Skeptical Inquirer — Book Review
Book Review
Pretentious Whit
by Robert Sheaffer
Volume 37.1, January/February 2013
Book Review
A review of Solving the Communion Enigma: What Is to Come by Whitley Strieber.
Available in the Print Edition. Subscribe Here.
The Return of Repressed-Memory Satanic Ritual Stories
by Douglas Mesner
Volume 37.1, January/February 2013
Book Review
A review of Twenty-Two Faces by Judy Byington.
How to Get Something from Nothing
by Mark Alford
Volume 36.6, November/December 2012
Book Review
A review of A Universe from Nothing by Lawrence M. Krauss.
A Book of Stories that Happened to a Friend ...
by Ben Radford
Volume 36.6, November/December 2012
Book Review
A review of Encyclopedia of Urban Legends: Updated and Expanded Edition by Jan Harold Brunvand.
Available in the Print Edition. Subscribe Here.
Not So Smart Thinking
by Daniel Grassam
Volume 36.6, November/December 2012
Book Review
A review of You Are Not So Smart: Why You Have Too Many Friends on Facebook, Why Your Memory Is Mostly Fiction, and 46 Other Ways You’re Deluding Yourself by David McRaney.
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Four Realms of Inquiry
by Richard Bond
Volume 36.6, November/December 2012
Book Review
A review of Handling Truth by William Gardner.
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Aztec Saucer Crash Story Rises from the Dead?
by Robert Sheaffer
Volume 36.6, November/December 2012
Book Review
A review of The Aztec Incident by Scott Ramsey, Suzanne Ramsey, Frank Thayer, and Frank Warren.
Available in the Print Edition. Subscribe Here.
Are Conservatives and Liberals Different People?
by Ronald A. Lindsay
Volume 36.5, September/October 2012
Book Review
A review of The Republican Brain: The Science of Why They Deny Science—and Reality by Chris Mooney
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The Puzzle of the Implausible
by Ronald L. Numbers
Volume 36.5, September/October 2012
Book Review
A review of Power and Illusion: Religion and Human Need by David W. Wilbur
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Enumerating the Problems with Young-Earth Creationism
by Peter Lamal
Volume 36.5, September/October 2012
Book Review
A review of The Three Failures of Creationism: Logic, Rhetoric, and Science by Walter M. Fitch
What’s Going On in Our Minds?
by Paul Brown
Volume 36.4, July/August 2012
Book Review
A review of Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman.
Thinking: An Unnatural Act
by Harriet Hall
Volume 36.3, May/June 2012
Book Review
A review of Unnatural Acts: Critical Thinking, Skepticism, and Science Exposed! by Robert Todd Carroll.
Available in the Print Edition. Subscribe Here.
Is Science the Antidote to Deepak Chopra’s Spirituality?
by Mark Alford
Volume 36.3, May/June 2012
Book Review
A review of War of the Worldviews: Science vs. Spirituality by Deepak Chopra and Leonard Mlodinow
Available in the Print Edition. Subscribe Here.
Answers for Kids from Twelve to Eighty-Two
by Keith Taylor
Volume 36.3, May/June 2012
Book Review
A review of The Magic of Reality: How We Know What’s Really True by Richard Dawkins
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Being Reasonable about Neuroscience
by Massimo Pigliucci
Volume 36.3, May/June 2012
Book Review
A review of Who’s in Charge? Free Will and the Science of the Brain by Michael Gazzaniga
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Bigfoot on Film: A Comprehensive Guide
by Rob Boston
Volume 36.3, May/June 2012
Book Review
A review of The Bigfoot Filmography: Fictional and Documentary Appearances in Film and Television by David Coleman
End to a Twisted and False Episode in Psychiatry
by James M. Wood
Volume 36.2, March/April 2012
Book Review
A review of Sybil Exposed: The Extraordinary Story Behind the Famous Multiple Personality Case by Debbie Nathan.
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A Droll Stroll Down Skeptical Lane
by Jim Underdown
Volume 36.2, March/April 2012
Book Review
A review of Psychic Vibrations by Robert Sheaffer with illustrations by Rob Pudim
Available in the Print Edition. Subscribe Here.
