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Author | : Michael Zimmerman |
Publisher | : |
Total Pages | : 0 |
Release | : 1997 |
Genre | : Environmental education |
ISBN | : 9780801857744 |
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As the role of science and technology in everyday life grows more pervasive and more complex, it becomes more difficult for a scientifically "illiterate" public to make informed judgments. This volume takes on a range of falsifiers, disinformation specialists, and charlatans to provide the background needed to evaluate environmental and other issues that are in the news and affecting our lives. Topics include scientific illiteracy from "creation science" to graphology; the role of government in the scientific process; claims about pesticides and additives in food; global environmental problems; and the myth of the technological fix.
Author | : Massimo Pigliucci |
Publisher | : University of Chicago Press |
Total Pages | : 340 |
Release | : 2010-05-15 |
Genre | : Science |
ISBN | : 0226667871 |
Download Nonsense on Stilts Book in PDF, ePub and Kindle
Recent polls suggest that fewer than 40 percent of Americans believe in Darwin’s theory of evolution, despite it being one of science’s best-established findings. More and more parents are refusing to vaccinate their children for fear it causes autism, though this link can been consistently disproved. And about 40 percent of Americans believe that the threat of global warming is exaggerated, despite near consensus in the scientific community that manmade climate change is real. Why do people believe bunk? And what causes them to embrace such pseudoscientific beliefs and practices? Noted skeptic Massimo Pigliucci sets out to separate the fact from the fantasy in this entertaining exploration of the nature of science, the borderlands of fringe science, and—borrowing a famous phrase from philosopher Jeremy Bentham—the nonsense on stilts. Presenting case studies on a number of controversial topics, Pigliucci cuts through the ambiguity surrounding science to look more closely at how science is conducted, how it is disseminated, how it is interpreted, and what it means to our society. The result is in many ways a “taxonomy of bunk” that explores the intersection of science and culture at large. No one—not the public intellectuals in the culture wars between defenders and detractors of science nor the believers of pseudoscience themselves—is spared Pigliucci’s incisive analysis. In the end, Nonsense on Stilts is a timely reminder of the need to maintain a line between expertise and assumption. Broad in scope and implication, it is also ultimately a captivating guide for the intelligent citizen who wishes to make up her own mind while navigating the perilous debates that will affect the future of our planet.
Author | : Michael Zimmerman |
Publisher | : |
Total Pages | : 252 |
Release | : 1995 |
Genre | : Nature |
ISBN | : |
Download Science, Nonscience, and Nonsense Book in PDF, ePub and Kindle
As the role of science and technology in everyday life grows both more pervasive and more complex, it has become ever more difficult for a scientifically "illiterate" public to make informed judgments. In Science, Nonscience, and Nonsense, Michael Zimmerman takes on a wide range of falsifiers, disinformation specialists, and charlatans to provide readers with the scientific background necessary to evaluate environmental and other current issues that increasingly may be a matter of life and death. Zimmerman begins by showing just what science is - and how the criteria of skepticism and falsifiability distinguish it from pseudoscience and mysticism. He offers intelligent, entertaining, and sometimes scathing analyses of bad science - from lottery "systems" and creationism to graphologists and homeopaths, from food and product safety scams to outright scientific fraud. In each case he shows exactly what to watch for - how the most outrageously false claims often contain a grain of truth, and how valid scientific findings may be distorted or selectively quoted to serve the ends of government, business, or special interest groups.
Author | : Massimo Pigliucci |
Publisher | : University of Chicago Press |
Total Pages | : 324 |
Release | : 2018-10-05 |
Genre | : Science |
ISBN | : 022649604X |
Download Nonsense on Stilts Book in PDF, ePub and Kindle
“This crash course in critical thinking . . . includes handy rules for evaluating the confused public discourse on climate change, evolution, and even UFOs.” —Discover Recent polls suggest that fewer than forty percent of Americans believe in Darwin’s theory of evolution, despite it being one of science’s best-established findings. Parents still refuse to vaccinate their children for fear it causes autism, though this link has been consistently disproved. And about forty percent of Americans believe that the threat of global warming is exaggerated, including many political leaders. In this era of fake news and alternative facts, there is more bunk than ever. But why do people believe in it? And what causes them to embrace such pseudoscientific beliefs and practices? In this fully revised second edition, noted skeptic Massimo Pigliucci sets out to separate the fact from the fantasy in an entertaining exploration of the nature of science, the borderlands of fringe science, and—borrowing a famous phrase from philosopher Jeremy Bentham—the nonsense on stilts. Presenting case studies on a number of controversial topics, Pigliucci cuts through the ambiguity surrounding science to look more closely at how science is conducted, how it is disseminated, how it is interpreted, and what it means to our society. The result is in many ways a “taxonomy of bunk” that explores the intersection of science and culture at large. Broad in scope and implication, Nonsense on Stilts is a captivating guide for the intelligent citizen who wishes to make up her own mind while navigating the perilous debates that will shape the future of our planet. “Brilliant . . . required reading for, well, everyone.” —New Scientist
