Why People Believe Weird Things

Whenever someone hears the word skeptic or skeptical, it’s often met with the negative connotation of some long-winded, half researched  and outlandish argument that is either for the sake of trying to convince people of a “greater truth” or simply for the sake of argument. Michael Shermer, founding publisher of Skeptic magazine and author of the book Why People Believe Weird Things, disagrees. And his book will tell you exactly how and why you should agree with him.

    With a foreword on “The Positive Power of Skepticism” written by Stephen Jay Gould, Shermer’s book looks to explain why rational and moral people believe in spirits, religions, pseudoscience and pseudo-history, and why they will go to great lengths to defend those beliefs. Both Shermer and Gould specifically state that they do NOT seek to only argue for the sake of argument or be skeptical because they wish to get on everyone’s last nerve. Shermer explicitly states in his introduction, “…I emphasize in this book, and in virtually every public lecture I give, that skepticism is not a position; skepticism is an approach to claims, in the same way that science is not a subject but a method.” Shermer’s words ring true for those who have a skewed outlook on life and are not always satisfied with answers they receive to burning questions.

    In the end, that is the true nature of the material of this book: skepticism. Shermer’s book gives explanations for how to think logically and critically about a myriad of subjects, none the least of which include things like contacting spirits, protesters of evolution and promoters of creation science, Holocaust deniers, and alien sightings. Throughout the chapters of his book, Shermer presents well thought out and succinct explanations and counter-arguments to why these claims are false as well as some personal anecdotes from his past to further the validity of his claims (and to point out the redundancy in others).

    This book is an especially good read for people with an inquisitive mind, and such inquisitive minds can be found in the science department at Concord University. Dr. Douglas Creer, Assistant Professor of Biology and professor of the Science and Religion course for the Fall 2016 semester, teaches his class with another book by Shermer, How We Believe: Science, Skepticism and the Search for God. Creer keeps Why People Believe Weird Things close at hand in his office for personal interest. Creer explains exactly why Shermer’s book held his interest by stating, “Essentially its one of the few serious studies about why people think the things they do. This is something which hasn’t been looked into too extensively in any kind of rigorous framework. What you have in that book is a fairly comprehensive treatment of why otherwise rational people believe things that we wouldn’t normally define as well supported or rational beliefs.”

    Why People Believe Weird Things is a very captivating read, and one of the great things about it is that the subject matter between chapters is so specific that you can essentially start from anywhere in the book and not have missed anything from previous chapters, as I am currently doing while I continue to read the book. There is a final chapter stating exactly why people do believe weird things (and is named such), but throughout the book Shermer is giving more than just one explanation. Some believe because it’s the way they were raised, some others believe because they want to feel connected to lost loved ones, and some still believe because they are flawed in their thinking and rationale. But why do people believe weird things? That’s something for the reader to find out by checking out this book from the J. Frank Marsh Library at Concord University (as soon as I’m done with it).