The Skeptics Society & Skeptic magazine


25 YEARS STRONG

Your ongoing patronage will help ensure that sound scientific viewpoints are heard worldwide.

2017 was another banner year for science, skepticism, and critical thinking. We celebrated our 25th anniversary with a spectacular event in New York City that featured our Executive Director Dr. Michael Shermer and a number of skeptical and scientific Internet celebrities including the ASAP Science guys, the science rapper Baba Brinkman, neuroscientist Dr. Heather Berlin, pop star Michael Posner, magician Prakash Puru, The Thinking Atheist podcast host Seth Andrews, and others. Thanks to your continuing support we are looking forward to 2018 and are pleased to tell you about some of the great success we have had with new projects launched in 2017. Click the button below to read the 4-page update from Michael Shermer, the Skeptics Society’s Executive Director.

Read the letter from Michael

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You can make a donation online using your credit card, or by downloading a printable donation card to make your donation by cheque in the mail. You may also make a donation by calling 1-626-794-3119. The Skeptics Society is US 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational organization. Donations are tax deductible.

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NOW THROUGH CYBER MONDAY

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It’s our best sale of the year, on now through Cyber Monday. SAVE 25% on almost everything at Shop Skeptic, including: books, t-shirts, stickers, lapel pins, and print subscriptions. The only products that aren’t 25% off are back issues of Skeptic magazine (print edition), which are over 80% off! See details further down the page. Shop now.

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UNPRECEDENTED SAVINGS

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(plus shipping)

Save 80–90% on printed back issues of Skeptic magazine, now through Cyber Monday. At 50¢–$1 per issue (depending on quantity purchased), it’s never been a better time to complete your collection of Skeptic magazine with unprecendented savings during our inventory blowout!

INVENTORY BLOWOUT

Buy more. Save more (while quantities last!)

We need to make room in our warehouse. So, we are practically giving away printed back issues of Skeptic magazine for as low as 50¢ per issue (i.e. when you buy 50 issues at a savings of a whopping $275)! The more you buy, the bigger the discount:

  • 1 for $1
  • 5 for $4   (80¢ ea.)
  • 10 for $7   (70¢ ea.)
  • 25 for $15   (60¢ ea. — That’s a $135 savings!)
  • 50 for $25   (50¢ ea. — That’s a $275 savings!)

Shipping not included. Shipping will be calculated based on weight & destination and added to your total at checkout. While Supplies Last. Back issues that are no longer available in print may be available in digital format (except for a couple of our earliest volumes, which will hopefully be digitized next year.)

Stephen Jay Gould called Skeptic magazine “The best journal in the field.” For 25 years, our definitive skeptical journal has promoted science and reason. Our in-depth articles explore and inform. Buy it. Read it. Share it. Help us make the world a more rational place.

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MAY WE SUGGEST

these informative and in-depth issues…

Issue 6.1: Science and Society (cover)

Issue 6.1 (1998)

Science & Society

E.O. Wilson: Can We Unify All Knowledge?; Deconstructing James Van Praagh Talking to the Dead; Emily Rosa Tests Therapeutic Touch; The Ancient Evil Eye; James Randi on New Age Tech; Legalizing Fraud in the Name of Religion; Holocaust Revisionism; Stephen Hawking v. Frank Tipler; Skeptic’s Guide to the Drug Policy Debate; Objectivity in Journalism; Graduate Record Exam Fringe Science…

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Issue 6.4: JFK (cover)

Issue 6.4 (1998)

John F. Kennedy

JFK Facts and Fictions; JFK Case Still Open: Skepticism and the Assassination of JFK; JFK Assassination Science; James Randi on Dowsing; Steven T. Asma on Critical Thinking; The Case For and Against God: A Forum Exchange; The Lost World: of Jack Horner An Interview with the World’s Most Famous Dinosaur Digger; Anastasia: Miraculous Survival Myth; Aliens Among Us?; Psychic Math!; How to Fake UFO Photo…