UFOs? Yes. Crashes and Conspiracies? No.
by Robert Sheaffer
Volume 36.2, March/April 2012
Book Review
A review of UFOs: Myths, Conspiracies, and Realities by John B. Alexander
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The Case for Aggressive Evolutionary Science
by Kenneth W. Krause
Volume 36.2, March/April 2012
Book Review
A review of The Wild Life of Our Bodies by Rob Dunn
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Scientology under the Looking Glass
by Wendy M. Grossman
Volume 36.1, January/February 2012
Book Review
A review of Inside Scientology: The Story of America’s Most Secretive Religion by Janet Reitman
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Turing Test for Human Beings
by Massimo Pigliucci
Volume 36.1, January/February 2012
Book Review
A review of The Most Human Human: What Talking with Computers Teaches Us about What It Means to Be Alive by Brian Christian
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He Lets Other People Make Up Stories for Him
by Robert Sheaffer
Volume 36.1, January/February 2012
Book Review
A review of The Real Men in Black by Nick Redfern
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Slaying the Beast of the Gévaudan
by Blake Smith
Volume 35.6, November/December 2011
Book Review
A review of Monsters of the Gévaudan: The Making of a Beast by Jay M. Smith
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Why Belief Always Comes First
by Harriet Hall
Volume 35.5, September/October 2011
Book Review
A review of The Believing Brain by Michael Shermer
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Eight Impediments to Rationality
by Peter Lamal
Volume 35.5, September/October 2011
Book Review
A review of Believing Bullshit: How Not to Get Sucked into an Intellectual Black Hole by Stephen Law
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A Flawed Attempt to Reconcile Religion and Science
by Jim Clark
Volume 35.5, September/October 2011
Book Review
A review of The Language of Science and Faith: Straight Answers to Genuine Questions by Karl W. Giberson and Francis S. Collins
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A Modern Fable about Science and Religion
by Joe Szimhart
Volume 35.5, September/October 2011
Book Review
A review of The Monkey Bible: A Modern Allegory by Mark Laxer
A Slam-Dunk Debunk
by Matt Crowley
Volume 35.4, July/August 2011
Book Review
A review of Tracking the Chupacabra: The Vampire Beast in Fact, Fiction, and Folklore by Benjamin Radford
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Personal Genomics: The Fine Line between Science and Narcissism
by Massimo Pigliucci
Volume 35.4, July/August 2011
Book Review
A review of Here Is a Human Being: At the Dawn of Personal Genomics by Misha Angrist
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Escaping Mortality
by Daniel Grassam
Volume 35.4, July/August 2011
Book Review
A review of Long for This World: The Strange Science of Immortality by Jonathan Weiner
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He Sees Dead People
by Robert Sheaffer
Volume 35.4, July/August 2011
Book Review
A review of The Key: A True Encounter by Whitley Strieber
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Two Views of the War on Cancer
by Harriet Hall
Volume 35.3, May/June 2011
Book Review
Reviews of Pink Ribbon Blues by Gayle Sulik and The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee
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Fresh Voice, Passionate Polemic
by Ryan Seals
Volume 35.3, May/June 2011
Book Review
A review of Tabloid Medicine: How the Internet Is Being Used to Hijack Medical Science for Fear and Profit by Robert Goldberg
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The Problem with Neurosexism
by Massimo Pigliucci
Volume 35.3, May/June 2011
Book Review
A review of Delusions of Gender: How Our Minds, Society, and Neurosexism Create Difference by Cordelia Fine
Padre Pio: Scandals of a Saint
by Joe Nickell
Volume 35.2, March/April 2011
Book Review
A review of Padre Pio: Miracles and Politics in a Secular Age by Sergio Luzzatto.
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Debunking the Trauma Myth
by Ben Radford
Volume 35.2, March/April 2011
Book Review
A review of The Trauma Myth: The Truth About the Sexual Abuse of Children—and Its Aftermath by Susan A. Clancy.
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‘Unexplained’ Cases —Only If You Ignore All Explanations
by Robert Sheaffer
Volume 35.2, March/April 2011
Book Review
A review of UFOs: Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials Go on the Record by Leslie Kean.
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A Little Too Grand?
by Justin Trottier
Volume 35.2, March/April 2011
Book Review
A review of The Grand Design by Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow.
The Storms over Climate Change
by David Morrison
Volume 34.6, November/December 2010
Book Review
The three books I review here offer complementary frontline accounts of the Climate Wars.
