Skeptic: Examining Extraordinary Claims and Promoting Science
Skeptic Magazine, Volume 5 Number 2
Table of Contents
Articles
- ’Twas Brillig…
-
Things Do Get Exciting
- Gray Matters
-
The Origin of the “Gray”
Alien Archetype
-
Bill Gates Profits
from Alien Technology -
The True Meaning of Roswell
- A Skeptic Crashes in Roswell
- 15 Myths of Science
-
Lessons of Misconceptions and Misunderstandings from a Science Educator
- Skepticism & Credulity
-
Finding the Balance Between Type I and Type II Errors
News
- Roswell Mystery Man Surfaces; Alien Copyrights?; Case Closed or Reopened?
- Skeptics Celebrate Society’s 5th Anniversary at 1997 Caltech Conference
- Skeptics 1996 Dumbth Award
- Fuzzy Thinking; End of Science?; Queer Science; The Disappearance of God; Skeptic Expands in Canada, Weird Things on Bestseller List; Skeptic Web Page Accolades; Scientists’ Beliefs in God; An Experimental Analysis of Therapeutic Touch by Emily Rosa; A Deathbed Confession by the Guru of Death & Dying; Turin Shroud May be Older Than Carbon-14 Tests Say; Darwin CD Web Site Correction; Australian Ark Trial Verdict Goes Against Evolutionist; The Dark Side of Oz; How to Induce a Near-Death Experience; Negative NDEs; Bad Writing Contest Winners; Freedom of Fortunetelling; Mexico’s Subway Virgin Mary; IHO Joins ASU in the Search for Human Origins; The Ultra-Orthodox Don’t Dig Archaeological Digs.
Reviews
- Darwinism — Never Too Old to Rock ‘n’ Roll!
-
The Origins of Virtue: Human Instincts and the Evolution of Cooperation, by Matt Ridley; Good Natured: The Origins of Right and Wrong in Humans and Other Animals, by Frans de Waal; Bonobo: the Forgotten Ape, by Frans de Waal & Frans Lanting; Demonic Males: Apes and the Origins of Human Violence, by Richard Wrangham and Dale Peterson
-
Keeping a Skeptical Eye
on Extremists -
American Extremists: Militias, Supremacists, Klansmen, Communists, and Others, by John George and Laird Wilcox; Crying Wolf: Hate Crime Hoaxes in America, by Laird Wilcox
Forum
- Self-Correcting Religion; True Memories of Abuse; Therapeutic Touch Clarification; JFK Conspiracy Not Impossible
-
Readers Respond
to Ecology Issue - Income-to-Cost Debunks Simon; Calling the Kettle Black; Overhunting Hypothesis Myth
- Juilian Simon Interview
- A Triumph of Journalism; Skeptics’ Statist Slant; Privatize Everything; Miele Responds; Appalled by Lack of Skepticism; Hat and Horns — “It’s a Jersey Thing”; A More Appropriate Prop?
-
Gish Responds to Critique;
Arthur Replies to Gish
Special Section:
The God Question
-
The Power of
the Meme Meme -
Religion as a Meme Suggests How a Science of Memetics Illuminates Human Evolution
- O Ye of Little Faith
-
Cracking the Bible Code and Other “Proofs” of God
- The Annotated Gardner
-
An interview with Martin Gardner — founder of the Modern Skeptical Movement
- Einstein’s God
-
Just What Did Einstein
Believe About God?
-
The Question All
Skeptics Are Asking - Do Recent Discoveries in Science Offer Evidence for the Existence of God?
-
Whatever Happened
to Atheism? -
A New “Proof”
of God Emerges -
Does Induction Presume the Existence of the Christian God?
- Graves, Graham & God
-
A Personal Odyssey Through
Rural American Religions
- The Case Against Immortality
Books in Brief
- Why Is Sex Fun?: The Evolution of Human Sexuality, by Jared Diamond; Hystories: Hysterical Epidemics and Modern Media, by Elaine Showalter; Dinosaur Lives: Unearthing an Evolutionary Saga, by John R. Horner; Beyond Science, by John Polkinghorne; Beyond the Cosmos: What Recent Discoveries in Astronomy and Physics Reveal About the Nature of God, by Hugh Ross; The Inflationary Universe, by Alan H. Guth; The Whole Shebang: A State-of-the-Universe(s) Report, by Timothy Ferris; Skywatchers, Shamans, and Kings: Astronomy and the Archaeology of Power, by E.C. Krupp; After God: The Future of Religion, by Don Cupitt; Conjuring Science: Scientific Symbols and Cultural Meanings in American Life, by Christopher P. Toumey; Rebirth of the Goddess: Finding Meaning in Feminist Spirituality, by Carol P. Christ; Believing in Magic: The Psychology of Superstition, by Stuart A. Vyse; Billions and Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the Brink of the Millennium, by Carl Sagan; T. Rex and the Crater of Doom, by Walter Alvarez; The Dictionary of Metaphysical Healthcare, by Jack Raso
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The Believing Brain
(now in paperback)
Get the autographed paperback
In this, his magnum opus, Dr. Michael Shermer presents his comprehensive theory on how beliefs are born, formed, nourished, reinforced, challenged, changed, and extinguished. Sam Harris calls The Believing Brain “a wonderfully lucid, accessible, and wide-ranging account of the boundary between justified and unjustified belief.” Leonard Mlodinow calls it “a tour de force integrating neuroscience and the social sciences.”
FREE PDF Download
Top 10 Myths About Evolution (and how we know it really happened)
This concise pamphlet provides answers to common objections to evolution, such as: If humans came from apes, why aren’t apes evolving into humans?; Only an intelligent designer could have made something as complex as an eye; The second law of thermo-dynamics proves that evolution is impossible; Evolution can’t account for morality; and more…
FREE PDF Download
Top 10 Things You Should Know About Alternative Medicine
Harriet Hall, MD (aka the SkepDoc), shares her wit and wisdom about alternative medicine including: chiropractic, the placebo effect, homeopathy, acupuncture, and the questionable benefits of organic food, detoxification, and ‘natural’ remedies.
FREE PDF Download
Learn to be a Psychic in 10
Easy Lessons
Psychic readings and fortunetelling are an ancient art — a combination of acting and psychological manipulation. While some psychics are known to cheat and acquire information ahead of time, these ten tips focus on what is known as “cold reading” — reading someone “cold” without any prior knowledge about them.