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Issue 3.1: Pseudomedicine (cover)

Issue 3.1 (1995)

Pseudomedicine

Life After False Memory Syndrome; The Mattoon Phantom Gasser Mass Hysteria; Why Should Skeptics Understand Religion?; Skeptical Perspectives: A Heretic-Scientist Among the Spiritualists; Homeopathy; Spiritual Belief Systems Try to Compete as Alternatives to Scientific Health Care; Therapeutic Touch; Leftist Science; Star Trek’s Meaning; Liquefying “Blood” …

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Issue 7.3: Millennium Madness (cover)

Issue 7.3 (1999)

Millennium Madness

A Critical Analysis of James Redfield and The Celestine Prophesy; Search for Immortality; The Alpha and the Omega The Creation and the End in Biblical Eschatology ; Celestine Prophesy; The Fire That Will Cleanse: Millennial Meanings and the End of the World ; That’s All Folks! It’s the End of the World … Again; Apocalypse Never The Search for Immortality as Millennial Phenomena; Myth and Science; Political Extremism; Autopsy Aliens…

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Issue 4.1: Evolutionary Psychology (cover)

Issue 4.1 (1996)

Evolutionary Psychology

Quadro Tracker Dowsing Stick, Tested; Jehovah’s Witnesses/End of World; Physics; McIver Guide to Evolutionary Psychology/Nature of Human Nature; Salter Evolutionary Psychology as Protoscience; Critical Analysis of Evolutionary Psychology; Interview: Stephen Jay Gould; Gould’s Dangerous Idea: Contingency/Necessity/Nature of History; Reviews: Darwin’s Dangerous Idea; The Origin of Satan; The Final Superstition…

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Issue 1.4: Witches, Heretics, and Scientists (cover)

Issue 1.4 (1992)

Witches, Heretics & Scientists

Special Section: The Price of Intolerance; Spirits, Witches & Science: Why the Rise of Science Encouraged Belief in the Supernatural in 17th-Century England; Ideological Immune System: Resistance to New Ideas in Science; Psychology of Resistance to the Heretical-Science of Copernicus; Edgar Cayce Foundation Responds to a Skeptical Critique and we reply; It’s Baaack: The Nature-Nurture Debate…

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Issue 5.1: Environmental Science (cover)

Issue 5.1 (1997)

Environmental Science

Ecologists vs. Economists: A Quick & Dirty Guide to the Environmental Debate: Is Environmental Science polluted by Politics?; The Beautiful People Myth; Population Risk Assesment; The Not-So-Wise-Use Movement; Julian Simon Slams Eco-Crybabies; Top Scientists’ Eco-warning; Fred Crews on Modern American Witch Hunters; Ancient Astro-NOTS; Murky Origins of Hale-Bopp UFO Fiasco; Human Magnets; Dowsing; Futurists…

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Issue 7.2: Cloning and Genetic Engineering (cover)

Issue 7.2 (1999)

Cloning & Genetic Engineering

Cloning Science & Ethics; Science’s Moral Limits; How Evolution Increases Information in the Genome; Group Selection & Origins of Evil; Historical Perspective on Theology & Evolutionary Psychology; Urban Legends; Hawking Expanding Universe Trick; Deconstructing JFK: Assassination Debate Continues; De-Population Myths; Is Anybody Out There?; Freethinkers, Fundamentalists, Fake Quotes …

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Issue 3.2: AIDS (cover)

Issue 3.2 (1995)

AIDS

Does HIV Really Cause AIDS? A Case Study in Skepticism Taken Too Far; AIDS Part I: The Skeptics and Their Claims; Part II: How Skepticism Went Astray; Part III Lessons on How Science Works; An interview with the author of The Bell Curve, Charles Murray; Alfred Russel Wallace, Charles Darwin, and the Resolution of a Scientific Priority Dispute; The Question All Skeptics are Asking: Why Did God Make Rice Cakes?…

