Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition and Other Confusions of Our Time. Abstract of the book

What’s in it for me? Learn about the strange things people believe in, and why.

Superstition and belief in supernatural phenomena are by no means left in the past. Even today, people believe in a wide range of absurd things, such as divination, creationism or alien abductions. Some of these things may induce nothing worse than weary head shakes, and some can actually be dangerous. Why do these pseudosciences persist? Why do people believe in them?

Why People Believe Weird Things attempts to answer these puzzling questions. In these blinks, you’ll learn about some of the most commonly held pseudoscientific “theories,” and the irrational arguments their proponents use to back them up. You’ll learn what makes pseudosciences so different from actual sciences, and how to tell the difference between them. You’ll also learn

how you can become a psychic in just a few minutes;

why the human wish for immortality will likely remain just a dream;

why the “tunnel” seen by people who have near death experiences is biological.