Thinking about weird things, then, brings us face-to-face with some of the most fundamental issues in human thought. The UK-based magazine The Skeptic provides some high-quality free articles on belief in weird things. Of course, were not going to just take Freds word for that. Reviewed in the United States on February 22, 2020, Its a good book just was in bad condition when I recieved it.I hope it isnt marked against me as a good result of the way it look, Reviewed in the United States on October 24, 2021, Reviewed in the United States on February 24, 2020, Using this book for my critical thinking class. How to Think about Weird Things Critical Thinking for a New Age by Theodore Schick. Publisher. Publisher. Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations. There are separate chapters dedicated to logic and the scientific method which give a good overall introduction. Believing an agent is present when its not, on the other hand, is likely to be far less costly. He is the author of Doing Philosophy: An Introduction through Thought Experiments, the editor of The Philosophy of Science: From Positivism to Post-modernism, and has published articles in several fields of philosophy including: philosophy of mind, philosophy of science, philosophy of religion, philosophy of language, meta-philosophy, epistemology, ethics, and aesthetics. I'd buy this one as a cheap paperback over renting or digital, good reference point for future classes. Critical thinking, Curiosities and wonders Publisher Boston : McGraw-Hill Higher Education Collection inlibrary; printdisabled; internetarchivebooks Digitizing sponsor Kahle/Austin Foundation Contributor Internet Archive Language English in philosophy from Harvard University and his Ph.D. from Brown University. This, in my view, is a brilliant illustration of the notion that ideas have consequences and are interlinked. Publish Date: Dec 05, 2007. Because, while atavistic limbs arent probable given the truth of that theory, theyre still far more probable than they would be if whales and dolphins werent the descendants of such limbed creatures. The moral I draw is that UFO cases that have multiple eyewitnesses and even independent hard evidence (the radar blip) may well crop up occasionally anyway, even if there are no alien craft in our skies. How to Think About Weird Things: Critical Thinking for a New Age 7 th edition (PDF) is a concise and engaging textbook that teaches the basic principles of good reasoning through an examination of widely held beliefs about the supernatural, the paranormal and the mysterious. Welcome to the course home page for PHIL 201, How To Think About Weird Things! Had I been so fortunate, this book would have been the best text I could imagine for such a course. Balloons Bill Murray @BiIIMurray Balloons. Note: Supplemental material (e.g. Psyche is a digital magazine from Aeon that illuminates the human condition through psychology, philosophy and the arts. In fact, given just this new evidence, it may well be reasonable for me to believe its raining. The lesson (to echo Shakespeare): there may well be more things in our material heaven and Earthandoutside of themthanare dreamtof in our current philosophiesorparadigmsHoratio. The cover was a little work out but it had all the pages and no markings! Read reviews from world's largest community for readers. Bought used but the conditions were great! This, I think, is a clever way for Schick and Vaughn to entangle good reasoning with evidence and data: its not enough to think clearly, you should try to produce physical evidence for your claims as well. And here we encountera sidebar titled The Psychic Scorecard (29) which brieflytouches onthe bleak track record of professionalpsychics. Do these 100 examples provide us with strong evidence that Simon really does have some sort of psychic ability? Excellent presentation of how to cut through the crap science and faulty reasoning we are surrounded by every day. Save up to 80% versus print by going digital with VitalSource. Your email address will not be published. I've often wondered how my life might have been different if I had been given a good course in critical thinking skills in high school or college. Observe 2. 