Author | : Massimo Pigliucci |
Publisher | : University of Chicago Press |
Total Pages | : 324 |
Release | : 2018-10-05 |
Genre | : Science |
ISBN | : 022649599X |
Download Nonsense on Stilts Book in PDF, ePub and Kindle
Recent polls suggest that fewer than 40 percent of Americans believe in Darwin’s theory of evolution, despite it being one of science’s best-established findings. Parents still refuse to vaccinate their children for fear it causes autism, though this link has been consistently disproved. And about 40 percent of Americans believe that the threat of global warming is exaggerated, including many political leaders. In this era of fake news and alternative facts, there is more bunk than ever. But why do people believe in it? And what causes them to embrace such pseudoscientific beliefs and practices? In this fully revised second edition, noted skeptic Massimo Pigliucci sets out to separate the fact from the fantasy in an entertaining exploration of the nature of science, the borderlands of fringe science, and—borrowing a famous phrase from philosopher Jeremy Bentham—the nonsense on stilts. Presenting case studies on a number of controversial topics, Pigliucci cuts through the ambiguity surrounding science to look more closely at how science is conducted, how it is disseminated, how it is interpreted, and what it means to our society. The result is in many ways a “taxonomy of bunk” that explores the intersection of science and culture at large. No one—neither the public intellectuals in the culture wars between defenders and detractors of science nor the believers of pseudoscience themselves—is spared Pigliucci’s incisive analysis in this timely reminder of the need to maintain a line between expertise and assumption. Broad in scope and implication, Nonsense on Stilts is a captivating guide for the intelligent citizen who wishes to make up her own mind while navigating the perilous debates that will shape the future of our planet.
Author | : John Lighton Synge |
Publisher | : |
Total Pages | : 164 |
Release | : 1951 |
Genre | : Science |
ISBN | : |
Download Science: Sense and Nonsense Book in PDF, ePub and Kindle
Author | : Michael Shermer |
Publisher | : |
Total Pages | : 369 |
Release | : 2002 |
Genre | : Body, Mind & Spirit |
ISBN | : 0195157982 |
Download The Borderlands of Science Book in PDF, ePub and Kindle
The editor-in-chief of "Skeptic" magazine and author of the bestselling "Why People Believe Weird Things" takes readers to the place where real science (such as the big bang theory), borderland science (superstring theory), and just plain nonsense (Big Foot) collide with one another. 20 halftones. 36 line illustrations.
Author | : Alan Sokal |
Publisher | : Picador |
Total Pages | : 317 |
Release | : 2014-01-14 |
Genre | : Philosophy |
ISBN | : 1466862408 |
Download Fashionable Nonsense Book in PDF, ePub and Kindle
In 1996 physicist Alan Sokal published an essay in Social Text--an influential academic journal of cultural studies--touting the deep similarities between quantum gravitational theory and postmodern philosophy. Soon thereafter, the essay was revealed as a brilliant parody, a catalog of nonsense written in the cutting-edge but impenetrable lingo of postmodern theorists. The event sparked a furious debate in academic circles and made the headlines of newspapers in the U.S. and abroad. In Fashionable Nonsense: Postmodern Intellectuals' Abuse of Science, Sokal and his fellow physicist Jean Bricmont expand from where the hoax left off. In a delightfully witty and clear voice, the two thoughtfully and thoroughly dismantle the pseudo-scientific writings of some of the most fashionable French and American intellectuals. More generally, they challenge the widespread notion that scientific theories are mere "narrations" or social constructions.
Author | : Thomas F. Gieryn |
Publisher | : University of Chicago Press |
Total Pages | : 422 |
Release | : 1999-01-15 |
Genre | : Philosophy |
ISBN | : 9780226292618 |
Download Cultural Boundaries of Science Book in PDF, ePub and Kindle
This text argues that an explanation for the cultural authority of science lies where scientific claims leave laboratories and enter boardrooms and living rooms. Here, one uses "maps" to decide who to believe - cultural maps demarcating "science" from pseudoscience, ideology, faith, or nonsense.
Author | : Gershon Ben-Shakhar |
Publisher | : Routledge |
Total Pages | : 148 |
Release | : 2018-11-21 |
Genre | : Psychology |
ISBN | : 1351402498 |
Download Science, Pseudo-science, Non-sense, and Critical Thinking Book in PDF, ePub and Kindle
Science, Pseudo-science, Non-sense, and Critical Thinking shines an unforgiving light on popular and lucrative ‘miraculous’ practices that promise to offer answers during times of trouble. Throughout the book, the authors unfold the fallacies underlying these practices, as well as consumers’ need and desire to believe in them. Adopting a scientific approach, the book critically evaluates research into cold-reading practices, such as those that claim to be able to communicate with the afterlife or posess supernatural powers, before considering a range of pseudo-sciences including graphology and polygraph interrogation, exposing the pretensions of these practices in a clear and logical fashion. The book seeks to encourage critical thinking throughout, asking whether there is any scientific evidence to support these practitioners’ abilities to supply us with reliable answers, and discussing the various factors that comprise the psychological mechanism of belief. Written in a fluent and accessible style, Science, Pseudo-science, Non-sense, and Critical Thinking is aimed at interested professionals and the public at large.