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Michael Shermer’s latest book

The Believing Brain (book cover)

The Believing Brain
From Ghosts and Gods to Politics and Conspiracies—How We Construct Beliefs and Reinforce Them as Truths

A comprehensive theory on how beliefs are born, formed, nourished, reinforced, challenged, changed, and extinguished. This book synthesizes Dr. Shermer’s 30 years of research to answer the questions of how and why we believe what we do in all aspects of our lives, from our suspicions and superstitions to our politics, economics, and social beliefs.
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Scientific American columns

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In the Year 9595

In his January Skeptic column for Scientific American, Michael Shermer ponders the question of artificial intelligence. We have all ... (January 1st, 2012)

Sacred Salubriousness

In the December Skeptic column for Scientific American, Michael Shermer looks at new research on the link between religion, ... (December 1st, 2011)

The Real Science behind Scientology

In this month's Skeptic column in Scientific American, Michael Shermer takes a brief look at Scientology. (November 1st, 2011)

reviews by Michael Shermer

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As Far As Her Eyes Can See

Michael Shermer reviews Lisa Randall’s (December 1st, 2011)

Faith Healing

A torrid tale of quackbusting in 1920s America sheds light on modern medical scares A review of Pope Brock’s Charlatan. America’s Most ... (February 1st, 2008)

The Einstein Enigma

A review of Walter Isaacson’s Einstein: His Life and Universe. In the final weeks of his life Albert Einstein learned of the death of his old ... (May 7th, 2007)

multimedia appearances

Shermer in the 'God Helmet'

Singularity 101: Be Skeptical! (Even of Skeptics)

Michael Shermer is interviewed on Singularity 1 on 1 about his Christian education, his eventual transition to atheism, skepticism, science and the ... (January 18th, 2012)

Life has Never Been So Good?

Michael Shermer appears on MSNBC’s Dylan Ratigan show to discuss why life is so much better now than in any other time in history. (January 18th, 2012)

Social Singularity: Why Things Are Getting Progressively Better

Michael Shermer discusses the problem of tribalism, which we inherited from our primate ancestors, and which we must overcome if we are to achieve a ... (October 31st, 2011)

Shermer on SkepticBlog

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Science TV “network decay”

Everyone compares about the lousy quality of cable TV science networks, but no one does anything about it. Why are they so bad, and what happened to ... (January 25th, 2012)

Rescuing People from Aliens

Daniel Loxton shares insights from Susan Clancy’s study of alien abductees, and asks what we can do to make skepticism a safe space for ... (January 24th, 2012)

Science, Medicine, and Academia

Proponents of so-called complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) are forcing us to answer a question no one has explicitly asked – should ... (January 23rd, 2012)

Debunking Expelled

Debunking Expelled

Anti-science propaganda: how Ben Stein’s new ‘documentary’ film entitled Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed equates evolution with Nazism. Was anyone really fired for their belief in Intelligent Design? Read these four articles and listen to the Skepticality podcast to find out!

Listen to the following Skepticality episodes that deal with the subject.

essays

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Does Belief Help Us to Survive?

I don’t think religious beliefs are different from any other kind of beliefs: political attitudes, commitments to political parties, or economic ... (August 10th, 2009)

Confessions of a Former Environmental Skeptic

In his 1964 Republican presidential nomination acceptance speech Barry Goldwater gave voice to one of the most memorable one-liners in political ... (April 15th, 2008)

Scientology, Anonymous

Imagine reading the following press release: Hello, Jews. We are anonymous. Over the years, we have been watching you. Your campaigns of ... (February 18th, 2008)

Tweets from Shermer

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skepticism 101

Michael Shermer on TEDTalks

The Power of Belief

In this 14-minute introduction to skepticism from the remarkable TED conference, Dr. Michael Shermer discusses the power of belief systems.

Skeptic magazine & Skeptic.com

Skeptic magazine

Dr. Michael Shermer is the founding Publisher of Skeptic magazine and Skeptic.com, a scientific and educational outreach for scholars, scientists, historians, and professors dedicated to exploring the facts surrounding controversial ideas and extraordinary claims.

Latest additions to Skeptic.com:

Global warming denialist panel draws 35 people

U.Va. professor throws cold water on global warming | HamptonRoads.com | PilotOnline.com. Earth might be slightly warmer, and sea levels ... (January 27th, 2012)

Theory of all life and the universe: There’s a big idea

Radical theory explains the origin, evolution, and nature of life, challenges conventional wisdom. Earth is alive, asserts a revolutionary scientific ... (January 27th, 2012)

Skeptic Magazine tackles Scientology

The Decline and Fall of Scientology? Skeptic Magazine Makes the Case - New York News - Runnin' Scared A colleague of mine once explained to me why he ... (January 27th, 2012)