| Introduction: Viewing the World with a Rational Eye |
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1 | (8) |
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1 Colorful Pebbles and Darwin's Dictum: Science is an exquisite blend of data and theory |
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9 | (3) |
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2 Contrasts and Continuities: Eastern and Western science are put to political uses in both cultures |
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12 | (4) |
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3 I Was Wrong: Those three words often separate the scientific pros from the posers |
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16 | (3) |
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4 The Shamans of Scientism: On the occasion of Stephen W. Hawking's sixtieth trip around the sun, we consider a social phenomenon that reveals something deep about human nature |
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19 | (4) |
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5 The Physicist and the Abalone Diver: The differences between the creators of two new theories of science reveal the social nature of the scientific process |
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23 | (4) |
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6 A Candle in the Dark: Instead of cursing the darkness of pseudoscience on television, light a candle with Cable Science Network |
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27 | (3) |
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7 The Feynman-Tufte Principle: A visual display of data should be simple enough to fit on the side of a van |
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30 | (4) |
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8 The Flipping Point: How the evidence for anthropogenic global warming has converged to cause this environmental skeptic to make a cognitive flip |
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34 | (3) |
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9 Fake, Mistake, Replicate: A court of law may determine the meaning of replication in science |
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37 | (3) |
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10 Wronger Than Wrong: Not all wrong theories are equal |
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40 | (5) |
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11 Fox's Flapdoodle: Tabloid television offers a lesson in uncritical thinking |
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45 | (4) |
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12 Baloney Detection: How to draw boundaries between science and pseudoscience, Part I |
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49 | (3) |
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13 More Baloney Detection: How to draw boundaries between science and pseudoscience, Part II |
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52 | (3) |
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14 Hermits and Cranks: Fifty years ago Martin Gardner launched the modern skeptical movement. Unfortunately, much of what he wrote about is still current today |
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55 | (4) |
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15 Skepticism as a Virtue: An inquiry into the original meaning of the word "skeptic" |
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59 | (3) |
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16 The Exquisite Balance: Science helps us understand the essential tension between orthodoxy and heresy in science |
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62 | (3) |
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17 The Enchanted Glass: Francis Bacon and experimental psychologists show why the facts in science never just speak for themselves |
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65 | (3) |
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18 Fahrenheit 2777:9/11 has generated the mother of all conspiracy theories |
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68 | (5) |
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III Pseudoscience And Quackery |
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19 Smart People Believe Weird Things: Rarely does anyone weigh facts before deciding what to believe |
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73 | (3) |
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20 Mesmerized by Magnetism: An eighteenth-century investigation into mesmerism shows us how to think about twenty-first-century therapeutic magnets |
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76 | (3) |
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21 Show Me the Body: Purported sightings of Bigfoot, Nessie, and Ogopogo fire our imaginations. But anecdotes alone do not make a science |
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79 | (3) |
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22 What's the Harm?: Alternative medicine is not everything to gain and nothing to lose |
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82 | (3) |
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23 Bunkum!: Broad-mindedness is a virtue when investigating extraordinary claims, but often they turn out to be pure bunk |
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85 | (3) |
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24 Magic Water and Mencken's Maxim: Social critic H. L. Mencken offers a lesson on how to respond to outrageous pseudoscientific claims |
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88 | (3) |
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25 Death by Theory: Attachment therapy is based on a pseudoscientific theory that, when put into practice, can be deadly |
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91 | (3) |
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26 Cures and Cons: Natural scams "he" doesn't want you to know about |
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94 | (5) |
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IV The Paranormal And The Supernatural |
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27 Deconstructing the Dead: "Crossing over" to expose the tricks of popular spirit mediums |
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99 | (3) |
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28 Psychic Drift: Why most scientists do not believe in ESP and psi phenomena |
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102 | (3) |
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29 Demon-Haunted Brain: If the brain mediates all experience, then paranormal phenomena are nothing more than neuronal events |
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105 | (3) |
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30 Codified Claptrap: The Bible code is numerological nonsense masquerading as science |
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108 | (3) |
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31 The Myth Is the Message: Yet another discovery of the lost continent of Atlantis shows why science and myth make uneasy bedfellows |
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111 | (3) |
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32 Turn Me On, Dead Man: What do the Beatles, the Virgin Mary, Jesus, Patricia Arquette, and Michael Keaton all have in common? |
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114 | (3) |
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33 Rupert's Resonance: The theory of "morphic resonance" posits that people have a sense of when they are being stared at. What does the research show? |
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117 | (3) |
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34 Mr. Skeptic Goes to Esalen: Science and spirituality on the California coast |
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120 | (5) |
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35 Shermer's Last Law: Any sufficiently advanced extraterrestrial intelligence is indistinguishable from God |
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125 | (3) |
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36 Why ET Has Not Phoned In: The lifetime of civilizations in the Drake equation for estimating extraterrestrial intelligences is greatly exaggerated |
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128 | (3) |
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37 The Chronology Conjecture Projector: Time machines, extraterrestrials, and the paradoxes of causality |
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131 | (3) |