A Gifted Writer and a Book Worth Giving
by Harriet Hall
Volume 34.5, September/October 2010
Book Review
A review of Evolution: How We and All Living Things Came to Be by Daniel Loxton
Raising the Bar for Investigating Paranormal Claims
by Robert Carroll
Volume 34.5, September/October 2010
Book Review
A Review of Scientific Paranormal Investigation: How to Solve Unexplained Mysteries by Benjamin Radford
Oscar, the Death-Predicting Cat
by Joe Nickell
Volume 34.4, July / August 2010
Book Review
A Review of "Making Rounds with Oscar: The Extraordinary Gift of an Ordinary Cat." By David Dosa.
Our Deliberate Slide into Ignorance
by Keith Taylor
Volume 34.2, March / April 2010
Book Review
Idiot America: How Stupidity Became a Virtue in the Land of the Free by Charles Pierce
Things We Know That Are Not So
by Peter Lamal
Volume 34.2, March / April 2010
Book Review
50 Great Myths of Popular Psychology: Shattering Widespread Misconceptions about Human Behavior by Scott O. Lilienfeld, et al.
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Solving a Mysterious Event from Long Ago
by Terence M. Hines
Volume 34.2, March / April 2010
Book Review
The Devil of Great Island : Witchcraft and Conflict in Early New England by Emerson W. Baker.
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Bigfoot Beliefs in Cultural Context
by Ben Radford
Volume 34.2, March / April 2010
Book Review
Bigfoot: The Life and Times of a Legend by Joshua Blu Buhs.
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‘Noetic Science’ in The Lost Symbol
by Joe Nickell
Volume 34.1, January / February 2010
Book Review
Review of The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown
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The Invisible Disorder
by Mark Durm
Volume 33.6, November / December 2009
Book Review
Review of The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives. By Leonard Mlodinow.
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The Varied Concepts of ‘Epidemic’ and Our Varied Reactions
by Peter Lamal
Volume 33.5, September / October 2009
Book Review
Review of Dread: How Fear and Fantasy Have Fueled Epidemics from the Black Death to Avian Flu by Philip Alcabes.
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An Apologia with a Transparent Strategy
by Peter Lamal
Volume 33.4, July / August 2009
Book Review
Review of The Democratic Virtues of the Christian Right. by Jon A. Shields.
When Science Gets Distorted for Nonscientific Reasons
by Terence M. Hines
Volume 33.4, July / August 2009
Book Review
Hyping Health Risks: Environmental Hazards in Daily Life and the Science of Epidemiology. by Geoffrey C. Kabat
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Cardiff’s Giant Hoax
by Joe Nickell
Volume 33.3, May / June 2009
Book Review
Review of A Colossal Hoax: The Giant from Cardiff that Fooled America by Scott Tribble
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Flat Earth: The History of an Infamous Idea
by Robert Ashton
Volume 33.3, May / June 2009
Book Review
Review of the book by Christine Garwood
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Putting Your Money Where Your MInd Is
by Joseph Keierleber
Volume 33.3, May / June 2009
Book Review
Review of The Mind of the Market by Michael Shermer
Bearing False Witness for Profit
by Greg Martinez
Volume 33.2, March / April 2009
Book Review
To say that people love a good story is cliché, but the problem with that statement is that 'love' is too mild a term.
A Christian Physicist’s Dispatch from the Evolution Wars
by Glenn Branch
Volume 33.2, March / April 2009
Book Review
Review of Saving Darwin: How to Be a Christian and Believe in Evolution by Karl W. Giberson
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The Information You’ve Been Provided Ain’t Necessarily So
by Peter Lamal
Volume 33.2, March / April 2009
Book Review
Review of Stat-Spotting: A Field Guide to Identifying Dubious Data by Joel Best.
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Questioning Conventional Wisdom on Science-Related Issues
by Kenneth W. Krause
Volume 33.2, March / April 2009
Book Review
Review of Physics for Future Presidents: The Science Behind the Headlines by Richard A. Muller
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Charles Fort’s Life and Legacy of Strangeness
by Rob Boston
Volume 32.6, November / December 2008
Book Review
Review of Charles Fort: The Man Who Invented the Supernatural by Jim Steinmeyer
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Secular Sunshine as the Best Disinfectant
by Kenneth W. Krause
Volume 32.6, November / December 2008
Book Review
Review of The Secular Conscience: Why Belief Belongs in Public Life by Austin Dacey
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Statistically Significant Results vs. Oomph
by Peter Lamal
Volume 32.6, November / December 2008
Book Review
The Cult of Statistical Significance: How the Standard Error Costs Us Jobs, Justice, and Lives by Stephen T. Ziliak
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Exposing Popular ‘Let’s Pretend’ Fantasies
by William Harwood
Volume 32.5, September / October 2008
Book Review
Review of Top Secret: The Truth Behind Today's Pop Mysticisms by Robert M. Price
From Weeping Icons to Crop Circles: Investigating with Gusto
by Terry Smiljanich
Volume 32.5, September / October 2008
Book Review
A review of the book by CSI fellow Joe Nickell
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Redoing the Math on Nuclear Energy
by Kenneth W. Krause
Volume 32.5, September / October 2008
Book Review
Nuclear Energy Now: Why the Time has Come for the World's Most Misunderstood Energy Source by Herbst and Hopley
Available in the Print Edition. Subscribe Here.
