Rating: 
Summary: Worth a look
Review: That's three and a half stars. Much of what's in here has been done before, and done better, by people like Martin Gardner and Carl Sagan. The specific debunkings can't go into much detail, because Shermer covers so much territory. For example, Pennock's "Tower of Babel" provides a far deeper understanding of the makeup and motivations of the Creationist movement. But there's enough that's fresh to make it a worthwhile read: material on the Ayn Rand cult (and why it qualifies objectively as a cult), personal war stories about what it's like to battle the weirdmongers on weird-friendly media turf, and things psychologists have learned about traits that correlate with paranormal beliefs. And as the founder and editor of Skeptic magazine, the author knows his territory.Shermer draws useful parallels between creation science and Holocaust denial. I hadn't noticed the tactic both share, which is a generally useful one for anybody who wants a protective seal against reality: the creationists demand "just one fossil" which is incontrovertibly transitional, and the revisionists demand "just one document" which incontrovertibly spells out the plan for Hitler's Final Solution. This "one knockdown argument or nothing" strategy permits them to cultivate tunnel vision, and to ignore the *accumulated* weight of evidence, which is how truth is ordinarily determined in truly rational history, truly rational science, and for that matter in common sense. You wouldn't expect that Shermer could come up with a definitive answer for the title's question, and he doesn't. But he does make a serious attempt, and shows as much interest in understanding the true believers as he shows in exploding their beliefs. He's fighting the good skeptical fight, fighting it without compromise, but doing it with more gentleness and respect toward his opponents than one usually finds in this genre of literature. (Though I was surprised at how hard he came down on Frank Tipler. Tipler's "Physics of Immortality" incorporates a powerful element of wishful thinking, but it's not in conflict with science, much less in full fugue from reality like the rest of Shermer's subjects.) If you've already read Gardner and Sagan, and want more good debunking entertainment in the same line; or if you'd enjoy meditating on why people do believe weird things, but aren't expecting a final answer; or if you do engage in skirmishes with true believers yourself often enough to be collecting a short shelf of useful references, you'll find Shermer a genial companion, and this book (and its extensive bibliography) well worth your time. If your interest is more casual, you may feel otherwise.
Rating: 
Summary: Not very good
Review: The irony of our modern, technological society is that the general public is so blissfully unaware of the magnificence of science. Why are people so drawn to the paranormal, to creationism, pseudoscience, and superstition? Why are false explanations for events given equal time with the true ones? Michael Schermer entertains us with his debunking and his refutations. Where Schermer is strongest is not in his disclosure of a particular scam, but in explaining generically how thinking goes wrong. He provides a framework in which to understand why so many of our fellow citizens fall into the thrall of the ridiculous. I have two recommendations for a future printing of this book. One is to spend less time on holocaust deniers; they're not worth it. The second is to include common misconceptions on health and nutrition (talk about believing weird things!). Schermer, a regular contributor to Scientific American, erects a principled and witty defense in the civil war against science.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Skeptic, Good Debunker
Review: The overall grade for this book is good, I recommend it, but it could definitely be much better. Shermer is one super skeptic fellow, and one that respects most of the people whose claims he tries to debunk. Through the book he can't deny his psychology background, since he continually makes reference to different psychological concepts (and their application to scientists like Tippler, or to holocaust deniers), this is not bad, but the truth is I wasn't expecting a pseudo-psychoanalisis on his opponents. The book is really entertaining, and has a lot of interesting anecdotes and experiences as well as good bibliographic investigation to support every case. Once again, the book is entertaining and enlightening at times, I surely recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Why People Believe Weird Things Book Review
Review: The title of this book is what really intrigued me. It made me want to read it and possibly have the chance of broadening my views on certain controversial issues. I have to admit I was always amazed to watch psychics such as Slyvia Browne and John Edwards. After reading this book it certainly changed my mind on the "powers" these people possess. They greatly appeal to the emotions of their audiences and that is how they win them over. It is amazing to me how people could be so blind as to how these people get their information. Perhaps this is why there are many credit card frauds and identity thefts today because people like these so called psychics use others to receive information about their family and income. I also found the controversy of evolution and creationism to be quite interesting. I cant believe that people would want to ban the teaching of evolution from school. It is a part of history. Whether it is wrong or right it should still have a place in the text books children are using. We cannot ignore a part of history.
I did enjoy reading this book, but the only thing that bothered me about it was the fact that the author seemed have the same explanation for almost everything. He explained that people who had near death experiences probably were in a state of delierium, but he also used the same explanation for alien abductions. It just seems to me that he may be very narrow minded.
All in all I would recommend this book to others, just for the fact that it gives the reader a chance to see what other opinions there are on many of todays controversial topics, and for some this book could be a good eye opener.
Rating:
Summary: Lacking a little
Review: This book seems to hold great promise from the outset. It's a book (as the author would confess) that values reason, science, knowledge and the examination of beliefs. Nothing wrong with that. However, the book seems to ramble on a bit and takes on the feel of the author's personal musings instead of objective examination of the material. A couple of the chapters could be condensed into one chapter that contains more focus and sticks to the topic. For instance, in one chapter Shermer drones on about the diff. aspects of creation-science and real science which is testable. This is great except he lists a myriad of arguments in brief. The only way you could do anything worthwhile with the material intellectually is to dig deeper into other books with more insight on the topic. In other words, you aren't going to reach any conclusions yay or nay with such brief explanations. He discusses holocaust denial in a "part" of the book which is fine except a couple of the chapters once again could be condensed since the later chapter seems to rehash much of what was said before only in greater detail. Lastly, the very last chapter which deals with a Dr. Tipler and his fantasy-like Omega Point theory is superfluous. This is Shermer's personal book review of Tipler's physics work. To put it crudely, who really gives a crap except someone with a vested interest in physics? A short description of the weirdness of Tipler's work would have been sufficient. Also, one other gripe; Shermer seems to portray the personal idea that objective science is good and that theories are subject to change over time-"facts are data". Yet, despite him stating these points I found him more than once claiming evolution as fact. I am not saying that it isn't but am suggesting he should reframe himself to say it's commonly accepted as fact because of such and such testable evidence. Also, Shermer does discuss fringe beliefs somewhat such as; alien abductions, afrocentrism, witch hunts and the like. However, in my opinion he strayed away too much from these interesting topics and went into personal musings about science instead. Anyway, I can see many people giving negative reviews of this book simply because they do not like Shermer's relativistic, hard-science stand. That's no fault of his own though...Finally, I would recommend the book despite its flaws because it is for lack of a better description interesting. It could have been much better but we will have to accept it on merit of the ideas it espouses and not so much for the overall content.
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