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38 Abducted!: Imaginary traumas are as terrifying as the real thing |
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134 | (5) |
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VI Borderlands Science And Alternative Medicine |
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39 Nano Nonsense and Cryonics: True believers seek redemption from the sin of death |
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139 | (4) |
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40 I, Clone: The Three Laws of Cloning will protect clones and advance science |
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143 | (3) |
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41 Bottled Twaddle: Is bottled water tapped out? |
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146 | (3) |
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42 Quantum Quackery: A surprise-hit film has renewed interest in applying quantum mechanics to consciousness, spirituality, and human potential |
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149 | (4) |
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43 Hope Springs Eternal: Can nutritional supplements, biotechnology, and nanotechnology help us live forever? |
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153 | (3) |
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44 Full of Holes: The curious case of acupuncture |
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156 | (3) |
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45 Airborne Baloney: The latest fad in cold remedies is full of hot air |
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159 | (4) |
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46 Eat, Drink, and Be Merry: Or why we should learn to stop worrying and love food |
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163 | (6) |
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VII Psychology And The Brain |
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47 The Captain Kirk Principle: Intuition is the key to knowing without knowing how you know |
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169 | (3) |
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48 None So Blind: Perceptual-blindness experiments challenge the validity of eyewitness testimony and the metaphor of memory as a video recording |
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172 | (3) |
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49 Common Sense: Surprising new research shows that crowds are often smarter than individuals |
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175 | (3) |
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50 Murdercide: Science unravels the myth of suicide bombers |
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178 | (3) |
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51 As Luck Would Have It: Are some people really luckier than others, or is it all in their heads? Both |
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181 | (3) |
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52 SHAM Scam: The Self-Help and Actualization Movement is an $8.5-billion-a-year business. Does it work? |
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184 | (3) |
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53 The Political Brain: A recent brain-imaging study shows that our political predilections are products of unconscious confirmation bias |
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187 | (3) |
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54 Folk Science: Why our intuitions about how the world works are often wrong |
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190 | (3) |
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55 Free to Choose: The neuroscience of choice exposes the power of ideas |
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193 | (3) |
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56 Bush's Mistake and Kennedy's Error: Self-deception proves itself to be more powerful than deception |
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196 | (5) |
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57 The Erotic-Fierce People: The latest skirmish in the "anthropology wars" reveals a fundamental flaw in how science is understood and communicated |
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201 | (3) |
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58 The Ignoble Savage: Science reveals humanity's heart of darkness |
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204 | (3) |
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59 The Domesticated Savage: Science reveals a way to rise above our natures |
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207 | (3) |
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60 A Bounty of Science: A new book reexamines the mutiny on the Bounty, but science offers a deeper account of its cause |
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210 | (3) |
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61 Unweaving the Heart: Science only adds to our appreciation for poetic beauty and experiences of emotional depth |
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213 | (3) |
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62 (Can't Get No) Satisfaction: The new science of happiness needs some historical perspective |
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216 | (7) |
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IX Evolution And Creationism |
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63 The Gradual Illumination of the Mind: The advance of science, not the demotion of religion, will best counter the influence of creationism |
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223 | (3) |
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64 Vox Populi: The voice of the people reveals why evolution remains controversial |
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226 | (4) |
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65 The Fossil Fallacy: Creationists' demand for "just one transitional fossil" reveals a deep misunderstanding of science |
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230 | (4) |
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66 Rumsfeld's Wisdom: Where the known meets the unknown is where science begins |
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234 | (3) |
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67 It's Dogged as Does It: Retracing Darwin's footsteps in the Galapagos shatters a myth but reveals how revolutions in science actually evolve |
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237 | (4) |
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68 Darwin on the Right: Why Christians and conservatives should accept evolution |
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241 | (6) |
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X Science, Religion, Miracles, And God |
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69 Digits and Fidgets: Is the universe fine-tuned for life? |
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247 | (3) |
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70 Remember the 6 Billion: For millennia we have raged against the dying of the light. Can science save us from that good night? |
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250 | (3) |
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71 God's Number Is Up: Among a heap of books claiming that science proves God's existence emerges one that computes a probability of 67 percent |
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253 | (3) |
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72 Miracle on Probability Street: The Law of Large Numbers guarantees that one-in-a-million miracles happen 321 times a day in America |
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256 | (3) |
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73 Mustangs and Monists: The dualist belief that body and soul are separate entities is natural, intuitive, and with us from infancy. It is also very probably wrong |
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259 | (3) |
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74 Flying Carpets and Scientific Prayer: Scientific experiments claiming that distant intercessory prayer produces salubrious effects are deeply flawed |
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262 | (3) |
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75 Bowling for God: Is religion good for society? Science's definitive answer: it depends |
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265 | (4) |
| Acknowledgments |
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269 | (2) |
| Index |
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