Most Popular Books by Michael Shermer

An updated exploration of the latest scientific research on how the brain makes us believers or skeptics. "[Shermer] is uniquely equipped to carry out this comprehensive analysis of the nature of belief. . . . Insightful, intriguing, and enlightening." — American Scientist In this scientific investigation of God and faith, bestselling author and Scientific American columnist Michael Shermer offers fresh insights into the inner workings of the mind, examining how and why humans create religious laws, turn to apocalyptic myths, and negotiate compromises between science and religion. Drawing on studies in psychiatry, neuroscience, and epidemiology, he explores such phenomena as out-of-body experiences, miraculous coincidences, and extrasensory perception. Whether believers or nonbelievers, we are all driven by the need to understand the universe and our place in it. How We Believe is a provocative scientific tour of this ancient and mysterious desire. "Ranges eloquently and learnedly over broad areas of philosophy, theology, and science [to] answer ''the God question.''" — Scientific American "Unusually useful." — The Washington Post Book World "Brilliantly explores our propensity to be story-telling animals." — Natural History

"In a rebuttal to the notion of post-truth, the author explains why truth matters and why we should care that people sometimes believe things that are not true. He then explains how to get at truth, with chapters on evidence, causality, correlation/causation, and Bayesian reasoning. The next several chapters apply those concepts to different kinds of knowledge: scientific, historical, and religious truths. The author also takes up the possibility of alien life, the existence of God, and the nature of human consciousness"-- Provided by publisher.

"This sparkling book romps over the range of science and anti-science." --Jared Diamond, author of Guns, Germs, and Steel Revised and Expanded Edition. In this age of supposed scientific enlightenment, many people still believe in mind reading, past-life regression theory, New Age hokum, and alien abduction. A no-holds-barred assault on popular superstitions and prejudices, with more than 80,000 copies in print, Why People Believe Weird Things debunks these nonsensical claims and explores the very human reasons people find otherworldly phenomena, conspiracy theories, and cults so appealing. In an entirely new chapter, "Why Smart People Believe in Weird Things," Michael Shermer takes on science luminaries like physicist Frank Tippler and others, who hide their spiritual beliefs behind the trappings of science. Shermer, science historian and true crusader, also reveals the more dangerous side of such illogical thinking, including Holocaust denial, the recovered-memory movement, the satanic ritual abuse scare, and other modern crazes. Why People Believe Strange Things is an eye-opening resource for the most gullible among us and those who want to protect them.

The editor-in-chief of "Skeptic" magazine and author of the bestselling "Why People Believe Weird Things" takes readers to the place where real science (such as the big bang theory), borderland science (superstring theory), and just plain nonsense (Big Foot) collide with one another. 20 halftones. 36 line illustrations.

Examines Holocaust denial as a classic case study in how the past may be revised for present political and ideological purposes; and includes refutation of the Holocaust deniers'' claims and arguments, analyses of their personalities and motives, and evidence that the Holocaust did indeed occur.

The New York Times–bestselling author of The Believing Brains explores how science makes us better people. From Galileo and Newton to Thomas Hobbes and Martin Luther King, Jr., thinkers throughout history have consciously employed scientific techniques to better understand the non-physical world. The Age of Reason and the Enlightenment led theorists to apply scientific reasoning to the non-scientific disciplines of politics, economics, and moral philosophy. Instead of relying on the woodcuts of dissected bodies in old medical texts, physicians opened bodies themselves to see what was there; instead of divining truth through the authority of an ancient holy book or philosophical treatise, people began to explore the book of nature for themselves through travel and exploration; instead of the supernatural belief in the divine right of kings, people employed a natural belief in the right of democracy. In The Moral Arc, Shermer explains how abstract reasoning, rationality, empiricism, skepticism—scientific ways of thinking—have profoundly changed the way we perceive morality and, indeed, move us ever closer to a more just world. "Michael Shermer is a beacon of reason in an ocean of irrationality." —Neil deGrasse Tyson "A memorable book, a book to recommend and discuss late into the night." —Richard Dawkins "[A] brilliant contribution . . . Sherman''s is an exciting vision." — Nature

