Customer Reviews

How Do You Know It's True?: Discovering the Difference Between Science & Superstition

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HOW DO WE KNOW IT'S TRUE by Hy Ruchlis. Far and away the best of the best of new releases for teaching critical thinking to young people. Actually, this is for anybody, young or old, who still has a tendency to flirt with any form of superstition or fairy-tale thinking or is curious why other people do so. Ruchlis patiently leads the reader through an appreciation of science as a way of thinking about the world we live in. A short history of superstitions and the occasional horrors attributed to magical thinking (e.g., fear and persecution of "witches)" are provided, along with a delightful and entertaining commentary on astrology as an example of worseness tendencies in contemporary mental processes. Highlights include an explanation of science as a way of thinking critically, with examples of how facts are discovered. Vital to an understanding of why there is so much superstition and other forms of magical thinking is to know the history of religious repression of free thought, with stories about the struggles of such heroes of science as Nicolas Copernicus, Giordano Bruno, Galileo Galilei and the framers of our own Bill of Rights in 1789. By the way, the photos and illustrations are also terrific. But, it's words like the following that lead me to urge that you check this one out if you want to incorporate CT into wellness: "All of us stand on the shoulders of giants. Every bit of food we eat, the clothes we wear, the houses we live in and anything else we know how to make or do today would not be possible without the knowledge given to us by people who lived in the past. We must be ever grateful to the many thousands of people, past and present, who made it all possible. What part of these great accomplishments has been contributed by the superstitious way of thinking? Absolutely nothing. The belief in fairy-tale magichas blocked attempts to explain how and why things happen. Today it is a lazy person's excuse to avoid thinking about why things happen."

This is an excellent book. It really does a number on superstition! I can't imagine anyone reading this book would still be superstitious. And since far too many people waste time and money on superstition (I couldn't believe one of our PRESIDENTS would change his schedule based on superstition), putting the axe in this kind of thinking at a young age, would benefit everybody (as the book so well explains).

My 8 year old was very curious about this book. I could let her read some of it, but since she has not yet learned division and multiplication, the section on probability would be completely lost on her, which is a shame, since the probability theory so well explains unusual events. This is important, since so many superstitious people would attribute the unusual events to something superstitious; using probability to explain these events defuses their so-called "proofs".

My daughter will have to wait for a while, but she will definitely read it when she is older (and so will my other - younger - daughters). This is a must for every schoolkid 10 or older (actually, it's a must for just about anybody with any superstitious tendencies, including those who believe in horoscopes).

This is a wonderful book about scientific thinking for kids older than 10. Warning to parents: this book does a number on Santa! My son (younger and not yet de-mythed) enjoyed the book immensely. I read it to him and skipped the offending paragraphs. Had the author skipped the Santa stuff this book would be great for gifted/talented kids who are much younger -- the writing is that clear and engaging!

Excellent introductory book on the acquisition of knowledge, with special emphasis on the reliability and utility of the scientific method. A must read for children. I would also recommend it to older adults who are lacking in knowledge concerning the scientific method and how sound logic and reasoning is applied.

I was hoping to get a great book for my 10-year-old daughter on the difference between science and superstition, but I was pretty disappointed by this book.

The first section of the book is quite ranty in tone, which I didn't really care for. Astrology will fall down all by itself when subjected to scrutiny; there's no need to yell about it. I felt that the tone detracted from the objective stance I hoped for, and even made the author seem a bit insecure about his position.

My real complaint, however, is about the second section, when Ruchlis tries to describe how Renaissance science got rid of older, incorrect ideas about a flat Earth and geocentric universe. He must not have checked his facts too well, because this science teacher believes the long-discredited Myth of the Flat Earth. (You can look it up on Wikipedia for a good summary.) Aristotle accepted the idea of a spherical earth, and Eratosthenes measured its circumference in 240 BC. Throughout the classical and medieval eras, educated people knew that the Earth is a sphere, and they had a good idea of how large it is. Ruchlis also, in my opinion, does not do a good job of describing the debate over the geocentric vs. heliocentric models of the solar system (for one thing, geocentrists did not believe that God had created the universe solely for us, nor that Earth was the most important thing in it--and Ruchlis fails to note that the Pope was quite sympathetic to Galileo until Galileo publicly insulted him in his written debate).

I did quite appreciate the last section, where Ruchlis reminds us that we stand on the shoulders of giants. I will still have my daughter read this book--but we'll be discussing the errors it contains! I suppose it does serve as a great lesson on how we always have to be careful about making mistakes and examining our thinking.

Great book on teaching children how to think using logic and reason before coming to a conclusion. I think that this book or one just like it should be required for grade school kids. There are too many people seduced by superstitions, scams, and supernatural beings. Critical thinking classes are usually required in college, but not many people are given the chance to learn about the subject before that age. Most people hear about things like fortune telling, ghosts, and religions in childhood. Grade school is usually way before kids can make an educated conclusion about those topics unless they were taught to think critically early on in their education. The book has great true examples to illustrate how believing that supernatural things like demons or witches really exist can be dangerous.

The latest issue of Skeptical Inquirer magazine is celebrating the 40th anniversary of Scooby Doo.

Traveling with Fred, Daphne, Velma and Shaggy, Scooby entertained me through many Saturday mornings with (yes, often poorly told) stories of ghosts and goblins that only seemed to be.

But he also conveyed that all important message that things often aren't as they seem.

In other words a healthy skepticism is perhaps just as important in understanding the world as any traditional academic skill. In this regard this book is a wonderful introduction to skepticism for kids reading it as one of their first few books on science or perhaps even one of their first few books at all.

Told in easy to understand language the book simply describes the difference between a superstition and a scientific fact. It provides helpful clues to kids about where maybe they should stop and take a second look before leaping.

In these regards I think the book also provides helpful life guidance. With their natural inquisitiveness and sense of wonder the beliefs of the young feature most prominently in the future of our society.

I'd like to think, someday down the road, when faced down by some bright kid who's read this book or watched Scooby some dubious claimant may be forced to say:

"I would have gotten away with it if it weren't for you kid."

Even if you didn't like my last joke get your kid this book.