Encounters With the Paranormal
Best of Skeptical Inquirer
Published on 17. October 2023
426 pages
978-1-63388-971-2 (ISBN)
Description
Do polygraph tests really detect lies? Can memories be implanted? Is subliminal perception a reality? What is the relationship between science and belief?Experts in the fields of physical/biological science, psychology, philosophy, social science, and forensic science bring their perspectives to controversies that affect the way we think and how we perceive reality and the natural world. From science's influence on beauty to antiscience in our universities and from UFO mythologies to near-death experiences, this volume spans the gamut of pseudoscience today.Contributors include James Alcock, Susan Blackmore, Alan Cromer, Mandy Fowler, Christopher C. French, Martin Gardner, Thomas Gilovich, Theodore Goertzel, Paul R. Gross, Peter Huston, Ray Hyman, Noretta Koertge, Paul Kurtz, Dan Larhammar, Leon M. Lederman, James Lett, Norman Levitt, Scott O. Lilienfeld, Elizabeth Loftus, Lee Loevinger, Katy McCarthy, Joe Nickell, Bernard Oritz de Montellano, Debbie Peers, Anthony Pratkanis, Carl Sagan, Kenneth Savitsky, Glenn Seaborg, Elie Shneour, Matthew Smith, Victor Stenger, Jeffrey F. Victor, Jeff Wiseman, and Richard Wiseman.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Illustrations
27 BW Photos, 7 Tables
File size
3,65 MB
ISBN-13
978-1-63388-971-2 (9781633889712)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
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12/2023
Prometheus Books
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Person
Kendrick Frazier was the longtime editor of Skeptical Inquirer: The Magazine for Science and Reason, and a leading voice in the modern skeptical movement to uphold the values of scientific inquiry and critical thinking. He is the author or editor of then books. Formerly, Frazier was editor of Science News, a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a member of the American Geophysical Union.He is a recipient of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry's "In Praise of Reason" Award.
Content
- Encounters With the Paranormal
- CONTENTS
- Introduction
- PART ONE: SCIENCE, IMAGINATION, AND RESPONSIBILITY
- 1. Wonder and Skepticism
- 2. A Strategy for Saving Science
- 3. The New Skepticism
- 4. The Crisis in Pre-College Science and Math Education
- 5. Science vs. Beauty?
- 6. The Paradox of Knowledge
- PART TWO: SCIENCE AND ANTISCIENCE
- 7. The Antiscience Problem
- 8. Knocking Science for Fun and Profit
- 9. Multicultural Pseudoscience: Spreading Scientific Illiteracy
- 10. How Feminism Is Now Alienating Women from Science
- 11. Physicist Alan Sokal's Hilarious Hoax
- PART THREE: SCIENCE, PSEUDOSCIENCE, AND PATHOLOGICAL SCIENCE
- 12. Pathological Science: An Update
- 13. Severe Flaws in Scientific Study Criticizing Evolution
- 14. Lying About Polygraph Tests
- 15. Do Honesty Tests Really Measure Honesty?
- 16. Quantum Quackery
- 17. Not-So-Spontaneous Human Combustion
- PART FOUR: PSEUDOSCIENCE AND PATHOLOGICAL CU LTS: HEAVEN'S GATE
- 18. UFO Mythology: The Escape to Oblivion
- 19. Heaven's Gate: The UFO Cult of Bo and Peep
- PART FIVE: SCIENCE AND THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BELIEF
- 20. The Belief Engine
- 21. How ro Sell a Pseudoscience
- 22. Like Goes with Like: The Role of Representativeness in Paranormal Belief
- 23. The Persistent Popularity of the Paranormal
- 24. Eyewitness Testimony and the Paranormal
- 25. Psychic Experiences: Psychic Illusions
- 26. Belief in Astrology: A Test of the Barnum Effect
- PART SIX: PSYCHOLOGY AND THE CLAIMS OF PSI
- 27. Evaluation of the Military's Twenty-Year Program on Psychic Spying
- 28. The Evidence for Psychic Functioning: Claims vs. Reality
- 29. Psi in Psychology
- 30. Myths of Subliminal Persuasion: The Cargo-Cult Science of Subliminal Persuasion
- 31. Subliminal Perception: Facts and Fallacies
- 32. Psychic Crime Detectives: A New Test for Measuring Their Successes and Failures
- PART SEVEN: PSYCHOLOGY AND THE ANOMALOUS EXPERIENCE
- 33. Near-Death Experiences
- 34. Lucid Dreams
- 35. Night Terrors, Sleep Paralysis, and Devil-Stricken Telephone Cords from Hell
- 36. Anguished Silence and Helping Hands: Autism and facilitated Communication
- PART EIGHT: SOCIAL DYNAMICS AND BELIEF
- 37. Why Creationists Don't Go to Psychic Fairs
- 38. Conspiracy Theories and Paranoia: Notes from a Mind-Control Conference
- 39. The West Bank Collective Hysteria Episode
- 40. Police Pursuit of Satanic Crime The Satanic Conspiracy and Urban Legends
- 41. The Spread of Satanic-Cult Rumors
- 42. "Lights Out": A Faxlore Phenomenon
- 43. Staking Claims: Vampires of Folklore and Legend
- PART NINE: THE MALLEABILITY OF MEMORY
- 44. Remembering Dangerously
- 45. RMT: Repressed Memory Therapy
- 46. Measuring the Prevalence of False Memories
- Recommended Reading
- Contributors
- Name Index
