1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910782499803321

Autore

Shermer Michael

Titolo

The borderlands of science [[electronic resource] ] : where sense meets nonsense / / Michael Shermer

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Oxford ; ; New York, : Oxford University Press, 2001

ISBN

0-19-028663-6

1-280-53527-X

9786610535279

0-19-803272-2

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (369 p.)

Disciplina

500

Soggetti

Science

Belief and doubt

Parapsychology and science

Skepticism

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. 321-352) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Contents; Introduction: Blurry Lines and Fuzzy Sets: The Boundary Detection Problem in the Borderlands of Science; Part I: Borderlands Theories; Part II: Borderlands People; Part III: Borderlands History; Notes; Bibliography; About the Author; Index

Sommario/riassunto

As author of the bestselling Why People Believe Weird Things and How We Believe, and Editor-in-Chief of Skeptic magazine, Michael Shermer has emerged as the nation's number one scourge of superstition and bad science. Now, in The Borderlands of Science, he takes us to the place where real science (such as the big bang theory), borderland science (superstring theory), and just plain nonsense (Big Foot) collide with one another. Shermer argues that science is the best lens through which to view the world, but he recognizes that it's often difficult for most of us to tell where valid science leav