Plait created his popular web site: http://www.badastronomy.com/index.html, to debunk bad astronomy in popular culture. This website proved popular, which led to this first book by Plait, that carries on from the website and in a detailed and clear fashion criticises and disproves popular myths and misconceptions relating to astronomy, and promotes science as a means of explaining the skies. The work describes 24 common astronomical fallacies, including the beliefs that the Coriolis effect determines the direction that water drains in a bathtub, and that planetary alignments can cause disaster on Earth. The author sharply and convincingly dismisses astrology, creationism, and UFO sightings, and explains the principles behind basic general concepts (the Big Bang, why the sky is blue, etc.).

    He careened through the country, offering money for spirit contacts he couldn't duplicate by admitted magical chicanery. It was a heyday not only for Houdini but for the spirit-callers and there was an equally famous protagonist who thought the spirits could indeed be contacted, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. A photo at the front records a meeting between Houdini and Doyle and Houdini gives Doyle his own chapter. There's an earlier chapter on Daniel Dunglas Home, the English engineer of spectacular paranormal effects. Houdini raises hell with spiritualists who were giving their (usually paying) clients a vision of heavens to come, and shares the methods used to practice "fake" and sensational spiritualism. Houdini was nothing if not unrelenting. As a taste of things to come, he ends his introduction with the words: "Up to the present time everything that I have investigated has been the result of deluded brains."

    It presents a truly "balanced" treatment, not in the sense of treating creationism as a legitimate scientific theory (it demonstrably is not), but in the sense of dividing the blame for the controversy equally between creationists and scientists—the former for subscribing to various forms of anti-intellectualism, the latter for discounting science education and presenting science as scientism to the public and the media. The central part of the book focuses on a series of creationist fallacies (aimed at showing errors of thought, not at deriding) and of mistakes by scientists and science educators. The last part of the book discusses long-term solutions to the problem, from better science teaching at all levels to the necessity of widespread understanding of how the brain works and why people have difficulties with critical thinking.

    The encyclopedia also gives for-and-against debates on topics such as evolutionary psychology and case studies on topics like police psychics and the medical intuitive Carolyn Myss. Finally, the volumes include five classic works in the history of science and pseudoscience, including the speech William Jennings Bryan never delivered in the Scopes trial, and the first scientific and skeptical investigation of a paranormal/spiritual phenomenon by Benjamin Franklin and Antoine Lavoisier.

    Shockingly Close to the Truth! is the first and only comprehensive tell-all history of ufology from two men who have been at the center of this cultlike movement for close to half a century. James W. Moseley conveys the fun he has had over the years pursuing tall tales and purported evidence of visitors from outer space. As the creator of the newsletter Saucer Smearùthe source on the follies, foibles, fads, and feuds of ufologyùMoseley has the inside scoop on the amazing world of serious UFO sleuths and wigged-out ôsaucer fiends.ö His co-author, Karl T. Pflock, has been tracking reports of unidentified flying objects for close to half a century and has written the most thorough investigation of the Roswell incident ever done. For Moseley it all began as a lark in 1953 when he drove across country and interviewed almost 100 UFO experts and eyewitnesses, including former president Harry S Truman. After all these years, his account of this journey is here published for the first time, a goldmine for anyone interested in modern social and ôufologicalö history. He also talks candidly about his encounters with and assessments of leading UFO personalities, including Budd Hopkins, George Adamski, J. Allen Hynek, and many others. In addition, he reveals the whole truth behind the infamous Straith letter hoax, the real origins of the Men in Black, and the true story of George AdamskiÆs alleged 1952 encounter with ôa man from Venus.ö Along the way he recounts his incredible adventures as a grave robber of pre-Columbian artifacts in Peru (Move over Indiana Jones!), to which there is also a bizarre UFO connection. Complementing the exuberant narrative are many original photos of famous persons and events from MoseleyÆs private collection, plus facsimile reproductions of the Straith letter and the complete October 1957 special Adamski exposT issue of SmearÆs predecessor, Saucer News. A feast for UFO buffs this book will also interest students of popular culture, social trends, and the psychology of belief.

    A new breed of hyper-sceptics now challenges whether we even have the perceptual experience we think we have. According to these writers, perceptual consciousness is a kind of false consciousness. This view grows out of the discovery of such phenomena as change blindness and inattentional blindness, which show that we can all be quite blind to changes taking place before our very eyes. Such radical scepticism has acute and widespread implications for the study of perception and consciousness. The writings collected in this volume explore these implications. The contributors are scientists and philosophers at the forefront of this research, and include well-known authors such as psychologists Susan Blackmore and Arien Mack, and philosophers Andy Clark and Daniel Dennett. They have an gift for bringing these paradoxical issues to life and sharing their excitement with the non-specialist.