The Believing Brain: From Ghosts To Gods To Politics And Conspiracies — How We Construct Beliefs And Reinforce Them As Truths
By Michael Shermer, hardcover, 400 pages, Times Books, list price: $28
“Beliefs come first, explanations for beliefs follow.” That’s the argument professional skeptic Michael Shermer makes in The Believing Brain, a book that fuses neuroscience, sociology and the author’s own biographical stories into a compelling and sometimes deeply personal read — even if you don’t agree with him on everything. And you won’t.
Shermer, a former evangelical Christian who became an agnostic in college, now dedicates his sprawling career to debunking what he sees as superstitions and failures of logic, from religion to alien abduction to Sept. 11 conspiracy theories.