Martha Beck was an atheist-inclined grad student when miraculous happenings during her second pregnancy reawakened her interest in spirituality.  After moving back to her hometown of Provo, she embraced her childhood religion in effort to deepen this newfound faith.  She writes with lucidity and humor about how she instead discovered the dark side of the Mormon church, including fundamental beliefs that contradict known fact, a culture that stifled intellectual exploration, and a suspected relationship between the inferior position of women in the church and incidents of sexual abuse.

A large part of Beck’s journey involves confronting her own history of sexual abuse, and the book sometimes feels disjointed as it shifts back and forth between the narrative and a scene in which she confronted her abuser.  That issue aside, Beck’s attempt to free herself from the bonds of this unhealthy religion while still keeping her seed of faith alive serves as a fascinating example of how important it is to continually ask critical questions in all matters of faith. 

This book is a collection of the author’s columns written for both Skeptical Inquirer and several other publications.  Though published nearly 20 years ago, many of the topics Gardner discusses are still highly relevant in current times. His essays range over subjects including televangelism to UFOlogy. I found his discussion on the widespread fraud perpetuated by famous psychics and the persistent gullibility of paranormal researchers to be particularly informative.  Though not specifically just about the New Age, his insightful commentary on spiritual con artists of all stripes would be educational for anyone interested in the ease with which human belief can be manipulated.

Having spent a fair amount of time on my spiritual path believing things that at best had no evidence and at times were quite outrageous, I’ve become very interested in the question that forms the title of this book.  A former born-again Christian who is now head of the Skeptic society, Michael Shermer has written a very readable and compelling exploration of the cognitive thinking errors humans regularly make that support belief in ideas that can often be very detrimental to our overall well-being.  Shermer is a good storyteller and his discussions of subjects including the alien abduction phenomenon, the personality cult of Ayn Rand, and the tactics “creation scientists” use to try to discredit the theory of evolution make for compelling reading.

 
Perhaps most importantly, Shermer eloquently argues that being a skeptic is not the same thing as being a cynic.  In his description of the scientific process, it becomes clear that maintaining a sense of awe and wonder at the universe is not only compatible with science, it can actually be enhanced by the willingness to remain in the unknown as evidence is being gathered and examined.   In addition, a maintaining a healthy skepticism can go a long way towards preserving both one’s sanity and one’s cash in the alternative spiritual realm.

Why People Believe Weird Things

The book signing at the Boulder Book Store went really well.  We had a great turnout and there was a lively discussion with a lot of very interesting questions.  To see an excerpt from the talk, go to:

Lena’s virtual signing

The book got some nice coverage in the Camera today. 

You can read Clay Evans’ review of the book here:

Camera Review 

and the Camera’s interview with me here:

Camera Interview 

If you have trouble with these links, just type my name into the search box and they should come up.