1. Three thumbs up. Not everything we encounter is weird and spooky and paranormal. ISE How to Think About Weird Things: Critical Thinking for a New Age. | Free shipping on many items! web pages Surely, many would say, given all this evidence, its reasonable to believe there was at least something extraordinary floating over the site. It was the book required for my critical thinking course. His books for a popular audience include The Philosophy Gym (2003), The Complete Philosophy Files (2000) and Believing Bullshit (2011). Living Philosophy: A Historical Introduction to Philosophical Ideas, Doing Ethics: Moral Reasoning, Theory, and Contemporary Issues, Beginning Ethics: An Introduction to Moral Philosophy, Reviewed in the United States on February 16, 2023. An edition of How to think about weird things (1994) How to think about weird things critical thinking for a new age by Theodore Schick, Lewis Vaughn, and Theodore, Jr. Schick 0 Ratings 10 Want to read 0 Currently reading 0 Have read Overview View 14 Editions Details Reviews Lists Related Books Publish Date 1995 Publisher Mayfield Pub. on the Internet. In order to make a good essay, you need to have a perfect understanding of the topic and have the skills of a writer. In fact, Simon once predicted that a certain celebrity would die within 12 months, and they did! . How to Think About Weird Things: Critical Thinking for a New Age ebook free download link on this page and you will be directed to the free registration form. Huge amounts of money are often also at stake when it comes to weird beliefs. was sold for $28,000. Is it reasonable to focus only on what scientists have to say? Theodore Schick received his B.A. Terms of Use pages 2. plutonn. Edition: 5th. The police also took a call from local air traffic control about an unidentified blip on their radar. The moral is: showing that your theory can be made to fit be consistent with the evidence is not the same thing as showing your theory is confirmed by the evidence. Peddlers of alternative medicine and faith healing charge exorbitant fees for their cures for terminal illnesses. However, later photos revealed the face to be just a hill that looks face-like when lit a certain way. Take young-Earth creationists, for example. Their testimony is even backed up by hard evidence that radar blip. They believe in the literal truth of the Biblical account of creation: that the entire Universe is under 10,000 years old, with all species being created as described in the Book of Genesis. This text serves well as a supplemental text in critical thinking, logic, introduction to philosophy, philosophy of science, epistemology, metaphysics, introduction to psychology, anomalistic psychology, perception and cognition, as well as any introductory science course. Full content visible, double tap to read brief content. How to Think About Weird Things was recommended as a primer on diagnosing Woo by Orac over at Scienceblogs. Suppose for example that Fred claims Alice visited him last night, sat on his sofa and drank a cup of tea. Amazon.com: How to Think About Weird Things: Critical Thinking for a New Age: 9780078038365: Schick, Theodore, Vaughn, Lewis: Books Amazon.com: How to Think About Weird Things: Critical Thinking for a New Age: 9780078038365: Schick, Theodore, Vaughn, Lewis: Books Skip to main content .us Hello Select your address Reviewed in the United States on December 12, 2019. 2. 2. Its certainly not confirmed by the available evidence about dogs. Mainstream religions are often committed to miracles and gods. Sigh, I think theres a new level of nerdiness there. Finally I Can Win Arguments With Internet Trolls, Reviewed in the United States on December 17, 2018. Millions of pieces of bread are toasted each morning. Fantastic book, read this as part of a university paper at the University of Canterbury. She explains that she sat with August on the first day of school because she felt sorry . Strange things are afoot in Hawkins, Indiana, where a young boy's sudden disappearance unearths a young girl with otherworldly powers. So now consider our report of the UFO hanging over the nuclear power construction site. Great read. Clearly this therapy has some benefits! But the truth is that such accumulated anecdotes are usually largely worthless as evidence. He lives in Oxford. My book Believing Bullshit: How Not to Get Sucked into an Intellectual Black Hole (2011) identifies eight tricks of the trade that can turn flaky ideas into psychological flytraps and how to avoid them. Thanks for exploring this SuperSummary Plot Summary of "Why People Believe Weird Things" by Michael Shermer. Psychopaths know they don't fit in. Yes, if there was an ancient Martian civilisation, then we might discover what appeared to be a huge face built on the surface of the planet. is a philosopher and author. Those babies took milk and turned it into 12 pounds of flesh, bone, and brain. The fact is, we should expect huge coincidences. ISBN-10. The methodology presented by Shermer allows one to think clearly and understand why humans want to believe in so many false things. Some very interesting case studies to go along with your critical thinking education here. But what about that radar blip? Edit. The authors defend the scientific method as the only way to determine what is true, and thus be in the best possible position to make good decisions - but it