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Why Brilliant People Believe Nonsense
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Book Synopsis Why Brilliant People Believe Nonsense by : J. Steve Miller
Download or read book Why Brilliant People Believe Nonsense written by J. Steve Miller and published by Wisdom Creek Academic. This book was released on 2015-08-01 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The passing of time reveals much expert opinion to be nonsense. How can we evaluate expert opinion and learn to think for ourselves? "In the midst of an information explosion, we face a wisdom deficit," notes author J. Steve Miller. This book, in a remarkably accessible and entertaining way, equips readers to think more clearly, innovate more creatively, see through the deceptions of clever advertisers and salesmen, simplify complex and convoluted arguments, manage life's decisions with more confidence, and express convictions more powerfully. This book is designed to be read by all individuals interested in learning critical and creative thinking skills. It can also be used as a text targeting high school seniors and college freshmen. An accompanying website offers free lesson plans and teaching tips.
Book Synopsis Why People Believe Weird Things by : Michael Shermer
Download or read book Why People Believe Weird Things written by Michael Shermer and published by Holt Paperbacks. This book was released on 2002-09-01 with total page 382 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "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.
Book Synopsis Intellectual Morons by : Daniel J. Flynn
Download or read book Intellectual Morons written by Daniel J. Flynn and published by Forum Books. This book was released on 2004-09-21 with total page 229 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why do well-educated antiwar activists call the president of the United States “the new Hitler” and argue that the U.S. government orchestrated the September 11 attacks? Why does Al Gore believe that cars pose “a mortal threat to the security of every nation”? Why does the Princeton professor known as the father of the animal rights movement object to humans eating animals but not to humans having sex with them—and why does PETA defend that position? In other words, why do smart people fall for stupid ideas? The answer, Daniel J. Flynn reveals in Intellectual Morons, is ideology. Flynn, the author of Why the Left Hates America, shows how people can be so blinded to reality by the causes they serve that they espouse bizarre, sometimes ridiculous, and often dangerous positions. The most influential social movements have spawned ideologues who do not care whether an idea is good or bad, true or false, but only whether it can serve their cause. It is startling how many Americans—and particularly how many media, academic, and political elites—fall for bad ideas. The trouble is, their lies become institutionalized as truth, and we all suffer as a result. In Intellectual Morons, Flynn reveals: •How rabid anti-Americans simply parrot the delusional claims of a few gurus •How the environmental movement, spawned by a “scientist” whose doomsday predictions are almost always wrong, has bred fanaticism, stupidity, and dishonesty •How the hero of the animal rights crowd is a crank who promotes infanticide and euthanasia •How a scientific fraud—and pervert—launched the sexual revolution •How abortion rights activists ignore (or cover up) the fact that their matron saint advocated eugenics and concentration camps •How our universities have become hothouses of leftist ideology •How historians and journalists have airbrushed history to turn a racial separatist into a civil rights icon Filled with jaw-dropping lapses in common sense from even our most celebrated opinion leaders, Intellectual Morons is a welcome reality check for the glaring excesses of today’s political and cultural debates. "This is a sophisticated pile driver of a book, guiding us through the wiles of great luminaries of the netherworld. And such liveliness in the writing, and such erudition. I was quite fascinated by Intellectual Morons."—William F. Buckley, Jr. "Intellectual Morons is exceptionally aptly named. The thought of all that brainpower going down the intellectual drain is sad, but Daniel Flynn's description of it is hilariously on point. This is must reading."—G. Gordon Liddy "Intellectual Morons is a delight—a wonderful intellectual history of the past hundred years. Flynn ably describes the purveyors of the bad ideas that have undermined our free society."—Burton W. Folsom, Jr., professor of history, Hillsdale College "A famous bit of folk wisdom says, 'You've got to stand for something or you'll fall for anything.' Some of the crackpot notions now fashionable in academic circles, as here documented by Daniel Flynn, suggest that saying is an understatement. If you want to know how crazy, and scairy, intellectual morons can get, you have to read this book."—M. Stanton Evans, author of The Theme Is Freedom, contributing editor to Human Events
Book Synopsis Everyday Survival: Why Smart People Do Stupid Things by : Laurence Gonzales
Download or read book Everyday Survival: Why Smart People Do Stupid Things written by Laurence Gonzales and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2009-10-05 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Well-written and fascinating . . . this is the kind of book you want everyone to read.”—Cleveland Plain Dealer “Curiosity, awareness, attention,” Laurence Gonzales writes. “Those are the tools of our everyday survival. . . . We all must be scientists at heart or be victims of forces that we don’t understand.” In this fascinating account, Gonzales turns his talent for gripping narrative, knowledge of the way our minds and bodies work, and bottomless curiosity about the world to the topic of how we can best use the blessings of evolution to overcome the hazards of everyday life. Everyday Survival will teach you to make the right choices for our complex, dangerous, and quickly changing world—whether you are climbing a mountain or the corporate ladder.
