In this week’s eSkeptic, Daniel Loxton shares a story about Joseph F. Rinn—a leading media skeptic from the early 20th century— whose classic volume Sixty Years of Psychical Research, though rarely consulted today, remains the deepest and most important sources of skeptical literature on paranormal investigation from about 1890–1950.
Skeptic: Examining Extraordinary Claims and Promoting Science
Results for the keyword:
paranormal-investigation
eSkeptic for 13-01-30
eSkeptic for 11-08-31
In this week’s eSkeptic, we present a transcript of a classic lecture on skepticism delivered by James Randi at the inaugural session of the Skeptics Society’s Distinguished Lecture Series at Caltech on April 12, 1992. With wit and wonderfully illustrative examples, Randi teaches us several lessons on the scientific investigation of unusual claims. (This transcript appeared in Skeptic magazine volume 1, number 1, Spring 1992. Order this lecture on DVD.)
get eSkeptic
our free newsletter
Science in your inbox every Wednesday!
eSkeptic is our free email newsletter. Delivered once a week, you’ll receive fascinating articles, announcements, podcasts, book reviews, and more…
Watch Live Broadcasts from Caltech for free!
Lectures Live Streamed from Caltech
Can’t make it to Caltech for a Skeptics Distinguished Science Lecture? Watch the live stream of our lectures for free online, right here, broadcast live from Caltech!
Popular Articles
on skeptic.com
Here are the articles that people have been sharing over the last few days.
Help the
Skeptics Society
at no cost to you!
Planning on shopping at Amazon.com? Start your shopping by clicking the button below, and the Skeptics Society will receive a commission. Your prices for all Amazon products will remain exactly the same, yet you’ll provide essential financial support for the work of the nonprofit Skeptics Society.
See our affiliate links page for Amazon.ca, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.de, and iTunes links.
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.