Encounters with Aliens

7. EPIDEMICS OF ACCUSATIONS
Medieval and Modern Witch Crazes

8. THE UNLIKELIEST CULT
Ayn Rand, Objectivism, and the Cult of Personality

PART 3: EVOLUTION AND CREATIONISM

9. IN THE BEGINNING
An Evening with Duane T. Gish

10. CONFRONTING CREATIONISTS
Twenty-five Creationist Arguments, Twenty-five Evolutionist Answers

11. SCIENCE DEFENDED, SCIENCE DEFINED
Evolution and Creationism at the Supreme Court

PART 4: HISTORY AND PSEUDOHISTORY

12. DOING DONAHUE
History, Censorship, and Free Speech

13. WHO SAYS THE HOLOCAUST NEVER HAPPENED, AND WHY DO THEY SAY IT?
An Overview of a Movement

14. HOW WE KNOW THE HOLOCAUST HAPPENED
Debunking the Deniers

15. PIGEONHOLES AND CONTINUUMS
An African-Greek-German-American Looks at Race

PART 5: HOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL

16. DR. TIPLER MEETS DR. PANGLOSS
Can Science Find the Best of All Possible Worlds?

17. WHY DO PEOPLE BELIEVE WEIRD THINGS?

18. WHY SMART PEOPLE BELIEVE WEIRD THINGS