Book Synopsis Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why by : Laurence Gonzales
Download or read book Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why written by Laurence Gonzales and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2004-10-17 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Unique among survival books... stunning... enthralling. Deep Survival makes compelling, and chilling, reading."—Penelope Purdy, Denver Post In ?Deep Survival?, Laurence Gonzalez combines hard science and powerful storytelling to illustrate the mysteries of survival, whether in the wilderness or in meeting any of life's great challenges. This gripping narrative, the first book to describe the art and science of survival, will change the way you see the world. Everyone has a mountain to climb. Everyone has a wilderness inside.
Book Synopsis The Intelligence Trap: Why Smart People Make Dumb Mistakes by : David Robson
Download or read book The Intelligence Trap: Why Smart People Make Dumb Mistakes written by David Robson and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2019-08-06 with total page 283 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A “startling, provocative and potently useful” (James McConnachie, Times UK) examination of the stupid things intelligent people do. The Intelligence Trap explores cutting-edge ideas in our understanding of intelligence and expertise, including “motivated reasoning,” “meta-forgetfulness,” and “functional stupidity.” David Robson reveals the surprising ways that even the brightest minds and most talented organizations can go wrong?from some of Thomas Edison’s worst ideas to failures at NASA—while offering practical advice to avoid mistakes based on the timeless lessons of Benjamin Franklin, Richard Feynman, and Daniel Kahneman.
Book Synopsis Nonsense on Stilts by : Massimo Pigliucci
Download or read book Nonsense on Stilts written by Massimo Pigliucci and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2010-05-15 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Recent polls suggest that fewer than 40 percent of Americans believe in Darwin’s theory of evolution, despite it being one of science’s best-established findings. More and more parents are refusing to vaccinate their children for fear it causes autism, though this link can been consistently disproved. And about 40 percent of Americans believe that the threat of global warming is exaggerated, despite near consensus in the scientific community that manmade climate change is real. Why do people believe bunk? And what causes them to embrace such pseudoscientific beliefs and practices? Noted skeptic Massimo Pigliucci sets out to separate the fact from the fantasy in this entertaining exploration of the nature of science, the borderlands of fringe science, and—borrowing a famous phrase from philosopher Jeremy Bentham—the nonsense on stilts. Presenting case studies on a number of controversial topics, Pigliucci cuts through the ambiguity surrounding science to look more closely at how science is conducted, how it is disseminated, how it is interpreted, and what it means to our society. The result is in many ways a “taxonomy of bunk” that explores the intersection of science and culture at large. No one—not the public intellectuals in the culture wars between defenders and detractors of science nor the believers of pseudoscience themselves—is spared Pigliucci’s incisive analysis. In the end, Nonsense on Stilts is a timely reminder of the need to maintain a line between expertise and assumption. Broad in scope and implication, it is also ultimately a captivating guide for the intelligent citizen who wishes to make up her own mind while navigating the perilous debates that will affect the future of our planet.
Book Synopsis The Life-Changing Science of Detecting Bullshit by : John V. Petrocelli
Download or read book The Life-Changing Science of Detecting Bullshit written by John V. Petrocelli and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2021-07-27 with total page 154 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Expanding upon his viral TEDx Talk, psychology professor and social scientist John V. Petrocelli reveals the critical thinking habits you can develop to recognize and combat pervasive false information that harms society in The Life-Changing Science of Detecting Bullshit. Bullshit is the foundation of contaminated thinking and bad decisions leading to health consequences, financial losses, legal consequences, broken relationships, and wasted time and resources. No matter how smart we believe ourselves to be, we’re all susceptible to bullshit—and we all engage in it. While we may brush it off as harmless marketing sales speak or as humorous, embellished claims, it’s actually much more dangerous and insidious. It’s how Bernie Madoff successfully swindled billions of dollars from even the most experienced financial experts with his Ponzi scheme. It’s how the protocols of Mao Zedong’s Great Leap Forward resulted in the deaths of 36 million people from starvation. Presented as truths by authority figures and credentialed experts, bullshit appears legitimate, and we accept their words as gospel. If we don’t question the information we receive from bullshit artists to prove their thoughts and theories, we allow these falsehoods to take root in our memories and beliefs. This faulty data affects our decision making capabilities, sometimes resulting in regrettable life choices. But with a little dose of skepticism and a commitment to truth seeking, you can build your critical thinking and scientific reasoning skills to evaluate information, separate fact from fiction, and see through bullshitter spin. In The Life-Changing Science of Detecting Bullshit, experimental social psychologist John V. Petrocelli provides invaluable strategies not only to recognize and protect yourself from everyday bullshit, but to accept your own lack of knowledge about subjects and avoid in engaging in bullshit just for societal conformity. With real world examples from people versed in bullshit who work in the used car, real estate, wine, and diamond industries, Petrocelli exposes the red-flag warning signs found in the anecdotal stories, emotional language, and buzzwords used by bullshitters that persuade our decisions. By using his critical thinking defensive tactics against those motivated by profit, we will also learn how to stop the toxic misinformation spread from the social media influencers, fake news, and op-eds that permeate our culture and call out bullshit whenever we see it.