doesnt always follow that knowing what is scientifically true will lead to knowledge of how to construct a fair and equitable society. Impressive anecdotes can also be generated by means of a little creative interpretation. Some believe it is created by the interaction between our consciousness and our four-dimensional selves. Capture a web page as it appears now for use as a trusted citation in the future. Not, of course, that because this UFO report turned out to have a mundane explanation, all such reports can be similarly dismissed. ISBN-10 0078038367 | ISBN-13 9780078038365 Published by McGraw-Hill DOWNLOAD NOW | READ ONLINE Book Summary: This brief, inexpensive text helps students think critically, using examples from. Without good reasons, humans have no hope of understanding the things we call weird. Should be required reading before voting. Of course, its not always unreasonable to explain away evidence. Add to Wish List Link to this Book Add to Bookbag Sell this Book Buy it at Amazon Compare Prices. Note: All numbers are on an RTX 3070 unless stated otherwise. Lewis Vaughn is the author or coauthor of several books, including: Philosophy Here and Now (2013); Bioethics: Principles, Issues, and Cases, Second Edition (2013); Great Philosophical Arguments (2012); Classics of Philosophy (2011); Philosophy: The Quest for Truth, Eighth Edition (2012); How to Think About Weird Things: Critical Thinking for a New Age, Sixth Edition (2011); Doing Ethics: Moral Reasoning and Contemporary Issues, Third Edition (2013); Doing Philosophy: An Introduction Through Thought Experiments, Fourth Edition (2010); The Moral Life, Fourth Edition (2011); and Writing Philosophy: A Student's Guide to Writing Philosophy Essays (OUP, 2005). In any case, its really, really good. Well, it is of course possible that Jane is playing a prank on me with her wet coat and brolly. But suppose Fred adds that, during her visit, Alice flew around the room by flapping her arms. Acknowledgement of cultural contexts should always be a part of knowledge sharing and building. . I really enjoyed the chapter on medical miracle cures. Your subscription to Connect includes the following: SmartBook - an adaptive digital version of the course textbook that personalizes your reading experience based on how well you are learning the content. Access to your instructors homework assignments, quizzes, syllabus, notes, reminders, and other important files for the course. Progress dashboards that quickly show how you are performing on your assignments and tips for improvement. The option to purchase (for a small fee) a print version of the book. I wish I was given a book like this when I was in middle school. Critical Thinking Skills: Developing Effective Analysis and Argument. In How to Think: A Survival Guide for a World at Odds, author Alan Jacobs argues that people have thoughts affected by their surroundings and explains how people can remove some . Might not the scientific community itself be part of a conspiracy to hide the truth about Area 51 in Nevada, Earths flatness or the 9/11 terrorist attacks being an inside job? By explaining what distinguishes knowledge from opinion, science from pseudoscience, and evidence from hearsay, How to Think about Weird Things helps the reader develop the skills needed to tell the true from the false and the reasonable from the unreasonable. Many believe that the 16th-century seer Nostradamus predicted many important historical events, from the Great Fire of London to the assassination of John F Kennedy. Often, when were presented with strong evidence that our belief is false, we can easily change our mind. We remove the responsibility for the result from the clients and do everything to ensure that the scientific work is recognized. Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club thats right for you for free. As we saw above, that theory really is strongly confirmed by the evidence. I bought it because I love to learn. 1996-2023, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. This is a very serious attack on critical thinking itself. Show me the evidence. Excellent! She seems fully aware of this and knows that she will have to push Macbeth into committing murder. Product Identifiers Publisher McGraw-Hill Higher Education ISBN-10 0767420489 ISBN-13 9780767420488 eBay Product ID (ePID) 1795696 Turns out it's a biological instinct. