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

Authors:

Michael Shermer (author), Stephen Jay Gould (foreword), Lawrence Berzon (covers) and Michael Jung (covers)

Language:

English

Original language:

English

Publisher:

W. H. Freeman and Company

Categories:

Philosophy, science and skepticism

Publication year:

1997

ISBN:

0-7167-3387-0

Pages:

306

Has read?

Yes

Debut?

No

Images:

High-res images:

[Back flap (9.63 MB)] [Back (26.74 MB)] [Spine (3.55 MB)] [Front (28.18 MB)] [Front flap (10.33 MB)]

Table of Contents:

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• Foreword: The Positive Power of Skepticism by Stephen Jay Gould
• Introduction to the Paperback Edition: Magical Mystery Tour: The Whys and Wherefores of Weird Things
• Prologue: Next on Oprah

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. Gush
• 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?

• Bibliography
• Index

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