Skeptic
Collected essays from bestselling author Michael Shermer s celebrated columns in Scientific AmericanFor fifteen years, bestselling author Michael Shermer has written a column in Scientific American magazine that synthesizes scientific concepts and theory for a general audience His trademark combination of deep scientific understanding and entertaining writing style has thrilled his huge and devoted audience for years Now, in Skeptic, seventy five of these columns are available together for the first time a welcome addition for his fans and a stimulating introduction for new readers. Read Skeptic – kino-fada.fr This is a nice collection on various topics by Michael Shermer As with most essay collections like this, many of the topics discussed are repeated in his various books but it is nice to hear them in the form of what seemed to be his first time writing on it Shermer narrates the audiobook as well which I enjoy since these topics are tough to...Well, now I feel squishkly.There s a lot I can get behind in the skeptics movement I m a former scientist so of course I love science I thinkneeds to be done to educate non scientists about how science works I think homeopathy works as well as drinking a glass of water because that s all you re getting with homeopathy and I m a pretty big booster of vaccinations unless, for documented, scientific, medical reasons, such as a suppressed immune system, one cannot safely be vaccinated Well, now I feel squishkly.There s a lot I can get behind in the skeptics movement I m a former scientist so of course I love science I thinkneeds to be done to educate non scientists about how science works I think homeopathy works as well as drinking a glass of water because that s all you re getting with homeopathy and I m a pretty big booster of vaccinations unless, for doc...I saw this recently released book on the shelf in the library and grabbed it immediately I am a big proponent of critical thinking and skepticism so I was very excited to read this book I was hoping he would tackle many of the pressing issues of the day from a skeptic s perspective Not quite.What I didn t realize was that this book is a compilation of previously published short essays written by Shermer for magazines such as Scientific American going back up to 15 years Some are great but so I saw this recently released book on the shelf in the library and grabbed it immediately I am a big proponent of critical thinking and skepticism so I was very excited to...Three and a half stars An excellent collection of essays from Shermer s Scientific American column I especially liked Turn Me On, Dead Man, which I think is just a really good summary of why skepticism is necessary What we have here is a signal noise problem Humans evolved brains that are pattern recognition machines, designed to detect signals that enhance or threaten survival amid a very noisy world Also known as association learning associating A and B as causally connected , we are ver Three and a half stars An excellent collection of essays from Shermer s Scientific American column I especially liked Turn Me On, Dead Man, which I think is just a really good summary of why skepticism is necessary What we have here is a signal noise problem Humans evolved brains that are pattern recognition machines, designed to detect signals that enhance or threaten survival amid a very noisy world Also known as association learning associating A and...Was looking forward to my interest being peaked by Shermer s introductions short columns to potential new avenues of exploration only added ONE book to my to read list, lame Out of 75 entries, only 12 were worthwhile The Enchanted Glass Francis Bacon and experimental psychologists show why the facts in science never just speak for themselves Smart People Believe Weird Things Rarely does anyone weigh facts before deciding what to believe Death by Theory Attachment therapy is based on a Was looking forward to my interest being peaked by Shermer s introductions short columns to potential new avenues of exploration only added ONE book to my to read list, lame Out of 75 entries, only 12 were worthwhile The Enchanted Glass Francis Bacon and experimental psychologists show why the facts in science never just speak for themselves Smart People Believe Weird Things Rarely does anyone weigh facts before deciding what to believe Death by Theory Attachment therapy is based on a pseudoscientific theory that, when put into practice, c...Shermer s collection of essays has style and breadth, but not much depth.I appreciated the brevity, witty quotes, breadth of topics, and his wry style of writing I suspect an ebook version would be the best way to read Shermer includes hyperlinks to sources occasionally, and generally makes many brief references that would be nice to be able to cross reference if one is inclined If you disagree with Shermer s points, you may understandably find his arguments lacking depth For my part, I enjo Shermer s collection of essays has style and breadth, but not much depth.I appreciated the brevity, witty quotes, breadth of topics, and his wry style of writing I suspect an ebook version would be the best way to read Shermer includes hyperlinks to sources occasionally, and generally makes many brief references that would be nice to be able to cross reference if one is inclined If you disagree ...I am always excited when one of my favorite authors releases a new book However, this is not new material, rather it s a compilation of monthly columns Shermer wrote for Scientific American As such, these are short snippets of thought, meant to arouse interest rather than satisfy curiosity I imagine many if not most of these brief essays are freely available online, but it is nice to have them in one binding I wouldn t recommend this over Shermer s other books, despite the fact that these ar I am always excited when one of my favorite authors releases a new book However, this is not new material, rather it s a compilation of monthly columns Shermer wrote for Scientific American As such, these are short snippets of thought, meant to arouse interest rather than satisfy curiosity I imagine many if not most of these brief essays are freely available online, but it is nice to have them in one binding I wouldn t recommend this over Shermer s other books, despite the fact that these ...Great collection of columns from Scientific American Fun to read but also makes you think and learn Highly recommendedchokengtitiktitikchokeng 29 The Science Networkp 55 Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science by Martin Gardner p 83 The choice is not between scientific medicine that doesn t work and alternative medicine that might work Instead, there is only scientific medicine that has been tested and everything else alternative and complementary medicine that has not been tested p 90 I believe Great collection of columns from Scientific American Fun to...Informed, beautifully composed, sharp, witty and fun to readLet s start with the prose Shermer writes a delightful line He eschews the mundane and celebrates the poetic He likes the word that stands out, that surprises, e.g., hoaxed as a verb , phlogiston , flummery works well with flapdoodle , homiletics, watchphrase, to note a few.Here s some perhaps overwrought alliteration On magnets increasing blood flow This is fantastic flapdoodle and a financial flimflam p 76 A Informed, beautifully composed, sharp, witty and fun to readLet s start with the prose Shermer writes a delightful line He eschews the mundane and celebrates the poetic He likes the word that stands out, that surprises, e.g., hoaxed as a verb , phlogiston , flummery works well with flapdoodle , homiletics, watchphrase, to note a few.Here s some perhaps overwrought alliteration On magnets increasing blood flow This is fantastic flapdoodle and a financial flimflam p 76 An observation on hosting a workshop at Esalen the paranormal piffle proffered by the prajna peddle...I ve complained about Michael Shermer in a previous review I like Michael, I enjoy his videos and he is clearly trying hard to do things I value I also agree with virtually everything he writes Yet his writing annoys me He names things it s what I call blah blah He makes numbered lists Here are 18 reasons Holocaust deniers are wrong.This book is a collection of Shermer s essays from Scientific American They are pretty good, but the length restriction prevents him from getting into anyt I ve complained about Michael Shermer in a previ...
- 13 September 2017 Michael Shermer
- Hardcover
- 304 pages
- 1627791388
- Michael Shermer
- Skeptic