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MAY WE SUGGEST
these informative and in-depth issues…
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…
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…
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” …
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…
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…
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…
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…
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 …
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?…
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!…
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…
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”…
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…
Issue 19.2 (2014)
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…
Below, you’ll find a few books we recommend for your library. These also make great gifts!
AUTOGRAPHED HARDCOVER, 1st EDITION
Heavens on Earth: The Scientific Search for the Afterlife, Immortality, and Utopia
In his most ambitious work yet, Shermer sets out to discover what drives humans’ belief in life after death, focusing on recent scientific attempts to achieve immortality along with utopian attempts to create heaven on earth.
A scientific exploration into humanity’s obsession with the afterlife and quest for immortality from the bestselling author and skeptic Michael Shermer
For millennia, religions have concocted numerous manifestations of heaven and the afterlife, and though no one has ever returned from such a place to report what it is really like—or that it even exists—today science and technology are being used to try to make it happen in our lifetime. From radical life extension to cryonic suspension to mind uploading, Shermer considers how realistic these attempts are from a proper skeptical perspective.
Heavens on Earth concludes with an uplifting paean to purpose and progress and how we can live well in the here-and-now, whether or not there is a hereafter.
Praise for the book
“This book’s theme is the one of greatest practical importance to all of us: does some heaven or afterlife await us after we die? Most Americans, and even many atheists, believe that the answer is ‘yes.’ If there is no heaven, how can we find purpose in life? Michael Shermer explores these big questions with the delightful, powerful style that made his previous books so successful—but this is his best book.”
“Thank goodness for Michael Shermer’s sound and inspired mindfulness and for this importantly useful volume. Truly a delicious read. Ten Goldblums out of a possible ten Goldblums!”
“Heavens on Earth is absolutely brilliant, filled with profundity, startling facts, and mind-expanding ideas. Michael Shermer somehow manages to be entertaining and scientifically erudite at the same time. He also brings some of history’s greatest thinkers to life and makes their ideas accessible. This is one of the most fascinating books I’ve read in a long time.”
“I appreciate every evolutionary step skepticism takes toward openness. Heavens on Earth is an affirmation that other worldviews deserve respect and understanding. In this book science may actually be catching up with the world’s wisdom traditions.”
“Michael Shermer is a beacon of reason in an ocean of irrationality.”
AUTOGRAPHED HARDCOVER, 1st EDITION
How Science and Reason Lead Humanity toward Truth, Justice, and Freedom
$32
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.
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.
Shermer’s thought-provoking, multidisciplinary book will engage anyone who wishes to understand rationalism as a force for morality.
AUTOGRAPHED HARDCOVER
75 Collected essays from bestselling author Michael Shermer’s celebrated columns in Scientific American
$28
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.
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.
Michael Shermer is a beacon of reason in an ocean of irrationailty.
Hardcover $28
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.
Paperback $26
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.
Paperback $16
A Universe from Nothing
Where did the universe come from? What was there before it? What will the future bring? And finally, why is there something rather than nothing? At long last scientists are closing in on answer the question of why there is something rather than nothing, and why the universe bothers to exist at all. Dr. Krauss’ answer is based purely on the known laws of nature, showing that a universe can arise out of nothing without the aid or direction of a deity.
Paperback $16.95
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.
Paperback $18
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.
STICK IT TO ’EM
Skeptic Lapel Pin
$10
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!
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.
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