Download or read book Blunder written by Zachary Shore and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2010-07-15 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For anyone whose best-laid plans have been foiled by faulty thinking, Blunder reveals how understanding seven simple traps-Exposure Anxiety, Causefusion, Flat View, Cure-Allism, Infomania, Mirror Imaging, Static Cling-can make us all less apt to err in our daily lives.
Download or read book Skeptic written by Michael Shermer and published by Macmillan + ORM. This book was released on 2016-01-12 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Collected essays from bestselling author Michael Shermer's celebrated columns in Scientific American For 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.
Book Synopsis The Believing Brain by : Michael Shermer
Download or read book The Believing Brain written by Michael Shermer and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2011-05-24 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A wonderfully lucid, accessible, and wide-ranging account of the boundary between justified and unjustified belief.” —Sam Harris, New York Times–bestselling author of The Moral Landscape and The End of Faith In this work synthesizing thirty years of research, psychologist, historian of science, and the world’s best-known skeptic Michael Shermer upends the traditional thinking about how humans form beliefs about the world. Simply put, beliefs come first and explanations for beliefs follow. The brain, Shermer argues, is a belief engine. From sensory data flowing in through the senses, the brain naturally begins to look for and find patterns, and then infuses those patterns with meaning. Our brains connect the dots of our world into meaningful patterns that explain why things happen, and these patterns become beliefs. Once beliefs are formed the brain begins to look for and find confirmatory evidence in support of those beliefs, which accelerates the process of reinforcing them, and round and round the process goes in a positive-feedback loop of belief confirmation. Shermer outlines the numerous cognitive tools our brains engage to reinforce our beliefs as truths. Interlaced with his theory of belief, Shermer provides countless real-world examples of how this process operates, from politics, economics, and religion to conspiracy theories, the supernatural, and the paranormal. Ultimately, he demonstrates why science is the best tool ever devised to determine whether or not a belief matches reality. “A must read for everyone who wonders why religious and political beliefs are so rigid and polarized—or why the other side is always wrong, but somehow doesn’t see it.” —Dr. Leonard Mlodinow, physicist and author of The Drunkard’s Walk and The Grand Design (with Stephen Hawking)
Book Synopsis The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind by : Julian Jaynes
Download or read book The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind written by Julian Jaynes and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book was released on 2000-08-15 with total page 580 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: National Book Award Finalist: “This man’s ideas may be the most influential, not to say controversial, of the second half of the twentieth century.”—Columbus Dispatch At the heart of this classic, seminal book is Julian Jaynes's still-controversial thesis that human consciousness did not begin far back in animal evolution but instead is a learned process that came about only three thousand years ago and is still developing. The implications of this revolutionary scientific paradigm extend into virtually every aspect of our psychology, our history and culture, our religion—and indeed our future. “Don’t be put off by the academic title of Julian Jaynes’s The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind. Its prose is always lucid and often lyrical…he unfolds his case with the utmost intellectual rigor.”—The New York Times “When Julian Jaynes . . . speculates that until late in the twentieth millennium BC men had no consciousness but were automatically obeying the voices of the gods, we are astounded but compelled to follow this remarkable thesis.”—John Updike, The New Yorker “He is as startling as Freud was in The Interpretation of Dreams, and Jaynes is equally as adept at forcing a new view of known human behavior.”—American Journal of Psychiatry
Book Synopsis Uncommon Genius by : Denise Shekerjian
Download or read book Uncommon Genius written by Denise Shekerjian and published by Penguin. This book was released on 1991-02-01 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing on interviews with 40 winners of the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship—the so-called "genius awards"—the insightful study throws fresh light on the creative process.
