Rating: 
Summary: weird things that people believe
Review: I did not read this book cover to cover. I skimmed through it and read the parts on Ayn Rand, Creationism vs. Evolution and the Conclusion. From what I could glean, this book does little to explain why people believe weird things. It talks a lot about weird things that people do believe, but that makes the title very misleading. Who are these people that believe weird things? Does a small group of people believe a lot of weird things? The author never delves into these questions. When reading the sections on Creationism and Holocaust Denighers, I had to put the book down as I could not bear to waste my time on the people in question.
Rating: 
Summary: Fine, as long as you don't care about facts.
Review: Everything Shermer discusses that I actually have independent knowledge of he makes sloppy mistakes about.As a professor of philosophy, I found his occasional remarks about philosophy simplistic and just factually wrong. For instance, on p. 45, he says that Hume's _Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding_ was first published as _A Treatise of Human Nature_. This is wrong--those are two different books. At first, I thought perhaps Shermer was just weak on philosophy. Then I checked on the statistics on p. 26. There, Shermer claims that 52% of Americans believe in astrology, 35% believe in ESP, and 67% believe they have had a psychic experience. He cites Gallup and Newport (Skeptical Inquirer 15,2: 137-47). I looked up the source. The actual statistics on the first two items are 25% and 25%. There is no statistic given for the number who believe they have had a psychic experience; however, there is a list of different kinds of "psychic" experiences, with percentages of people who have had them. The largest number is 56%, for the number who have had deja vu (which is not a psychic experience). All the other numbers are 25% or lower. I didn't search through the book for errors; this is the only one of Shermer's claims that I looked up, and it proved egregiously wrong. What other errors does the book contain? Michael Shermer is either dishonest or incompetent. If he can't even copy down numbers correctly from an article, why should anyone read his book?
Rating: 
Summary: this book has issues
Review: I grew increasingly annoyed with this book towards the latter pages. Of course, I agree with Shermer's skeptical and scientific method of thought wholeheartedly, and the initial chapters were quite interesting as he explores what skepticism and the scientific method is, and why it's important. The chapters debunking things like alien abductions, E.S.P. and contact with the dead were interesting but felt too much like a usual-suspects list. This could be my fault however because I did have a subscription to Skeptical Enquire and maybe I'm too familiar with these subjects. The usual creationism-evolution debate is here, including 25 philosophical and scientific answers to creationist arguments against evolution, which is informative and would be helpful if you ever find yourself in a debate with a creationist. The section on the "recovered memory" movement was very good, and pretty frightening actually. It still amazes me the things people will allow themselves to believe, without any evidence at all, and that gets into what annoyed me about this book: I still don't really know. The "why" part of people believing weirds things is not adequately addressed. Another annoyance, where I became skeptical of Shermer himself as an unbiased skeptic, is the chapter about the Ayn Rand cult. Now, I've never read any of Rand's books, and am only slightly familiar with her Objectivist philosphy, but he devotes maybe a few sentences to why the philosophy is weird in the first place. Hey maybe it is weird, but I'm not going to take his word for it without a better explanation. Shermer himself used to be an Objectivist and an "enthusiastic follower of Ayn Rand", but now that he's seen the light all of a sudden it's weird. The chapter that made me close the book in frustration was "Pigeonholes and Continuums", which is an attempt to debunk the sensitive subject of differences in race and I.Q., and if there are indeed "races" at all. He touches on the Bell Curve, and mentions Phillipe J. Rushton as well, who has written very controversial things about Race and I.Q., and Shermer promptly dismisses him with a wave of the hand because some of Rushton's research is backed by a group called the "Pioneer fund", who supposedly has connections to Holocaust denial among other shady business. That's all nice, but what about Rushton's arguments, and why is Rushton weird? He mentions a controversial article by Rushton published in the "prestiguous" (his words) science journal 'Intelligence', which we know anything published is peer-reviewed, but then does very little to refute anything specific in this article. He handpicks a select few scholars on race who enforce the "safe" and acceptable view of genetic racial differences; that their really are none. They could be right and this has nothing to do with what I believe, but the chapter is presented in a way that strongly contradicts what Shermer preaches about and I could no longer take the book too seriously. 3 stars however because there are otherwise redeeming sections in this book.
