The Skeptic's Dictionary: A Collection of Strange Beliefs, Amusing Deceptions, and Dangerous Delusions

by Robert Todd Carroll

Book Overview

A wealth of evidence for doubters and disbelievers

"Whether it's the latest shark cartilage scam, or some new 'repressed memory' idiocy that besets you, I suggest you carry a copy of this dictionary at all times, or at least have it within reach as first aid for psychic attacks. We need all the help we can get."
-James Randi, President, James Randi Educational Foundation, randi.org

"From alternative medicine, aliens, and psychics...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0471272426
• ISBN13: 9780471272427
• Release Date: August 2003
• Publisher: Wiley (TP)
• Length: 446 Pages
• Weight: 2.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 7.5" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

A great, easy-to-read, base-level resource: Very good for what it purports to do. And be skeptical o

Unfortunately, that means a lot of mis-reviews have to be debunked. First, Carroll never claimed this book would be exhaustive. He doesn't even claim that about his website. Second, the book is a snapshot; the website is a motion picture. If you don't grasp that analogy, you probably shouldn't be reading either one. Third, NO encylopedia or dictionary compiler of a century or two ago, let alone today, claims to be a polymath. Carroll refers to the best of what is out there in skeptical refutation of many commonly held misbeliefs. Fourth, sarcasm intended, how does one become an "expert" in some of these fields where expertise is claimed to be needed? I don't know of any universities that offer degrees in UFOlogy, distant viewing, telekinesis, etc. Fifth, Carroll IS an expert in the most important thing -- logical, critical thinking. As a professor of philosophy, he has all the academic credentials, which honed his real-life reasoning skills, for logical reasoning skills. Sixth, some unskeptical reviewers need to look at semantics and linguistics. It's easy to say "Carroll is an idiot" when you're working with completely different definitions than he is. I've looked at a couple such reviewers, and their claimed references to the appropriate entries in this book were nowhere close to what Carroll actually wrote. This book DOES give a concise overview of the state of skeptical empirical research and logical claims deconstruction of all the hot topics out there. I doubt that most bashing reviewers have even ever visited Carroll's website, www.skepdic.com, or will make the effort in the futhre.

Brilliant Critical Thinking

A quote from Robert Todd Carroll: "A delusion held by one person is a mental illness, held by a few is a cult, held by many is a religion." Sums it up nicely! (...)

Solid overview, easy to read, not too much depth

Bob Carroll has put together a solid overview of mystical, paranormal, and magical beliefs, deceptions, and hoaxes. He takes a simple point of view in asking simple questions -- what is the truth? What can be proven? Where might the "believers" be deceiving themselves? -- AND, he clearly also is not so biased to think that all beliefs are wrong. What can't be explained away, debunked, or proven wrong is an area of faith, either beyond the realm of science or remaining for science to figure out in the future.I've yet to come up with a topic that Carroll has omitted, though other reviewers have, apparently. His entries are generally enough information for me, though he maintains plenty of references should anyone actually want to read that much more about anthroposophic medicine (or any other topic). Certainly topics like Argument from Design and Creationism are covered ad infinitum, ad nauseum, from various viewpoints elsewhere; thus, the Skeptics Dictionary provides a simply solid overview, definition, and description of these, with plenty of references.All in all, this is an excellent book. I think it's not only for "skeptics", but also for those who want to know if they are being scammed. Scan this book before sending cash to Miss Cleo, Sylvia Browne, John Edward, or any other fortune tellers or psychics.

A Masterpiece

Here's something you won't read everyday (actually, you may never read anything like it again!). I'm a psychic healer who thinks Bob Carroll's Skeptic's Dictionary is an absolutely indispensable resource. Indispensable.I first found the Skeptic's Dictionary online as I was searching for responsible information on some of the truly questionable things I see in my New Age/metaphysical culture. Unless you're a part of the culture - or unless you're a skeptic keeping an eye on the New Age culture - you really wouldn't believe the amount of untested theories, urban legends, wild ideas, and just plain irresponsible stuff that's going around. I've often likened the New Age to the Wild West - I mean, it often feels like open season on consumers here.I struggled for years to find responsible dissent literature in my New Age culture, but the fact is that responsible skeptical questioning simply doesn't exist in the New Age. If I want to get a non-sales-pitch or non-dreamy-eyed version of the latest channeler, spiritual leader, divination protocol, personality typing modality, magic herb, megavitamin, healing gadget, or sacred destination, I can only get that information on the q.t. If I want to research things, I have to call friends who might know a friend who knows a guy who went to the healer or took the vitamin or whatever. That's how New Age skepticism works - it's a person to person process of trial and error.If you are in the New Age, but don't know enough people, you won't have access to this underground consumer protection agency, and you'll probably end up wasting time and money chasing after stuff that just doesn't work (or is dangerous).True consumer protection is not a part of my New Age culture. Everything offered is generally agreed to be healing and harmless, because God or Spirit or Faeries or good Atlanteans are involved - so why should anyone question any of it? Questioning in the New Age is only allowed at the level of gossip - anything more open than that is treated as a sign of rudeness, near-paranoia, or betrayal. Real questioning can actually get you expelled from the culture.So when I needed to question the heck out of the things I saw in the New Age, I had no culturally approved way to proceed. Luckily, I have access to the Internet, so instead of making a fuss or shutting off my mind in response to all the pressure I experienced, I just became quiet and navigated around the Web on my own. Thankfully, I ended up on skepdic.com - the site from which the Skeptic's Dictionary was created.I've read stacks of books by skeptical authors, but I haven't respected too many of them. However, I respect Bob Carroll because his debunking and skepticism aren't bad-tempered attempts to denigrate believers or take the magic out of life (real life is magical enough without any mystical crutches, thanks). Instead, his skepticism is a natural function of his intelligence, his concern for people, and his interest in discovering what's

Critical thinking: the most precious thing you have

The Skeptic's Dictionary-based upon the popular website of the same name-is one of the best resources we have today to counter the current cultural embrace of pseudoscience and hogwash. Robert Carroll examines ideas and critiques them on their merits. Moreover, he understands the logical fallacies that can compel perfectly normal people to accept silly ideas that they do not know how to analyze.The fact remains that superstition and pseudoscience are more than quaint little beliefs that can be laughed off and dismissed as unworthy of serious attention. They are demonstrably dangerous when allowed to take root. With every phony telephone psychic who rips off gullible callers for millions of dollars; with every pair of fringe fundamentalist parents who allow their children to die because they choose prayer over taking an ailing child to the hospital; with every whittling-away of accurate science education by fundamentalist ideologues, a resource like this that encourages critical thinking-the most precious and important thing a rational human being has at his or her disposal-proves its worth.There will always be some people who prefer the comforts of the mystical to the often hard lessons of coming to terms with reality. But in the latter process, character is built, and life is all the more rewarding and lovable for it.