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Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time Paperback – January 1, 1998

4.4 out of 5 stars 431 ratings
3.9 on Goodreads
9,652 ratings

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

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. Throughout, Shermer emphasizes that skepticism (in his sense) does not need to be cynicism: "Rationality tied to moral decency is the most powerful joint instrument for good that our planet has ever known." --Mary Ellen Curtin

Review

"...for every soundly documented and reasoned set of specifics, I know of no better single volume than this one. Give it to everybody you know whose head and heart you respect, but who is flirting with irrationality." -- Baltimore Sun

"A provocative volume." --
Publishers Weekly

"[A] splendid book." --
Vanity Fair
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Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ W H Freeman & Co (January 1, 1998)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 306 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0716733870
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0716733874
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.08 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.25 x 1 x 9.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 out of 5 stars 431 ratings

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Dr. Michael Shermer is the Founding Publisher of Skeptic magazine, the host of the Science Salon Podcast, and a Presidential Fellow at Chapman University where he teaches Skepticism 101. For 18 years he was a monthly columnist for Scientific American. He is the author of New York Times bestsellers Why People Believe Weird Things and The Believing Brain, Why Darwin Matters, The Science of Good and Evil, The Moral Arc, and Heavens on Earth. His new book is Giving the Devil His Due: Reflections of a Scientific Humanist.

(Photo by Jordi Play)

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
431 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

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Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 4, 2011
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James
4.0 out of 5 stars Get smart and sensible with Shermer.
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Gary Nicholson
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
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5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
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F Henwood
5.0 out of 5 stars More of a 'How' Rather than 'Why' but Still an Excellent Debunker's Guide
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Dodo
3.0 out of 5 stars Teils interessant, teils für Europäer zu US-zentriert
Reviewed in Germany 🇩🇪 on July 15, 2012
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