The Skeptic's Guide to the Paranormal PDF Download

Author: Lynne Kelly
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
ISBN: 9781741140590
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 282

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Book Description
Guaranteed to liven up any dinner party, this delightful, highly readable book offers color photos and scientific case-by-case explanations for 27 phenomena that appear to defy known science, including ghosts and poltergeists, the predictions of Nostradamus, and yogic levitation.

Author: Dr. Steven Novella
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
ISBN: 1538760517
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 505

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Book Description
An all-encompassing guide to skeptical thinking from podcast host and academic neurologist at Yale University School of Medicine Steven Novella and his SGU co-hosts, which Richard Wiseman calls "the perfect primer for anyone who wants to separate fact from fiction." It is intimidating to realize that we live in a world overflowing with misinformation, bias, myths, deception, and flawed knowledge. There really are no ultimate authority figures-no one has the secret, and there is no place to look up the definitive answers to our questions (not even Google). Luckily, The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe is your map through this maze of modern life. Here Dr. Steven Novella-along with Bob Novella, Cara Santa Maria, Jay Novella, and Evan Bernstein-will explain the tenets of skeptical thinking and debunk some of the biggest scientific myths, fallacies, and conspiracy theories-from anti-vaccines to homeopathy, UFO sightings to N- rays. You'll learn the difference between science and pseudoscience, essential critical thinking skills, ways to discuss conspiracy theories with that crazy co- worker of yours, and how to combat sloppy reasoning, bad arguments, and superstitious thinking. So are you ready to join them on an epic scientific quest, one that has taken us from huddling in dark caves to setting foot on the moon? (Yes, we really did that.) DON'T PANIC! With The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe, we can do this together. "Thorough, informative, and enlightening, The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe inoculates you against the frailties and shortcomings of human cognition. If this book does not become required reading for us all, we may well see modern civilization unravel before our eyes." -- Neil deGrasse Tyson "In this age of real and fake information, your ability to reason, to think in scientifically skeptical fashion, is the most important skill you can have. Read The Skeptics' Guide Universe; get better at reasoning. And if this claim about the importance of reason is wrong, The Skeptics' Guide will help you figure that out, too." -- Bill Nye

Author: Paul Kurtz
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 760

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Book Description
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Author: Jonathan C. Smith
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1444358944
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 287

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Book Description
Pseudoscience and Extraordinary Claims of the Paranormal: A Critical Thinker's Toolkit provides readers with a variety of "reality-checking" tools to analyze extraordinary claims and to determine their validity. Integrates simple yet powerful evaluative tools used by both paranormal believers and skeptics alike Introduces innovations such as a continuum for ranking paranormal claims and evaluating their implications Includes an innovative "Critical Thinker's Toolkit," a systematic approach for performing reality checks on paranormal claims related to astrology, psychics, spiritualism, parapsychology, dream telepathy, mind-over-matter, prayer, life after death, creationism, and more Explores the five alternative hypotheses to consider when confronting a paranormal claim“/li> Reality Check boxes, integrated into the text, invite students to engage in further discussion and examination of claims Written in a lively, engaging style for students and general readers alike Ancillaries: Testbank and PowerPoint slides available at www.wiley.com/go/pseudoscience

Author: Terence Hines
Publisher: Prometheus Books
ISBN: 1615920854
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 516

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Book Description
Television, the movies, and computer games fill the minds of their viewers with a daily staple of fantasy, from tales of UFO landings, haunted houses, and communication with the dead to claims of miraculous cures by gifted healers or breakthrough treatments by means of fringe medicine. The paranormal is so ubiquitous in one form of entertainment or another that many people easily lose sight of the distinction between the real and the imaginary, or they never learn to make the distinction in the first place. In this thorough review of pseudoscience and the paranormal in contemporary life, psychologist Terence Hines teaches readers how to carefully evaluate all such claims in terms of scientific evidence.Hines devotes separate chapters to psychics; life after death; parapsychology; astrology; UFOs; ancient astronauts, cosmic collisions, and the Bermuda Triangle; faith healing; and more. New to this second edition are extended sections on psychoanalysis and pseudopsychologies, especially recovered memory therapy, satanic ritual abuse, facilitated communication, and other questionable psychotherapies. There are also new chapters on alternative medicine, which is now marketed in our drug stores, and on environmental pseudoscience, with special emphasis on the evidence that certain technologies like cell phones or environmental agents like asbestos cause cancer.Finally, Hines discusses the psychological causes for belief in the paranormal despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. This valuable, highly interesting, and completely accessible analysis critiques the whole range of current paranormal claims.

