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Skeptic Starter pack

Dora

New Blood
D
Joined
Jul 13, 2006
Messages
19
Hello Everybody,


as it turns out I'll be doing quite some travelling in my new job. Not only that, but my trainingweeks will be in London and that's where my question comes in.

I would like to buy some books while there to get rid of my woowoo-mindset (Books aren't really cheap in Belgium to begin with, imported books even more so)

but with all the info about/quotes from books in several treads and being pretty new to the forum as well, it is hard for me to see the trees through the forest.

It would be grand if you could write down some suggestions for me, if possible also mention why you particularly enjoyed reading that book and maybe an ISBN number so I can order those that aren't available.


Thanks heaps.

PS. knowing myself, I almost never part from my books, but if anyone feels like trading some for ehm, let's say, Belgian chocolat, I can do that
 
nah, I don't mind paying for the books, that's not really the issue.
I'm also a bit old fashioned when it comes to reading, I prefer curling up on the couch with a pot of tea, some moodlight and a book rather then curling up around my laptop reading from a computerscreen. Not to mention that reading from a laptop in the bathtub just doesn't strike me as a good idea.

and yes, I realise that printing them out would be a solution, but somehow a stapled stack of papers feels like work to me ;) and I won't always be having a printer at hand to print them out anyway.

and thanks for the link, but you basically just made my forest bigger :)
could you point me to some interesting ones?
 
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"Demon Haunted World: Science as a candle in the dark" by Carl Sagan should be high on your list.

Carl Sagan demonstrates how scientific thinking is necessary to safeguard our democratic institutions and our technical civilization. The book debunks the ideas of alien abduction, mediums and faith healers,and refutes the arguement that science destroys spirituality
Click to expand...
 
Anything by Randi (of course)

Anything by Schermer. Anything by Martin Gardner.

Use Amazon search on these authors and you can't go wrong.
 
thanks for the info already.

You are right, no use to give me the ISBN numbers, I'll look them up on Amazone as suggested, slapping my head as we speak for not coming up with that one myself :rolleyes:

I've already checked out the linked books on the JREF site, and want to buy some of those, but that list is quite long already too.
It's just about picking a good one and I'm sure i'll roll into the next book to buy automatically.

Pitty the site does not have a suggested starter pack, I'll just have to compile one of my own and like said, will appreciate your input very much.

Keep them coming :)
 
Hi Dora,

I don't think all of Randi or Shermer's or Gardner's books are good. In fact, some of them are quite atrocious(sp); either they ramble, poke fun/nitpick, or are very repetative in content.

Here is what I'd recommend in books from the organized skeptical movement:

Schick and Vaughn
How to Think About Weird Things: Critical Thinking for a New Age

Sagan
The Demon-Haunted World

Shermer
Why People Believe Wierd Things

Dawkins
The Blind Watchmaker

Randi
Faith Healers
 
The two that I credit with my beginnings as a skeptic are:

James Randi, Flim-Flam

and

Martin Gardner, The New Age: Notes from a Fringe Watcher.
 
Dora said:
Hello Everybody,


as it turns out I'll be doing quite some travelling in my new job. Not only that, but my trainingweeks will be in London and that's where my question comes in.

I would like to buy some books while there to get rid of my woowoo-mindset (Books aren't really cheap in Belgium to begin with, imported books even more so)

but with all the info about/quotes from books in several treads and being pretty new to the forum as well, it is hard for me to see the trees through the forest.

It would be grand if you could write down some suggestions for me, if possible also mention why you particularly enjoyed reading that book and maybe an ISBN number so I can order those that aren't available.


Thanks heaps.

PS. knowing myself, I almost never part from my books, but if anyone feels like trading some for ehm, let's say, Belgian chocolat, I can do that
Click to expand...

Dr. Edis (of the skeptics list) maintains a "Skeptic Bibliography":

http://www.csicop.org/bibliography/home.cgi/skepticism

I would also recommend browsing through a used book store. Just ask the owner for stuff like Sagan, Randi, Shermer, debunking, Penn&Teller, stuff like that. I was able to flesh out my collection over the years super-cheap by buying used.

I just picked up my used copy of Cruel Tricks for Dear Friends, complete with enclosed 'special glasses'. Awesome find, but it got me to thinking: Did *everybody* look so dorky in the '80s?
 
T'ai Chi said:
I don't think all of Randi or Shermer's or Gardner's books are good. In fact, some of them are quite atrocious(sp); either they ramble, poke fun/nitpick, or are very repetative in content.
Click to expand...

You read all of Randi's, Shermer's and Gardner's books?
 
CFLarsen said:
Bump for T'ai:

What's wrong with "Denying History"?
Click to expand...

In T'ai's defense, he didn't say that all of Shermer's books were bad. Just that they weren't all good. Perhaps Denying History is one of the 'good ones'.
 
Dora said:
Hello Everybody,


as it turns out I'll be doing quite some travelling in my new job. Not only that, but my trainingweeks will be in London and that's where my question comes in.

I would like to buy some books while there to get rid of my woowoo-mindset (Books aren't really cheap in Belgium to begin with, imported books even more so)

but with all the info about/quotes from books in several treads and being pretty new to the forum as well, it is hard for me to see the trees through the forest.

It would be grand if you could write down some suggestions for me, if possible also mention why you particularly enjoyed reading that book and maybe an ISBN number so I can order those that aren't available.


Thanks heaps.

PS. knowing myself, I almost never part from my books, but if anyone feels like trading some for ehm, let's say, Belgian chocolat, I can do that
Click to expand...


At the risk of not actually answering your question... a question for the forum:

Is there anything skeptics could package up that would work like the Alpha course?
 
blutoski said:
In T'ai's defense, he didn't say that all of Shermer's books were bad. Just that they weren't all good. Perhaps Denying History is one of the 'good ones'.
Click to expand...

I'll go with the ones that are "atrocious" and - especially - why.

The latter meaning that T'ai will have to have to read the books...
 
Hello all,


thanks again for all the info, I went to 2 used bookstores over the weekend but came back empty handed
used-book stores in my area are small so they usually have comic books, reader's digest and romance novels, but that's about it. Well, of course, heaps of those woo-woo books too

So I ordered "Demon Haunted World" in a big bookstore and it would arrive in 3 weeks :)

Keep 'm coming (please :) )
 
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