- Don’t Believe Everything You Think: The 6 Basic Mistakes We Make in
Thinking, by Thomas Kida
Do you believe that you can consistently beat the stock market if you put in the effort? —that some people have extrasensory perception? —that crime and drug abuse in America are on the rise? Many people hold one or more of these beliefs although research shows that
they are not true. And it’s no wonder since advertising and some among the media promote these and many more questionable notions. Although our creative problem-solving capacity is what has made humans the successful species we are, our brains are prone to certain kinds of errors that only
careful critical thinking can correct. This enlightening book discusses how to recognize faulty thinking and develop the necessary skills to become a more effective problem solver. Author Thomas Kida identifies "the six-pack of problems" that leads many of us unconsciously to accept false
ideas:
· We prefer stories to statistics.
· We seek to confirm, not to question, our ideas.
· We rarely appreciate the role of chance and coincidence in shaping events.
· We sometimes misperceive the world around us.
· We tend to oversimplify our thinking.
· Our memories are often inaccurate.
Kida vividly illustrates these tendencies with numerous examples that demonstrate how easily we can be fooled into believing something that isn’t true. In a complex society where success—in all facets of life—often requires the ability to evaluate the validity of many conflicting claims,
the critical-thinking skills examined in this informative and engaging book will prove invaluable.
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- Why Darwin Matters: The Case Against Intelligent Design, by Michael Shermer
Evolution happened, and the theory describing it is one of the most well founded in all of science. Then why do half of all Americans reject it? There are religious reasons, such as the fear of atheism and the perceived loss of ultimate meaning; there are psychological
reasons, such as the ego-deflating realization that we are mere animals; and there are political reasons, such as the equation of evolution with moral relativism on the right, and the connection of evolution to eugenics and social Darwinism on the left.
In Why Darwin Matters, historian of science and bestselling author Michael Shermer defuses these fears by examining what evolution really is, how we know it happened, and how to test it. Shermer then discusses what science is through a brief history of the
evolution-creation controversy from the Scopes “Monkey” trial of 1925, through the U.S. Supreme Court case of 1987, to the ongoing trials today, demonstrating clearly how and why creationism and Intelligent Design theory are not science. Dr. Shermer also builds a powerful case for evolution as
the scientific theory that most closely parallels the Christian model of human nature and the conservative model of free market economics.
The most common reason people give for why they believe in God is the good design of the world and the life in it. The question is: who or what is the designer? Why Darwin Matters examines the difference between supernatural design (creationism) v. natural design
(evolution) and how evolution can explain complex design.
Dr. Shermer was once an evangelical Christian and a creationist, and is now one of the best-known public intellectuals defending evolutionary theory, so Why Darwin Matters provides readers with an insiders’ guide to the evolution-creation debate, in which he
shows why creationism and Intelligent Design are not only bad science, they are bad theology, and why science should be embraced by people of all beliefs.
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- Borderlands Of Science, by Michael Shermer
Where does valid science leave off and borderland science begin? Examines the theories, the people and the history involved in areas of controversy where sense is in danger of turning into nonsense.
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- Believing In Magic: The Psychology of Superstition, by Stuart A. Vyse
 - Amazon.com
Wade Boggs is one of the best hitters baseball has ever known; at the plate he's a master technician. He also believes that eating chicken gives him good luck, so he's eaten chicken every day for years. Starting with
the superstitions of ballplayers, Stuart Vyse, a psychology professor at Connecticut College, embarks on a fascinating exploration of superstitious thoughts in Believing In Magic. Employing scientific techniques and utilizing hard facts, Vyse shows how silly superstition really is. Yet he
also admits that some people do perform better when they follow their superstitious rituals. This is a highly informative book, dealing with everything from chain letters to lucky charms to lottery systems.
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- The Magic Detectives, by Joe Nickell
30 mysteries encourages readers to think for themselves before the solution is offered. Historical ghost incidents, Mummy’s Curse, UFO creatures, Holy shroud, Lock Ness, and more. (ages 9 to 14 years).
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- Maybe Yes, Maybe No, by Dan Barker
Adventures of Andrea, a skeptic. Cartoon strip style. How to check out extraordinary claims. Simple straightforward text. How to listen and ask questions; how to seek a simple explanation; what tools and rules a scientist uses to check things out. (ages 7-10 years).
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- Voodoo Science: The Road From Foolishness to Fraud, by Robert L. Park
On our top ten list of recommended critical thinking books. Physicist Park expertly analyzes cold fusion, perpetual motion machines, free energy claims, and how well-meaning scientists can go down the wrong road through self-deception.
