Book nightmare

[Jack 007]

>:( Does anyone else find the lack of critical thinking / skepicism books in high street booksellers very annoying to say the least. I was in my local Waterstones recently and there were several hundred (conservative estimate) books on tarot, mediumship, spiritualism etc etc etc etc, but the only book I could find to balance this out were Dawkins' Unweaving the Rainbow in the Popular Science section (about 3 small shelves worth in total). I tried to order Sagan's Demon-Haunted World, but it's out of print! Luckily, my local library is very obliging! Haven't even tried to get The Skeptical Environmentalist, or any of Randi's...

Does anyone have any recommendations for good books that are easily available, or should I just go and get the latest Derek Acorah?? ;D

[doubting thomas]

Why don't you try Amazon, I'm sure their shelves are very well stocked.

You are right though about the high street shops, it all comes down to what sells best at the end of the day.

Its the same with TV programmes, unfortunately skepticism doesn't have very high viewing ratings, woo sells more commercials.

[Melanie]

Try this link - a page of Prometheus titles. Should all be available through amazon.co.uk. or failing that email me as I work for the company (Gazelle) that distributes them in the UK.

http://www.gazellebookservices.co.uk/Marketing/Mandie/PROMETHEUS.htm

Click on the isbn to go to a page on the Gazelle website where you can order the book.

Melanie.

[Jack 007]

Ta very much. Any recommendations for a starting place? There seem to be a fair few to choose from. :)

[Mongrel]

Generally recommended as good starting point for critical thinking are;

Demon Haunted World - Carl Sagan (not published in the UK, easily available through Amazon Marketplace)
Flim Flam - James Randi. Not available over here, I'd suggest either Amazon.com or direct from the JREF store (http://randi.org/shopping/index.html)
Why People believe weird things - Micheal Shermer

[Mojo]

Why People believe weird things - Micheal Shermer
I tried to order a copy from my local bookshop last year and was told it was unavailable. Got one from the library.

[Jack 007]

Thanks to all for the replies.

I'm currently reading Unweaving the Rainbow (Dawkins). I've got Demon-Haunted World on order at my library. The Shermer book and Bad Astronomy are on order from Amazon. Looks like I'm sorted for the next few weeks! O0

[Mongrel]

Someone at work just lent me a couple of books that I think people may find interesting, both by John Allen Paulos.

Innumeracy - So far it's "Statistics for dummies", which suits me just fine. Well explained and using examples that are easy to get my head around. Available from Amazon

A Mathematician reads the Newspaper - A look at how numbers and staistics are skewed by the media to make for better headlines (not read it yet). Looks as though it's out of print here but saw a few on Amazon marketplace

[tkingdoll]

Yes, it's very frustrating. But they have rows and rows of woo!

Demon-Haunted is out of print in the UK but not the US, and you can buy copies on USA-based retail websites like amazon.com rather than co.uk.

A lot of these titles can be bought at TAM too, it's a pricey way to get a signed Shermer book or an autographed Randi book, but I came back with about 6 books last time that I would have struggled to find here.

[Jocky]

>:( Does anyone else find the lack of critical thinking / skepicism books in high street booksellers very annoying to say the least. I was in my local Waterstones recently and there were several hundred (conservative estimate) books on tarot, mediumship, spiritualism etc etc etc etc, but the only book I could find to balance this out were Dawkins' Unweaving the Rainbow in the Popular Science section (about 3 small shelves worth in total).

To pick up on your wider point Jack, I (and many others, I'm sure) have observed that gross inbalance between science and b*****ks on bookshop shelves. It is a sad indictment on current tastes and interests. There seems to be a desperate appetite for magical answers to life's difficult questions - while nobody even wants to talk about the real answers.

There is no point in blaming the bookshops - they are just following the publishers, who in turn are following the market. Our mission must be somehow to make reality more appealing than comforting illusions ... ???

[median]

There is no point in blaming the bookshops - they are just following the publishers, who in turn are following the market. Our mission must be somehow to make reality more appealing than comforting illusions ...

As someone once said 'Reality is for people who can't handle drugs' ;D

Er...only joking :-\

The trouble is that both the media and the educational system fail to inspire people in the fields of science. I, for one remember reading Martin Caiden's 'Cyborg' and thinking it was amazing.
Now look at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/5348458.stm

These kind of things are ideal opportunities to get science into focus, why aren't they being taken up. >:(