As New 1st edition Hardcover book and DJ. The dj has a slight tear on the back & Wize Books USA Ship NEXT DAY (m-f excluding holidays- when ordered before 1 PM PST), and provides tracking, guarantee and we give you the same�customer service we would expect when ordering. We want to be your book supplier.

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Bibliographic Details

Title

Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudo-Science, Superstition, and Bogus Notions of Our Time

Publisher

Mjf Books

Publication Date

1997

Language

English

ISBN 10

1567313590

ISBN 13

9781567313598

Binding

Hardcover

Edition

1st Edition

Condition

As New

Dust Jacket Condition

Fine

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About this title

Synopsis

FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY.

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

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