Rating: 
Summary: So just why is a sucker born every minute anyway?
Review: So just why is a sucker born every minute anyway? This book tells you by honestly recounting the various beliefs people have been suckered into. From witchcraft to holocaust denial, Shermer honestly examines the social, historical and sometimes personal issues that bring people to the fringe. He also manages to do so with compassion for those who've been suckered. Like the Clarence Darrow character from "Inherit the Wind," his power comes not a unilateral condemnation of that which is different but an unconditional concern for those misled. Yes, the birds may have lost their wonder, but we can take flight.
Rating:
Summary: Should be required reading
Review: I loved this book. It is scholarly yet readable, funny (in the right places) and utterly fascinating. The author discusses a variety of popular beliefs such as ESP, spirit communication, alien abduction, near death experiences, creationism and Holocaust denial and gives a decent explanation of why people believe such things but even better, he debunks them with practical reason and scientific evidence. He also shows how dangerous right wing fanatics and extremists (such as the Holocaust deniers) are and how their close-minded rhetoric is a threat to us all. On a lighter note, the author's recollections of his appearances on Oprah, Phil Donahue and other talk shows is sometimes hilarious. Thoughtful, intelligent and should be required reading in colleges.
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Summary: Being Used As College Text
Review: I first read this a couple of years ago, and found it quite entertaining. I found myself nodding in agreement all the way though. I recently learned that this is being used as a text for a Behavior Analysis course at the University of North Texas. I've talked to a couple of people taking the course and they say the course and the book are excellent!
Rating:
Summary: Less "Why" and more "What" people believe
Review: If you, like me, are really interested in why people believe weird things, don't buy this book, I'll just tell you. People believe weird things because they want to believe them. It's as simple as that. If, on the other hand, you want to read about various weird beliefs and hear them debunked, then this is the right book. It is basically a collection of Michael Shermer's columns from Skeptic Magazine. Only a few pages are dedicated to the psychology behind people's belief systems and how they go astray. This was my reason for buying the book. Instead I got chapters on UFOs, holocaust denial, ESP, creationism, etc and why these beliefs are flawed. But I never believed in them, so I don't need them debunked. I wanted to know why anyone else would believe them. This is where the book fails to deliver.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Book for the Everyday Skeptic
Review: I just finished reading Micheal Shermer's book, and I found it very insightful and entertaining. I thought his responses to creationists were well structured and practical. Overall, an excellent and educational read. May be slightly boring to those who are not skeptical-minded. I feel it could have been improved with more anecdotes regarding how pseudoscientist and paranormalists have been debunked in the past.
Rating:
Summary: Cartesian at its best
Review: This is an excellent book. It makes several revealing statements. One of them is that there is no relationship between IQ and strange beliefs. I would have expected there is a strong inverse correlation between the two. In other words, intelligent people should not believe in Astrology. The author prooved me completely wrong. Intelligent people may or may not believe in Astrology. The ones who do, believe in it because they are very smart at advancing convincing argument why it works. There are tens of other examples like that. There are also a lot of surprises, like his first hand experience being abducted by aliens. He goes on to explain that beyond a certain point of exhaustion, your brain stops making sense, and you start hallucinating.
Rating:
Summary: Informative, balanced approach
Review: I've read this book at least twice and it always leaves me wanting to read more. This is a very balanced approach to some of the topics that keep skeptics and believers arguing for hours, days.. years. Shermer touches on holocaust denial, evolution vs. creationism, religion, psychics and herbal medicines, just to name a few of the topics in the book. The approach is, well, skeptical without being inflammatory or pretentious. This is a very balanced approach, and I especially like his take on religions, even if that was a bit brief. He does a good job with explaining the scientific method so that non-scientists can understand how it works. After I read this book, I looked for more writings by this author and was delighted to find other books.
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