Sample Text

A thorough, objective, and balanced analysis of the most prominent controversies made in the name of science—from the effectiveness of proposed medical treatments to the reality of supernatural claims. Edited by Michael Shermer, editor and publisher of The Skeptic magazine, this truly unique work provides a comprehensive introduction to the most prominent pseudoscientific claims made in the name of "science." Covering the popular, the academic, and the bizarre, the encyclopedia includes everything from alien abductions to the Bermuda Triangle, crop circles, Feng Shui, and near-death experiences. Fifty-nine brief descriptive summaries and 23 investigations from The Skeptic magazine give skeptical analyses of subjects as far-ranging as acupuncture, chiropractic, and Atlantis. The encyclopedia also gives for-and-against debates on topics such as evolutionary psychology and case studies on topics like police psychics and the medical intuitive Carolyn Myss. Finally, the volumes include five classic works in the history of science and pseudoscience, including the speech William Jennings Bryan never delivered in the Scopes trial, and the first scientific and skeptical investigation of a paranormal/spiritual phenomenon by Benjamin Franklin and Antoine Lavoisier.

Bestselling author and psychologist Shermer explains how evolution shaped the modern economy--and why people are so irrational about money. Drawing on the new field of neuroeconomics, Shermer investigates what brain scans reveal about bargaining, snap purchases, and establishing trust in business.

Shermer demonstrates how our brains selectively assess data in an attempt to confirm the conclusions (beliefs) we''ve already reached. Drawing on evolution, cognitive science, and neuroscience, he considers not only supernatural beliefs but political and economic ones as well.

The author discusses how we should think about conspiracy theories, who believes them and why, which conspiracy theories are likely to be true or false and what criteria we can use to assess them, and what we should do to combat dangerous conspiracism and reestablish trust in our democratic institutions, in the media, and in one another -- Provided by publisher.

Two controversial authors debate the nature and methods of science, its dogmas, and its future. Rupert Sheldrake argues that science needs to free itself from materialist dogma while Michael Shermer contends that science, properly conceived, is a materialistic enterprise; for science to look beyond materialist explanations is to betray science and engage in superstition. Issues discussed include: materialism and its role in science, whether belief in God is compatible with a scientific perspective, and parapsychology. Michael Shermer is Editor-in-Chief of Skeptic magazine and the author of numerous books including Skeptic. Rupert Sheldrake is a biologist and author of ten books including his most recent, Science Set Free, which challenges scientific dogma.

In each of these 14 essays, the author, a psychologist and science historian, explores the very personal barriers and biases that plague and propel science, especially when scientists push against the unknown.

Explores how free speech and open inquiry are integral to science, politics, and society for the survival and progress of our species.

"In his most ambitious work yet, Shermer sets out to discover what drives humans'' belief in life after death, focusing on recent scientific attempts to achieve immortality by radical life extentionists, extropians, transhumanists, cryonicists, and mind-uploaders, along with utopians who have attempted to create heaven on earth. For millennia, religions have concocted numerous manifestations of heaven and the afterlife, the place where souls go after the death of the physical body. Religious leaders have toiled to make sense of this place that a surprising 74% of Americans believe exists, but from which no one has ever returned to report what it is really like. Heavens on Earth concludes with an uplifting paean to purpose and progress and what we can do in the here-and-now, whether or not there is a hereafter" --

Explains the facts of evolution and exposes the intelligent design (ID) movement¿s real agenda. Half of all Americans reject the theory of evolution, and ID campaigns are gaining ground. Shermer decodes the scientific evidence to show that evolution is not ¿just a theory¿ and illustrates how it achieves the design of life through the bottom-up process of natural selection. Argues that ID proponents are invoking a combination of bad science, political ideology, and flawed theology. He refutes their pseudoscientific arguments and then demonstrates why conservatives and people of faith can and should embrace evolution. He appraises the evolutionary questions that truly need to be settled, building a powerful argument for science itself.