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. Our confidence in a thing being true riseswherever ourreasoning is sound and there is goodphysical evidencethat accompanies our beliefs. People believe weird things because of wishful thinking and continue to believe in those things despite contrary evidence because they are unwilling to alter preconceived notions. Thus he has always believed that there was such a thing as fate, but such a thing as free will also. Listen to the MP3 Audio here: Michael Shermer on Why people believe weird things at TED Talks TRANSCRIPT: I'm Michael Shermer, director of the Skeptics Society, publisher of Skeptic Magazine.We investigate claims of the paranormal, pseudo-science, fringe groups and cults, and . They tend to be excellent actors and can mold themselves to the requirements of a situation like a chameleon. This book really makes you "think about what you're thinking about." If you still need more books as references, going to search the title and theme in this site is available. Having eaten mostly milk. However, its proponents are adept at explaining away that evidence. The British mathematician Norman Fenton, professor of risk information management at Queen Mary University of London, provides a brief online introduction to Bayesian approaches to assessing evidence. One or two will exhibit face-like patterns just by chance, even without divine intervention. This is a fun and easy to read book that teaches critical thinking skills while examining controversial topics like crop circles, astrology, ghosts, alien abductions, fire walking, sasquatch, etc. This brief, affordable text helps students to think critically, using examples from the weird claims and beliefs that abound in our culture to demonstrate the sound evaluation of any claim. 8. However, given pareidolia and the likelihood of face-like features being thrown up by chance, its about as likely that we would find such face-like features anyway, even if there were no alien civilisation. Discover your study material at Stuvia. The early 20th century Catholic essayist and detective fiction writer, G.K. Chesterton, thought it might. 6. Babies are fucking made of milk. 3. . I have trouble explaining why that was exactly, but it was difficult for me to pick the book up again after that first reading. Thats not to say its reasonable or well confirmed. The emphasis is neither on debunking nor on advocating specific . Granted, no one likes the guy who brings logic to the party, so you might not want to start off every statement with, "well, actually". Buy How to Think About Weird Things: Critical Thinking for a New Age 5th edition (9780073386621) by Theodore Schick and Lewis Vaughn for up to 90% off at Textbooks.com. Many people believe in extraordinary hidden beings, including demons, angels, spirits and gods. Such beliefs are widely considered to be at the weird end of the spectrum. Its also worth remembering that such stories are in any case often dubious. Our wandering mind can never go idle. Precognitionmay belogically possible and consistent with some paradigms that do not violate physical law, but if the actualdirect evidence for it is poor or ambiguous, then we should be cautious about believing that it really exists. Summer says that some kids have asked her why she hangs out with "the freak" so much. This report, drawn from Philip J Klasss book UFOs: The Public Deceived (1983), is impressive: it involves multiple eyewitnesses, including police officers, journalists and even a magistrate. Similarly, given the low prior probability of the claims that someone communicated with a dead relative, or has fairies living in their local wood, or has miraculously raised someone from the dead, or can move physical objects with their mind, we should similarly set the evidential bar much higher than we would for more mundane claims. Clearly, Freds testimony about Alice flying around the room is not nearly strong enough. Full text of Michael Shermer's talk: Why People Believe Weird Things at TED Talks conference. This book literally teaches you how to think about weird things. Stare at passing clouds or into the embers of a fire, and its easy to interpret the randomly generated shapes we see as faces, often spooky ones, staring back. A More Beautiful Question: The Power of Inquiry to Spark Breakthrough Ideas. Chestertonbelieved that it washealthyingood pragmatic and Emersonianfashion (Emerson: Consistencyis the hobgoblin of little minds)tohold contradictory ideas. For example, suppose Simon claims a psychic ability to know the future. 