We all believe silly things. What matters is how silly and how many.
Guy P. Harrison
Great book with a magic contents like:
MAGICAL THINKING
1. “I Believe in the Paranormal and the Supernatural.”
2. “I Know There Is an Afterlife Because of All the Near-Death Experiences.”
3. “A Psychic Read My Mind.”
4. “You’re Either Born Smart or You’re Not.”
5. “The Bible Code Reveals the Future.”
6. “Stories of Past Lives Prove Reincarnation Is Real.”
7. “ESP Is the Real Deal.”
8. “Nostradamus Saw It All Coming.”
9. “I Believe in Miracles.”
OUT THERE
10. “NASA Faked the Moon Landings.”
11. “Ancient Astronauts Were Here.”
12. “UFOs Are Visitors from Other Worlds.”
13. “A Flying Saucer Crashed Near Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947 and the Government Knows All
about It.”
14. “Aliens Have Visited Earth and Abducted Many People.”
15. “Astrology Is Scientific.”
SCIENCE AND REASON
16. “All Scientists Are Geniuses and Science Is Always Right.”
17. “The Holocaust Never Happened.”
18. “Global Warming Is a Political Issue and Nothing More.”
19. “Television News Gives Me an Accurate View of the World.”
20. “Biological Races Are Real.”
21. “Biological Race Determines Success in Sports.”
22. “Most Conspiracy Theories Are True.”
STRANGE HEALINGS
23. “Alternative Medicine Is Better.”
24. “Homeopathy Really Works, and No Side Effects!”
25. “Faith Healing Cures the Sick and Saves Lives.”
26. “Race-Based Medicine Is a Great Idea.”
27. “No Vaccines for My Baby!”
LURE OF THE GODS
28. “My God Is the Real One.”
29. “My Religion Is the One That’s True.”
30. “Creationism Is True and Evolution Is Not.”
31. “Intelligent Design Is Real Science.”
32. “The Universe and Earth Are Fine-Tuned for Life.”
33. “Many Prophecies Have Come to Pass.”
34. “Prayer Works!”
35. “Religions Are Sensible and Safe. Cults Are Silly and Dangerous.”
36. “They Found Noah’s Ark!”
37. “Archaeology Proved My Religion Is True.”
38. “Holy Relics Possess Supernatural Powers.”
39. “A TV Preacher Needs My Money.”
BIZARRE BEINGS
40. “Ghosts Are Real and They Live in Haunted Houses.”
41. “Bigfoot Lives and Cryptozoology Is Real Science!”
42. “Angels Watch Over Me.”
43. “Magic Is Real and Witches Are Dangerous.”
WEIRD PLACES
44. “Atlantis Is down There Somewhere.”
45. “I’m Going to Heaven When I Die.”
46. “Something Very Strange Is Going on in the Bermuda Triangle.”
47. “Area 51 Is Where They Keep the Aliens.”
DREAMING OF THE END
48. “The Mayans Warned Us: It’s All over on December 21, 2012.”
49. “The End Is Near!”
50. “We’re All Gonna Die!”
In introduction Dr. Phil Plait wrote an assertive paragraph: “No one is born a skeptic. Kids are natural scientists, though. They love to soak up knowledge, explore, experiment, name things (I can still remember my very young daughter, all those years ago, asking me to name the stars in the sky, one after another).
I suppose not all that is really science, though. Memorization and categorization are important, and the foundation of being able to understand relationships between objects, but they’re not science. The basic property that makes science science is that it’s self-checking. You don’t just make an assumption; you test it. You see if it works the next time you use it. And you don’t assume that just because it did, it always will.”
Quite right – Science kicks over that pyramid, and sets it on its stable base. The best thing about science – and its multipurpose toolkit, skepticism-is that they show you how the universe really is. Yes, it can be scary, dark, and impersonal. But that’s OK because it’s also complex, deep, marvelous, profound, wondrous, magnificent…and above all, beautiful. That beauty is out there. All you have to do is stop believing in it, and start understanding it.
Synopses:
Maybe you know someone who swears by the reliability of psychics or who is in regular contact with angels. Or perhaps you’re trying to find a nice way of dissuading someone from wasting money on a homeopathy cure. Or you met someone at a party who insisted the Holocaust never happened or that no one ever walked on the moon.
How do you find a gently persuasive way of steering people away from unfounded beliefs, bogus cures, conspiracy theories, and the like? Longtime skeptic Guy P. Harrison shows you how in this down-to-earth, entertaining exploration of commonly held extraordinary claims.
A veteran journalist, Harrison has not only surveyed a vast body of literature, but has also interviewed leading scientists, explored “the most haunted house in America,” frolicked in the inviting waters of the Bermuda Triangle, and even talked to a “contrite Roswell alien.”
Harrison is not out simply to debunk unfounded beliefs. Wherever possible, he presents alternative scientific explanations, which in most cases are even more fascinating than the wildest speculation. For example, stories about UFOs and alien abductions lack good evidence, but science gives us plenty of reasons to keep exploring outer space for evidence that life exists elsewhere in the vast universe. The proof for Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster may be nonexistent, but scientists are regularly discovering new species, some of which are truly stranger than fiction.
Stressing the excitement of scientific discovery and the legitimate mysteries and wonder inherent in reality, Harrison invites readers to share the joys of rational thinking and the skeptical approach to evaluating our extraordinary world.