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Issue 18.2: Gender Differences (cover)

Issue 18.2 (2013)

Gender Differences

What Science Says and Why it’s Mostly Wrong; Gender and the Paranormal; What Science Says About the Soul; Interview with Controversial Anthropologist Napoleon Chagnon; Is Earth’s Magnetic Field Reversal Dangerous?; Scientology Self Help Handbook; Can We Trust Science Media Reports?; Why The Universe Exists; Skeptics in Film; Witchcraft Ceremony; Junior Skeptic: Alien Invaders!…

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Issue 7.1: Influence (cover)

Issue 7.1 (1999)

The Game of Influence

The Game of Influence: Understanding the Hidden Dynamics of Communication; Selection for Credulity A Biologist’s View of Belief; Legitimatizing Psychology’s Prodigal Son: Re-considering Hypnosis for the 21st Century; How the Public Relations Industry Compromises Democracy; The Knowledge Filter Reality Must Take Precedence in the Search for Truth…

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Issue 1.2: Cryonics: Can Science Cheat Death? (cover)

Issue 1.2 (1992)

Cryonics: Can Science Cheat Death?

Can Science Cheat Death?; Technical Aspects; The Society for the Recovery of Persons Apparently Dead: History of Resuscitation; Basic Q&A on Cryonics from Alcor Life Extension Foundation; Physicist in the White House?; Black Holes; Acupuncturists and Chiropractors Fined; Secular Alcohol Treatment; Laws of Robotics; Establishing a Miracle; Use & Abuse of Statistics in the “Real World”…

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Issue 21.4: Deception in Cancer Treatment (cover)

Issue 21.4 (2016)

Deception in Cancer Treatment

Deceptive Cancer-care Industry Marketing; Amityville Hoax at 40; Alien Skulls?; Meaning Behind the Nazca Geoglyphs; Clown Sightings Rattle Nerves; Case for a Galactic Defense System; Is “Spirituality” Meaningless?; Are We Living in a Computer Simulation?; One of the Most Fundamental Sources of Error in Human Judgment; Thinking Critically about Public Discourse; Anti-Aging Claims…

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Issue 19.2: Boston Bombing Conspiracy Theories (cover)

Issue 21.4 (2016)

Boston Bombing Conspiracy Theories

Conspiracy in Boston: Disentangling Boston Marathon Bombing Conspiracy Theories; Miracle of Large Numbers Explains Seemingly Miraculous Events; Reasons for Hope in the Science of Artificial Intelligence; Faith Healing Tragedies; The Science of Memory and the Dylan Farrow/Woody Allen Case; Photographing Phantoms; Strange and Unusual Religious Beliefs and Practices in the United States; Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey…

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Remember, the more you buy, the bigger the discount:

  • 1 for $1
  • 5 for $4   (80¢ ea.)
  • 10 for $7   (70¢ ea.)
  • 25 for $15   (60¢ ea. — That’s a $135 savings!)
  • 50 for $25   (50¢ ea. — That’s a $275 savings!)

Browse all Back Issues
on sale for $1 or less!

Below, you’ll find a few books we recommend for your library. These also make great gifts!

AUTOGRAPHED HARDCOVER, 1st EDITION

How Science and Reason Lead Humanity toward Truth, Justice, and Freedom

The Moral Arc: How Science and Reason Lead Humanity toward Truth, Justice, and Freedom

Reg. $32. NOW $7.13

Get a 1st edition, autographed, hardcover copy of Dr. Michael Shermer’s The Moral Arc: How Science and Reason Lead Humanity toward Truth, Justice, and Freedom for only $9.50, plus shipping (while quantities last). In this book about moral progress, Shermer demonstrates, through extensive data and heroic stories, that the arc of the moral universe bends toward truth, justice, and freedom, and that we are living in the most moral period of our species’ history.

Praise for the book

A thrilling and fascinating book, which could change your view of human history and human destiny.

