I recently finished the book Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of our Time by Michael Shermer. The book talks about unusual beliefs and some of the reasons people hold them.
Several topics including psychics, alien abduction stories, and fire walking are examined. They are shown to have simple explanations and not otherworldly causes. Two big parts of the book are case studies in the creationism verses evolution fight and Holocaust deniers. Shermer details some of the techniques both sides use and their advantages or shortcomings. He explains why some leaders in those areas can so easily outflank other people. During these two sections are the only places the book was boring; they were detailed summaries and refutations.
The Personal Side
My favorite part of the book is how Shermer brings his personal experiences into the discussions. Shermer is a well known skeptic and has been part of numerous debates and television programs. He represents a skeptical counterpoint to people who hold fringe views.
Once he went to Edgar Cayce's Association for Research and Enlightenment where he was part of an experiment in extrasensory perception (ESP). When the results were tabulated the leader declared they were proof of ESP. Shermer explained how statistics indicated the results were random chance and not evidence of ESP. The experiment leader did not take kindly to his comments, asking "Are you an engineer or one of those statisticians or something?"
Shermer details his own alien abduction memory and how it was caused by more pedestrian events.
Some books consistently belittle anyone who holds a contrary position to the author, but Shermer does not do that. He takes a nicer tone. However, I did not hold any of the ideas he dismantles in the book so my view could be skewed.
The main message of the book is the scientific method should be applied to claims people make. To help ferret out false conclusions, a list of 25 ways thinking goes wrong is included. These range from scientific thinking mistakes like letting theory influence observations to logical mistakes like an either-or approach where problems are assumed to have only two possible answers.
If you are willing to admit things you know could be wrong, check this book out.
Sounds like an unusual book, Chris. How did you come across the book/author?
ReplyDeleteMy mother's Mexican Catholic side of the family has been speaking a lot about different ghost/spirit encounters they claim to have had recently. These anecdotes of theirs are making me interested in seeking out a book similar to this one you've written about.
I first learned of the author by seeing him on TV. He was featured in many programs where the producers wanted a skeptical person to reply to pseudo-scientific claims. Shermer also has a column in Scientific American.
ReplyDeleteI was looking up books on atheism at the library and I recognized his name so I looked into a few of his books. This specific book does not devote space to ghosts, but the ways thinking goes wrong section has general thinking principles that might help people realize mistakes.