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- Test Your Science IQ, by Charles Cazea
Hundreds of addictive questions and answers covering both science and pseudoscience. Clear, well written, yet sophisticated enough for adults. Very strong on why science is important. Fascinating and fun. (ages 12 to adult).
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- How We Know What Isn’t So, by Thomas Gilovich
Why and how human reasoning will always trip us up as we see patterns where there aren’t any. Gut feelings fool us into seeing winning streaks and lots more.
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- Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences, by John Paulos
The book that coined the word, exposed math ignorance in popular culture and journalism, and changed the way math is taught.
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- How to Lie with Statistics, by Darrell Huf
How statistics are used to “sensationalize, inflate, confuse, and oversimplify.” Statistical flim-flam is laid bare in this 1954 classic. Humorous and clearly written. Suitable for students, or as a refresher course for anyone interested in statistics.
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- Doubt: A History, by Jennifer Hecht
This grand sweeping history celebrates the great doubters of history as agents of creativity and change. Long overdue. Stimulating. Poetic.
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- The Third Chimpanzee, by Jared Diamond
The evolution of human sexuality and science of adultery. How we pick our mates and sex partners. Why do we grow old and die? The animal origins of art. Why do we smoke, drink, and use dangerous drugs? The golden age that never was.
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- Science Friction: Where the Known Meets the Unknown, by Michael Shermer
Shermer becomes a psychic for a day, investigates quack cancer and alternative medicine, evolutionary psychology and the mutiny on the Bounty, chaos theory and history, intelligent design creationism, sports psychology, and more. Lively and fun reading.
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- The Science of Good and Evil, by Michael Shermer
Broad in scope, deep in analysis, and controversial. Is it human nature to be selfish or selfless, fierce or loving, moral or immoral? Shermer Examines the scientific evidence that shows that morality is deeply embedded in our being and behavior. Covers pre-moral animal
behavior, neuroscience, game theory, free will, and more.
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- Guns, Germs and Steel, by Jared Diamond
Why did Eurasians conquer Native Americans, Australians, and Africans, instead of the reverse? Diamond dismisses racially-based theories of human history by revealing the environmental factors responsible for history’s broadest patterns. A work rich in dramatic
revelations that challenges conventional wisdom.
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- The Ancestor’s Tale, by Richard Dawkin
With unparalleled wit, clarity, and intelligence, Richard Dawkins, one of the world’s most renowned evolutionary biologists, has introduced countless readers to the wonders of science in works such as The Selfish Gene. Now, in The Ancestor’s Tale,
Dawkins offers a masterwork: an exhilarating reverse tour through evolution, from present-day humans back to the microbial beginnings of life four billion years ago. Throughout the journey Dawkins spins entertaining, insightful stories and sheds light on topics such as speciation, sexual selection,
and extinction. The Ancestor’s Tale is at once an essential education in evolutionary theory and a riveting read. Basing his account loosely on the form of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, popular science writer Dawkins (public understanding of science, Oxford U.) offers a broad look
at human evolution, which incorporates recent developments in the discipline and his own provocative views.
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- The Skeptic Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience, Michael Shermer, Pat Linse, Eds.
Two volumes Includes:
1. A-Z —acupuncture, alien abductions, astrology, facilitated communication, Fen Shui, hypnosis, magnetic therapy, polygraph and lie detection, prayer and healing, recovered memories, reincarnation, spiritualism, subliminal
perception, Tut's curse, UFOs and dozens more.
2. Case Studies: In-depth analyzes: acupuncture, alternative medicine, Atlantis, chiropractic, homeopathy, immortality, police psychics, pyramids, Satanic Ritual Abuse, science and religion, witchcraft, and many more.
3. Pro
and Con debate section—evolutionary psychology, memes, Race and Sports, Race and I.Q.
4. Historical Documents: Animal Magnetism by Ben Franklin, A. Lavoisier; Bryan’s last evolution speech; Hume’s “Of Miracles,” Condon report on UFOs. Bibliography, Illustrated.
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- The Skeptic’s Dictionary, by Robert Carroll
Based on Carroll’s website (skepdic.com), the Dictionary is the definitive short-answer debunking of nearly every thing skeptical. A must for every bookshelf.
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- Wonder Workers! How They Perform the Impossible, by Joe Nickell
Detective Nickell investigates and reveals the secrets of the Fireproof Man, the bullet trick, levitation, the Human Magnet, a psychic, the Man Who Walked Through Walls, X-ray Vision, mind reading, Edgar Cayce and Peter Hurkos. With suggestions on how the stories can be
used to encourage critical thinking. (ages 9 to early teens).