100% Success rate. My wife read the previous edition in a philosophy course in college, and drew a lot from it. Even couples on the brink of separation can find a way forward. absolutely a relic of the 90s, published right before post-modernity entered the mass public consciousness, before western civilization entered what we now call the digital age. 14 day loan required to access PDF files. You get what you expect from people. And, of course, many trust in alternative medicines such as homeopathy, the effectiveness of which seems to run contrary to our scientific understanding of how the world actually works. Thats to be expected, even if were not psychic. Sometimes, belief in weird things is pretty harmless. Their niceness is a mask they've deliberately put on. These discoveries strongly confirm the theory that whales and dolphins evolved from earlier limbed, land-dwelling species. After reading this and other critical thinking books (very rarely do complex processes take over night), they will help you think more rigorously, logically, thoroughly, and, believe it or not, intuitively. UFO abductions, television psychics, paranormal phenomena, skeptics and believers alike, find themselves debating truths and lies in the strange web of pseudoscience and the occult. For the most part, what I mean by a "weird thing" is: a claim unaccepted by most people in that particular field of study, a claim that is either logically impossible or highly unlikely, and/or a claim for which the evidence is largely anecdotal and uncorroborated. Suppose Im in the basement and cant see outside. I wish every high school student in America would read this book - but that would make life a lot harder for legions of politicians, hucksters, and scam artists. Rather, such variables as genetic predisposition, parental predilection, sibling influence, peer pressure, educational experience and life impressions all shape the personality preferences that, in conjunction with numerous social and cultural influences, lead us to our beliefs. One such piece of toast that was said to show the face of the Virgin Mary (how do we know what she looked like?) I believe the single biggest failing of American education today is its focus on memorization and regurgitation, along with just enough basic arithmetic to work at WalMart, and its total neglect of critical thinking skills. Not if Simon actually made many thousands of predictions and most didnt come true. Any theory, no matter how absurd, can, with sufficient ingenuity be made to fit the evidence: even Daves theory that dogs are Venusian spies. Nearby, a sinister secret lurks in the depths of a government lab. Thus, I read a text book for fun. As someone who finds himself more and more irritated by irrational thinking (despite my own gaping biases that lead to it), I was really interested in reading this book. ISBN-10 007287953X ISBN-13 978-0072879537 Edition 4th Publisher McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages Publication date People often share their beliefs on almost any topic, but they seldom give good reasons for having their beliefs. Despite my gripes with this book, it was very well-written, and I especially enjoyed the section on the tachyonic anti-telephone! Summary This brief, inexpensive text helps students think critically, using examples from the weird claims and beliefs that abound in our culture to demonstrate the sound evaluation of any claim. We tend significantly to underestimate how prone to illusion and deception we are when it comes to the wacky and weird. They also know what they need to do to fit in. Are they, in reality, throwing their money away? One example of our tendency to overdetect agency is pareidolia: our tendency to find patterns and, in particular, faces in random noise. I don't know why there is only one other review atm. Unfortunately, the writing was aimed for a non-scientific audience and ended up seeming quite pedantic. In particular, we have a strong tendency to overdetect agency to think we are witnessing a person, an alien or some other sort of creature or being where in truth theres none. Chapter One: The Vanishing of Will Byers 49m On his way home from a friend's house, young Will sees something terrifying. The Five Elements of Effective Thinking. How to Think about Weird Things: Critical Thinking for a New Age - 7th edition ISBN13: 9780078038365 ISBN10: 0078038367 by Theodore Schick Cover type: Paperback Edition: 7TH 14 Copyright: 2014 Publisher: McGraw-Hill Publishing Company Published: 2014 International: No Author bio Table of contents Digital rights eBOOK $57.50 You Save $28.50 (33%) He has always left himself free to doubt his gods; but (unlike the agnostic of to-day) free also to believe in them. Total Price: $23.99. Babies weight around 8 pounds when they're born, and around 20 pounds a year later. . By explaining what distinguishes knowledge from opinion, science from pseudoscience, and evidence from hearsay. The authors focus on types of logical arguments and proofs, making How to Think about Weird Things a versatile supplement for logic, critical thinking, philosophy of science, or any other science appreciation courses. Please use a different way to share. Here I present five key pieces of advice that I hope will help you figure out for yourself what is and isnt reasonable. * Savings are calculated off list price. I ended up asking my prof if there were better books out there that discussed critical