Why People Believe Weird Things, Pseudoscience, Superstition and Other Confusions of Our Time

Reviewed by Craig W.

Dr Michael Shermer, author of Why People Believe Weird Things, Pseudoscience, Superstition and Other Confusions of Our Time, isn't skeptical. He's a Skeptic. That means he neither believes nor disbelieves until he subjects a dispute to reason.

Humans excel at seeing the patterns in things. But, as Dr. Shermer points out, "The problem is that causal thinking is not infallible. We make connections whether they are there or not." Beliefs based on these supposed connections influence perception. For example, "(c)oincidental configurations of subatomic particles and astronomical structures indicate an intelligent designer of the universe." He goes on to elaborate twenty-five specific fallacies that lead to erroneous thinking. Two of my favorites are "ad hominem" attacks (literally, "to the man," or "you also") and over reliance on authorities. The former is a diversionary tactic to refocus attention from the ideas to the people holding them. In Dr. Shermer's words, "Calling someone an atheist, a communist, a child abuser, or a neo-Nazi does not in any way disprove that person's statement." The latter simply means that being an expert doesn't prove you are right, particularly outside your own field. The Pope is an expert in Catholic theology. That doesn't mean he knows anything about human sexuality.

In my view, you can sum up all these fallacies in two words - lazy thinking. People want to take short cuts to avoid the heavy lifting that intellectual rigor demands - especially in support of our pet theories. Dr. Shermer holds us to a sterner standard. For instance, while debating Holocaust deniers on TV, he refused to support the rumor that the Nazis rendered human bodies to make soap. Easy as it is to believe such a rumor, given all the other demonstrably true horrors of Nazi-run concentration camps, evidence indicates it is not true.

One does not need to agree with his philosophy (and I don't) to appreciate this rigorous intellectual honesty. After slogging through the turgid polemics of the ideological firebrands that so grievously overpopulate the intellectual community of our culture, Dr Shermer's crisp clean thinking is like drinking sparkling water to clear out a mouthful of dust.

Dr. Shermer doesn't always follow his own rules (but, then again, who does?). My one disappointment with the book was his off-hand dismissal of astrology as "superstition" without addressing the evidence, including statistical studies, in support of it. But this is a small flaw in an otherwise impressive piece of scholarship.

Craig W. attends the Monday night Codependents' Meeting in Berkeley, CA.