Customer Reviews

Pseudoscience and Extraordinary Claims of the Paranormal: A Critical Thinker's Toolkit

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Dr. Smith's book is on "good common sense, everyday thinking at its best." (P.41) Wouldn't this world be a much better place if we all had a dose of good common sense? Indeed! Critical thinking on any subject should be mandatory for all students starting in high school. Just as they are required to take four years of math and science, students should be required to take a course in Critical Thinking. I mean who really uses geometry or chemistry anyway? We need critical thinking skills EVERYDAY.
Pseudoscience and the Paranormal is much more than a novel concept. Offering a course on Pseudoscience and the Paranormal is an ideal means for students to develop their critical thinking skills. There are hundreds of topics, thousands of articles, and countless videos that are ripe for the proverbial picking! Plus, it is more interesting and engaging to discuss topics that are more popular than say, Critical Thinking on the Environment or on Politics, not that those are unimportant, but discussing spoon-bending, exorcisms, and watching Penn and Teller videos is much more fun!
You don't realize how pervasive pseudoscience and the paranormal is until you look at it with a critical eye. Anyone can turn on the TV and find a show about ghost chasers, "How to Feng Shui Your House", or the healing power of yoga. Before this course, I might have been able to watch that and feel like I was learning something new and wondrous about our world. I used to enjoy the idea of arranging furniture to free up the energies in my house and relished my adjustments at the chiropractor but now I am no longer looking through rose-colored glasses. I find myself (often to the annoyance of my husband) putting on my critical thinking cap and really examining what claims are being made. My husband says, "Ok, Debbie Downer, thanks for the thorough analysis on the claims of Feng Shui, now, can we just watch the show!" Perhaps he is jealous of my sharply honed critical thinking skills. I mean, these skills can be quite powerful and do have to be kept under wrap at times. I don't want to burst his entire pseudo/para bubble! Also, I don't want to come across as cynical just cheerfully skeptical.
I never really thought about my beliefs of the pseudoscience/paranormal until taking this course. Do I believe in ghosts? Are psychics real? What about reflexology, ear candling, or vitamins! Not only has this course improved my writing skills and critical thinking skills but also it will save me money! I will never look at homeopathic medicine or 1-800-PSYCHICS the same again! Thanks Dr. Smith!

Pseudoscience and Extraordinary Claims of the Paranormal is an excellent guide for truth-seekers to logically investigate and analyze paranormal claims. It provides the reader a rational account of the strange and unexplainable phenomena through reality-checking tools based on reason. For those who ask, "Why Study these Things," Smith fittingly turns to Socrates for his answer, noting, "the unexplained life is not worth living."

Using reality-checking tools, Smith places the collection of paranormal claims under the microscope for closer scrutiny. With the inclusion of the Continuum Mysteriosum--an eight part hierarchical ordering of the claims--Smith ranks the various claims of the paranormal, weighing each proposition in determining validity. Its range and breadth extends from Bigfoot and acupuncture to flying saucers and Faith healing. A critical thinker's Toolkit is also provided to systematically examine the claims of the paranormal phenomena. When using the toolkit to perform reality checks, Smith suggests that one should ask (1) Is the claim based on sound methods, and (2) Are there alternative explanations in critically examining the claims. The remainder of the book is devoted to the Paranormal Files in which Smith discusses timely and pertinent issues, such as Spiritualism, Alternative Medicine, and Faith Healing--all being discussed through the prism of a logical methodology in using the critical thinker's toolkit.

In essence, this book challenges the reader to examine, and perhaps question long standing beliefs and dogma associated with the paranormal. Whether one accepts or rejects paranormal claims, this book, to be sure, urges the reader to be intellectually honest when analyzing and evaluating these phenomena. An excellent read for both believer and skeptic alike--but be forewarned, it may open Pandora's Box!

I doubt that this book will find wide readership among the general public, and more's the pity. It is designed as a university-level textbook, and indeed I use it as such in my course Physics 341, Pseudoscience... to be taught again in Spring 2011. I can't think of another book like this one, and I have searched, believe me.

Dr. Smith has created a kind of critical-thinker's toolkit, and the majority of tools therein are quite sharp and serviceable. Since Americans are bombarded by a vomiting flood of utter nonsense masquerading as fact, through all media outlets, the ability to process this information at least slightly, and to sift the few percent of possibly factual claims out of the near 100% of totally bogus crap, is a very valuable ability to possess. In fact, democracy is unlikely to survive in the US unless a significant fraction of the voting public becomes able to distinguish between fact and fantasy.

Books like this one must of necessity cover a very wide range of examples and topics, many of which would fall outside of any one author's range of expertise, no matter how broad. Compounding the problem, I think the author has relied a bit too much on the Internet in doing his research. For example, I was surprised on p. 311 to read of "close parallels" between the mythology of Egyptian God Horus and the mythology of another famous son, Yeshua ben Yosef. The challenge would be to find well-known Egyptologists who have found any such very detailed parallels.

Because the author is a psychologist and I am a physicist, I also found myself unable to go along with him in various areas, particularly his comments on "hypnosis" and suggestion, scattered throughout the text. However, in a book 364 pages long it would be an almost impossible situation if any reader found himself or herself in perfect agreement with the author in every case.

This volume is just what it is subtitled to be, "A Critical Thinker's Toolkit." If only we could bring that toolkit to the attention of every citizen, instead of only to the tiny fraction of US college students taking courses in psychology, philosophy or research methods.

This work is a worthwhile must: to read, to study, to think about and apply.

Took a class over the summer (Pseudoscience and the Paranormal) with Dr. Smith. This book is not only educational and informative, but also hilarious and easy to read. This book takes you through step by step in easy to understand terms. I would recommend this book 100%.

I had the pleasure of being a student in Dr Smith's class that is centered around this book during the summer. I feel that the information in the book is a great resource for any student studying pseudoscience, whether it be a class or a major. This is also a must read for anyone who has ever wondered about anything from psychics to religion. Dr Smith breaks his theories down to an understandable level and uses past research to back up the information that he offers.

There is no question that after someone reads this book they will be able to sucessfully go out into the world knowing they now have the knowledge to not get tricked by a conartist or outlandish idea. Impress all your friends by debunking the mystical things they believe to be fact!!

This is an amazing book to learn how to critically think. Most of us know how to critically think well, however, this book teaches you techniques and strategies to improve your thinking. It brings new ideas and concepts to ponder, and to help utilize the techniques and strategies of thinking. I now use these techniques in every day life, and it has helped open my eyes to many different possibilities. This is a wonderful book, and I think all people should read this book. It is well written and very comprehendable, even for younger ages. I love this book, and my friends all want to read this book, because it interests them greatly. I highly recommend getting this book. You will not be sorry, and you will have many conversation starters, and wonderful debates on many different topics.