SLD

I was honored to attend a lecture last night by Michael Shermer, the only professional BS debunker I've had the luck to meet. What a great job, going around debunking the crap that so many wierdos (religious or otherwise put out). He opened with a demonstration of a illicit drug divining rod. Worked well enough to get the company president in jail for mail fraud.

Shermer was a real hoot, talking about various ESP crap and how he too became a psychic to prove that anyone can do readings. He had most of us in stitches the entire time.

If any of you get the chance to hear him speak, I would recommend it as quite entertaining.

He also mentioned that he was working on a new book on the origins of morality. Might be quite interesting.

SLD

Toto

Shermer will be speaking at the Atheist Alliance convention in Tampa Fla

AtomSmasher

I would definately be there but I have to work. Besides I'm turned off by the cover charge, I'll just have to rub elbows with fellow atheists online. :\

Peter Soderqvist

I am reading for the moment Carl Sagan 's book, The Demon Hunted World, Science as Candle in the Dark! I have two books by Michael Shermer, namely, Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudo science, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time, and The Borderlands of Science: Where Sense Meets Nonsense! Do you have any more recommendations?

Secular Pinoy

I have those two and How We Believe. Personally, I prefer Martin Garnder and Joe Nickell to Shermer when it comes to debunking.

Wyz_sub10

Martin Gardner's "Did Adam and Eve Have Navels?" and Robert Park's "Voodoo Science" are excellent reads.

SLD

What's interesting is that for the most part he ignored challenging religious beliefs. He did not state his own views on any particular religious beliefs, even when I tried to goad him with a question. I wondered if it was because it was a state university lecture series and he thought it was inappropriate in that setting or if he normally just avoids overt condemnation of religious beliefs.

The conversation did get off on that a little bit, when he started talking about an 18th century movement for "dead" people who wake up in their coffins after only being in a coma could ring a bell to let people know they aren't dead. He said (I'm paraphrasing) "So if your in a coma for say three days you could just ring this bell, and then someone could roll away the stone over your tomb and there's your old girlfriend and a few of your old drinking buddies all in shock." He then rolled his eyes to the audiences laughter and a few hand claps.

SLD

enrious

A book I'm rather fond of deals mainly with historical and antropological pseudo-science.

Frauds, Myths, Mysteries by Kenneth Feder.

Marduk

"Frauds, Myths, Mysteries by Kenneth Feder"

Yes! that was a good one, another is 'Ancient Mysteries' by Peter James and Nick Thorpe