Author: Monte Cook
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1440504423
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 257

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Book Description
Did the noble order of the Knights Templar guard a secret about Jesus’ birth? Was the moon landing faked in a Hollywood movie studio? Is the government keeping the remains of an alien spacecraft in the top-secret Area 51? Monte Cook takes a look at conspiracy theories—ranging from the historically complex to the seriously whacked out. With a disbelieving eye, he traces the history of some of the world's weirdest ideas and even includes a chart showing readers how to make up conspiracy theories for themselves. Scattered through the book are the paranoid "notes" of an anonymous reader who claims to know what's really going on. You can make up your own mind as to who's telling the truth!

Author: Katherine Ramsland
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 9780312983734
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 432

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Book Description
The author of Prism of the Night takes readers into the world of real-life ghost hunters, revealing their high- and low-tech methods for rooting out spirits.

Author: Kelly Milner Halls
Publisher: Lerner Publishing Group
ISBN: 1467705934
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 68

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Book Description
It's late at night, and you're on a tour of a so-called haunted house. You see something out of the corner of your eye and quickly snap a photo. Your hands tremble as you lower the camera. Your eyes widen as you stare at the image you've just captured. A face seems to be lurking in the background. But when you look up, there?s no one standing there! Was it a ghost? Ghost sightings are reported all the time. Many are easily explained. Others are harder to dismiss. But is there any proof? To find out, Kelly Milner Halls explored haunted houses. She examined photographs and investigated eyewitness accounts from ghost hunters, mediums, and paranormal experts. What's the verdict? Are the spirits of the dead wandering among us? Explore her findings and decide for yourself.

Author: John Grant
Publisher: Union Square + ORM
ISBN: 1454917261
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 296

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Book Description
A hilarious lampoon of scientific inquiry into the psychic. Life after death, spirit communication, the astral plane, reincarnation: on the relatively rare occasions when scientists have tried to apply their methods to the paranormal, they’ve often ended up embarrassed—fooled by obvious charlatans, deluded into making irrational and unsubstantiated claims, or frustrated in their attempt to find something that just isn’t there. John Grant—author of Discarded Science and Corrupted Science—investigates the pseudoscience of spooky stuff to fascinating and humorous effect. From scamming mediums, to poltergeist fakery, to heavenly hallucinations, Grant spares ardent believers and gullible thinkers no mercy in this rollicking history of psychic “phenomena.”

Author: Zak Bagans
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1119757533
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 455

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Book Description
Dive into the ghostly world of the supernatural with America’s leading paranormal investigator Inside, paranormal investigator, star, and executive producer of The Travel Channel's hit series, Ghost Adventures and founder of the award-winning Haunted Museum (Las Vegas’ most popular attraction), Zak Bagans takes readers on an exciting journey into the supernatural world. With insider information on the history of ghost-hunting to learning about ghosts with all kinds of temperaments, Ghost-Hunting For Dummies is peppered with true accounts and stories from Bagans' famous cases and investigations. Featuring expert advice on picking a haunted location, setting up cameras, and dealing with unwieldy ghosts, this book shows how today's investigators use the tools of modern science to study a wide range of paranormal activity. Take an exciting adventure into the supernatural world Explore haunted sites Get messages from beyond the grave Read true accounts from famous cases and investigations If you're one of the countless fans of Ghost Adventures itching to get off the couch and track some spirits on your own, this book provides everything you need to know to conduct a successful paranormal investigation.