—Steven Pinker

In these cynical times, where right and left foresee disaster and despair (albeit for different reasons), Shermer’s monumental opus, spanning centuries, nations, and cultures, is bound to provoke debate and open minds.

—Carol Tavris

Shermer’s thought-provoking, multidisciplinary book will engage anyone who wishes to understand rationalism as a force for morality.

—Library Journal

Buy the autographed hardcover

AUTOGRAPHED HARDCOVER

75 Collected essays from bestselling author Michael Shermer’s celebrated columns in Scientific American

Reg. $28. NOW $21

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 SKE?TIC, 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.

Praise for the book

Dense with facts, convincing arguments, and curious statistics, this is an ingenious collection of light entertainment for readers who believe that explaining stuff is a good idea.

Kirkus Reviews

Shermer makes a strong case for the value of the scientific endeavor and the power of rational thinking in 75 brief essays…. Each entry is insightful, informative, and entertaining.

Publishers Weekly

Michael Shermer is a beacon of reason in an ocean of irrationailty.

Neil deGrasse Tyson

Buy the autographed hardcover

UFOs, Chemtrails, and Aliens: What Science Says (cover)

Hardcover Reg. $28
NOW $21

UFOs, Chemtrails, and Aliens: What Science Says

UFOs. Aliens. Strange crop circles. Giant figures scratched in the desert surface along the coast of Peru. The amazing alignment of the pyramids. Strange lines of clouds in the sky. Paranormal belief is alive and well in American. Donald Prothero and Tim Callahan explore why such demonstrably false beliefs thrive despite decades of education and scientific debunking. Employing the standards of scientific evidence, the authors discuss the reliability of eyewitness testimony, and the psychology of belief and conspiratorial thinking.

Buy the hardcover

A Skeptic's Guide to Global Climate Change (cover)

Paperback Reg. $26
NOW $19.50

The New Age: Notes of a Fringe Watcher

The New Yorker calls it, “Fair, witty appraisal of cranks, quacks, and quackeries of science and pseudoscience … A very able and even-tempered presentation.” This book is a classic of skeptical literature filled with thirty-three diverse chapters: a bountiful offering of the delightful drollery and horse sense that has made Martin Gardner the undisputed dean of the critics of pseudoscience. It is also a quick way to get up to speed on many topics. Gardner is not afraid to examine the process of critical examination itself.

Buy the paperback

Climbing Mount Improbable  (cover)

Paperback Reg. $16.95
NOW $12.71

Climbing Mount Improbable

A brilliant book celebrating improbability as the engine that drives life, by the acclaimed author of The Selfish Gene, The Blind Watchmaker, and The God Delusion. The human eye is so complex and works so precisely that it appears to be the product of design. How could such an intricate object have come about by chance? In writing that the New York Times called “a masterpiece”—Richard Dawkins builds a carefully reasoned and illustrated argument for evolutionary adaptation as the mechanism for life on earth.

Buy the paperback

Breaking the Spell (cover)

Paperback Reg. $18
NOW $13.50

Breaking the Spell

In this New York Times Bestseller (and a definitive work on religion), Daniel Dennett (one of the “Four Horsemen” and a world-famous philosopher) asks: Is religion a product of blind evolutionary instinct or rational choice? Is it truly the best way to live a moral life? Ranging through biology, history, and psychology, Dennett charts religion’s evolution from “wild” folk belief to “domesticated” dogma.

Buy the paperback

STICK IT TO ’EM

Skeptic Lapel Pin

Reg. $10. NOW $7.50

We’d like to see this lapel pin become world-famous, and we need your help to make that happen! Every skeptic (and his/her best friends) should have one of these lapel pins. They feature elegant gold-colored SKEPTIC letters, with a contrasting black background. They’re a great size for a lapel or tie-tack — about 25mm × 6mm (1″ × .25″). The pin comes in a classy little plastic box suitable for gift-giving. At this price, why not get one for every jacket you own!

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