Book Synopsis Social Media Is Bullshit by : B. J. Mendelson
Download or read book Social Media Is Bullshit written by B. J. Mendelson and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2012-09-04 with total page 239 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A provocative look at social media that dispels the hype and tells you all you need to know about using the Web to expand your business If you listen to the pundits, Internet gurus, marketing consultants, and even the mainstream media, you could think social media was the second coming. When it comes to business, they declare that it's revolutionizing advertising, PR, customer relations—everything. And they all agree: it is here to stay. In this lively, insightful guide, journalist and social critic B.J. Mendelson skillfully debunks the myths of social media. He illustrates how the notion of "social media" first came to prominence, why it has become such a powerful presence in the marketing field, and who stands to benefit each time it's touted in the press. He shows you why all the Facebook friends and Twitter followers in the world mean nothing to you and your business without old-fashioned, real-world connections. He examines popular tales of social media "success," and reveals some unsettling truths behind the surface. And he tells you how to best harness the potential of the Internet—without spending a fortune in the process. Social media is bullshit. This book gives the knowledge and tools you really need to connect with customers and grow your brand.
Book Synopsis The Atheist's Guide to Reality: Enjoying Life without Illusions by : Alex Rosenberg
Download or read book The Atheist's Guide to Reality: Enjoying Life without Illusions written by Alex Rosenberg and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2011-10-03 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A book for nonbelievers who embrace the reality-driven life. We can't avoid the persistent questions about the meaning of life-and the nature of reality. Philosopher Alex Rosenberg maintains that science is the only thing that can really answer them—all of them. His bracing and ultimately upbeat book takes physics seriously as the complete description of reality and accepts all its consequences. He shows how physics makes Darwinian natural selection the only way life can emerge, and how that deprives nature of purpose, and human action of meaning, while it exposes conscious illusions such as free will and the self. The science that makes us nonbelievers provides the insight into the real difference between right and wrong, the nature of the mind, even the direction of human history. The Atheist's Guide to Reality draws powerful implications for the ethical and political issues that roil contemporary life. The result is nice nihilism, a surprisingly sanguine perspective atheists can happily embrace.
Book Synopsis Stupid People and Why You Cannot Have Nice Things by : Ciliguse Stultus
Download or read book Stupid People and Why You Cannot Have Nice Things written by Ciliguse Stultus and published by Ciliguse Stultus. This book was released on 2020-11-17 with total page 331 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Stupid people are everywhere, constantly ruining everything. Politics, religion, science, and social interactions are broken by stupid behavior so often that good sense is the exception rather than the rule in any of them. Sometimes we are the stupid people doing all of that. Even the allegedly brightest among you have likely reduced much of the world down to an overly simplistic all-or-nothing mentality that will only get you so far (at most to the presidency). This book is evidence-free, refusing to scare you with any pesky research that you will not understand. After luring you in, I will kick you in the pants and insult you mercilessly because nobody else has ever told you the plain old truth about anything. Seriously, somebody should tell you "No!" and mean it at least once a day. If you are already a parent who really takes part in raising kids, you can disregard this last part. This book refuses to fix you, because digits and pieces of paper do not do such things. Instead, I will explain why you may be unhappy due to your unquestioning acceptance of incredibly stupid childish assumptions. If you are unhappy, you may find reasons for happiness here, but that will be mainly because you will notice how much better you feel after the kicks in the butt have stopped.
Book Synopsis Twenty-Nine Tales by : James Howerton
Download or read book Twenty-Nine Tales written by James Howerton and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2011-05-18 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: You dont talk like God. How do you know? Have you ever once talked to Me? What do you want Me to do, start throwing a bunch of thees and thous at you? Im not the threatening kind, Andy. But you owe Me a favor. And it would be better to pay it than not. Oh, Please! Andy crawled off the couch and got to his knees. He clasped his hands in supplication. Please, just leave me alone! Get off the floor, Andrew. Get off your damn knees. And stop folding your hands in front of you, it creeps Me out. Ive had a stomach full of people whimpering on their knees, believe you Me. I never made people to be on their knees, they somehow learned it on their own. Andy stared up at the bumpled-white ceiling. Whats the favor you ask of me? Its a small thing, the voice said. I want you to rescue my daughter. Andy stared at the ceiling. Then he scrambled off the couch and staggered into the kitchen. Andy? I need a drink. Maybe four or five. Oh, God! He touched his chest, heard his heart pumping too hard. Yes? Drink until I pass out and this goes away. Are you talking to yourself, or Me? What? Rescue your... My daughter. The daughter of God.