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- Mythbusters: Don’t Try This at Home by Mary Packard
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- Flavor of the Month: Why Smart People Fall for Fads by Joel Best
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- A Devil’s Chaplain
by Richard Dawkins
Amazon.com
Richard Dawkins has an opinion on everything biological, it seems, and in A Devil's Chaplain, everything is biological. Dawkins weighs in on topics as diverse as ape rights, jury trials, religion, and education,
all examined through the lens of natural selection and evolution. Although many of these essays have been published elsewhere, this book is something of a greatest-hits compilation, reprinting many of Dawkins' most famous recent compositions. They are well worth re-reading. His 1998 review of Alan
Sokal and Jean Bricmont's Fashionable Nonsense is as bracing an indictment of academic obscurantism as the book it covered, although the review reveals some of Dawkins' personal biases as well. Several essays are devoted to
skillfully debunking religion and mysticism, and these are likely to raise the hackles of even casual believers. Science, and more specifically evolutionary science, underlies each essay, giving readers a glimpse into the last several years' debates about the minutiae of natural selection. In one
moving piece, Dawkins reflects on his late rival Stephen Jay Gould's magnum opus, The Structure of Evolutionary Theory, and clarifies what it was the two Darwinist heavyweights actually disagreed about. While the
collection showcases Dawkins' brilliance and intellectual sparkle, it brings up as many questions as it answers. As an ever-ardent champion of science, honest discourse, and rational debate, Dawkins will obviously relish the challenge of answering them. --Therese Littleton --This text
refers to the Hardcover edition.
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- Junk Science: How Politicians, Corporations,
and Other Hucksters Betray Us
by Dan Agin
Book Description
An overdue indictment of government, industry, and faith groups that twist science for their own gain. During the next thirty years, the American public will suffer from a rampage against reason by special
interests in government, commerce, and the faith industry, and the rampage has already begun. In Junk Science, Dan Agin offers a response-a stinging condemnation of the egregious and constant warping of science for ideological gain. In this provocative, wide-ranging, and hard-hitting book, Agin
argues from the center that we will pay a heavy price for the follies of people who consciously twist the public's understanding of the real world. In an entertaining but frank tone, Agin separates fact from conveniently 'scientific' fiction and exposes the data faking, reality ignoring, fear
mongering, and outright lying that contribute to intentionally manufactured public ignorance. Many factions twist scientific data to maintain riches and power, and Agin outs them all in sections like these: --'Buyer Beware' (genetically modified foods, aging, and tobacco companies)--'Medical
Follies' (chiropractics, health care, talk therapy)--'Poison and Bombs in the Greenhouse' (pollution, warfare, global warming)--'Religion, Embryos, and Cloning'--'Genes, Behavior, and Race' We already pay a heavy price for many groups' conscious manipulation of the public's understanding of science,
and Junk Science arms us with understanding, cutting through the fabric of lies and setting the record straight.
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- The Weather Makers
by Tim Flannery
Sometime this century the day will arrive when the human influence on the climate will overwhelm all other natural factors. Over the past decade, the world has seen the most powerful El Niño ever recorded, the most devastating hurricane in
200 years, the hottest European summer on record, and one of the worst storm seasons ever experienced in Florida. Dr. Flannery outlines the history of climate change, how it will unfold over the next century, and what we can do to prevent a cataclysmic future, including what every one of us can do
right now to reduce deadly CO2 emissions by as much as 70 percent.
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- The Varieties of Scientific Experience
by Carl Sagan (edited by Ann Druyan)
The late great astronomer and astrophysicist describes his personal search to understand the nature of the sacred in the vastness of the cosmos. Exhibiting a breadth of intellect nothing short of astounding, Sagan presents his views on a wide range of topics, including the
likelihood of intelligent life on other planets, creationism and so-called intelligent design, and a new concept of science as “informed worship.” Originally presented at the centennial celebration of the famous Gifford Lectures in Scotland in 1985 but never published, this book offers a unique
encounter with one of the most remarkable minds of the twentieth century.
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- Weird
Water & Fuzzy Logic:
- More
Notes of a Fringe Watcher
by Martin Gardner
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- The
Unconscious Quantum:
- Metaphysics
in Modern Physics and Cosmology
by Victor J. Stenger
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The New Skepticism: Inquiry
and Reliable Knowledge
by
Paul Kurtz
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- A
Physicist's Guide to Skepticism: Applying Laws of
Physics to Faster-Than-Light Travel, Psychic
Phenomena, Telepathy,
- Time
Travel, Ufo'S, and Other Pseudoscientific Claims
- Milton A.
Rothman
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Pseudoscience and the
Paranormal: A Critical Examination of the Evidence
by Terence Hines
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- Paranormal
Borderlands of Science
by Frazier, Kendrick
Frazier
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