thinking. station33.cebu . Psychologists refer to the discomfort we feel in such situations when our beliefs or attitudes are in conflict as cognitive dissonance. Why? Consequently, weve evolved to err on the side of overdetection often seeing agency where there is none. Take the fossil record embedded in sedimentary layers revealing that todays species evolved from earlier species over many millions of years. Fantastic book! Okay, so precognitionknowingthe future nowisa logical possibility, and there are paradigms consistent with all known physical laws that might assist in accounting for its existence. Heres Chesterton, from the second chapter of his book, Orthodoxy : Mysticism keeps men sane. Due to a planned power outage on Friday, 1/14, between 8am-1pm PST, some services may be impacted. Book reviews, interviews, editors' picks, and more. Despite second thoughts about their relationship, a young woman (Jessie Buckley) takes a road trip with her new boyfriend (Jesse Plemons) to his family farm . Once weve formed an opinion, it can be tempting to notice only evidence that supports it and to ignore the rest. Summer thinks that kids are weird. I'll probably re-read it every few years honestly. Another reason could be because you are a silent type. This is a really fun read, and will make you think twice about all the strange stories you may hear. I was kind of expecting it to be a little dry because of the subject matter and the fact that it's a textbook but it really wasn't at all. My references to it will be from the 5th edition. Search the history of over 797 billion still too naive realist-ish sometimes but there's no skeptic textbook so far that isn't easy to understand and interesting. Rather, his texts were later creatively interpreted to fit what subsequently happened. Shouldnt we give at least as much weight to the testimony of the many people who claim to have benefitted from homeopathic treatment? You don't like small talk because you find it boring. How to think about weird things From discs in the sky to faces in toast, learn to weigh evidence sceptically without becoming a closed-minded naysayer by Stephen Law From the UFO photo archives of Gordon MacDonald Stephen Law is a philosopher and author. We think about so many people each day that eventually well think about someone, the phone will ring, and it will be them. The final chapter provides a formula to follow to examine claims, consider alternate hypotheses, and rate the claim based on several principles such as simplicity and scope. This binder-ready, loose-leaf version includes free shipping.Complete system requirements to use Connect can be found here: http://www.mheducation.com/highered/platforms/connect/training-support-students.html. Company Registration Number: 61965243 The former US president Ronald Reagan and his wife Nancy were reported to have consulted an astrologer before making any major political decision. Of course, theres a mountain of evidence against the belief. Please choose a different delivery location. This is an excellent book that explains critical thinking, logical fallacies and argumentation / logic while at the same time demonstrating how to apply them to pseudoscience and current topics in the headlines. I think its interesting that Schick and Vaughn, as they get into the meat of their book,put at front and center, ala Thomas Kuhn, the importance of paradigms, which I would put this way: The example that they use is an excellent one, for it illustrates how your worldview can lead to incorrect inferences with regards to data and evidence: On hearing of a meteorite dropping to Earth, Thomas Jefferson famously declared that he would sooner believe thatindividuals bearing witness to such a thing were lyingas to believe that rocks actually fall out of the sky. Really fun read, and will make you think twice about all the strange stories you may hear Michael &... Release updates, plus improved recommendations I could imagine for such a course is even backed up by hard that... There was such a course is weird and spooky and paranormal ve deliberately put on worth... Compare Prices clients and do everything to ensure that the scientific work is.... 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Read reviews from world & # x27 ; t like small talk because you find it boring an RTX unless. Book literally teaches you how to think about weird things is pretty harmless and most didnt come.... Conflict as cognitive dissonance assignments and tips for improvement and ended up quite! Im in the basement and cant see outside People who claim to have from! To logic and the scientific work is recognized by chance, even without divine intervention die within 12,. Trolls, Reviewed in the depths of a little creative interpretation largest community for readers get release.