We’re Wrong More Than We Think
by Harriet Hall
Volume 32.5, September / October 2008
Book Review
Review of On Being Certain: Believing You Are Right Even When You're Not by Robert Burton, MD
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The Beginner’s Guide to ‘Holistic’ Wellness
by Dimitry Rotstein
Volume 32.4, July / August 2008
Book Review
Review of Mayo Clinic Book of Alternative Medicine by the Mayo Clinic.
Available in the Print Edition. Subscribe Here.
Broadening Our Scientific Horizons
by Kenneth W. Krause
Volume 32.4, July / August 2008
Book Review
Review of Mind, Life, and the Universe: Conversations With Great Scientists of Our Time.
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Gardnerian Whimsy and Insight, New and Old
by Sid Deutsch
Volume 32.4, July / August 2008
Book Review
Review of The Jinn from Hyperspace, and other Scribblings—Both Serious and Whimsical, by Martin Gardner
Photoghosts: Images of the Spirit Realm?
by Joe Nickell
Volume 32.4, July / August 2008
Book Review
Review of Ghosts Caught on Film: Photographs of the Paranormal By Melvyn Willin.
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Physics for the People
by Daniel Grassam
Volume 32.4, July / August 2008
Book Review
The Social Atom: Why the Rich Get Richer, Cheaters Get Caught, and Your Neighbor Usually Looks Like You.
Pseudoscientists and Their Worlds
by Donald Simanek
Volume 32.4, July / August 2008
Book Review
Review of Worlds of Their Own by Robert Schadewald
Ann Coulter Takes on Darwin
by Martin Gardner
Volume 32.3, May / June 2008
Book Review
Review of Ann Coulter's Godless
Entertainment, Religion, and the Decline of Society
by Peter Lamal
Volume 32.3, May / June 2008
Book Review
Review of The Age of American Unreason by Susan Jacoby
The Strange Case of Frank Jennings Tipler
by Martin Gardner
Volume 32.2, March / April 2008
Book Review
Review of The Physics of Christianity by Frank Tipler
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Born to Believe
by David Ludden
Volume 32.1, January / February 2008
Book Review
Review of Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast: The Evolutionary Origins of Belief. By Lewis Wolpert.
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Dangerous Ideas on the Loose
by Kenneth W. Krause
Volume 32.1, January / February 2008
Book Review
Review of What is Your Dangerous Idea? Today's Leading Thinkers on the Unthinkable. Edited by John Brockman.
Available in the Print Edition. Subscribe Here.
Unrivaled Acumen, Communitarian Passion
by Kenneth W. Krause
Volume 32.1, January / February 2008
Book Review
Review of The Richness of Life: The Essential Stephen Jay Gould. Edited by Steven Rose.
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Cosmos and Commentary
by Kenneth W. Krause
Volume 31.6, November / December 2007
Book Review
Review of Death by Black Hole and Other Cosmic Quandries by Neil deGrasse Tyson.
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Endless Forms, Endless Controversy
by Greg Martinez
Volume 31.6, November / December 2007
Book Review
Review of Darwin's Origin of Species: A Biography. By Janet Browne.
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Governed By Emotion
by Peter Lamal
Volume 31.6, November / December 2007
Book Review
Review of The Political Brain: The Role of Emotion in Deciding the Fate of the Nation. By Drew Westen.
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The Greatest Occultist in Western History?
by Richard Petraitis
Volume 31.6, November / December 2007
Book Review
Review of The Last Alchemist: Count Cagliostro, Master of Magic in the Age of Reason. by Iain McCalman.
Kitzmiller v. Homo Boobiens
by Greg Martinez
Volume 31.6, November / December 2007
Book Review
Review of 40 Days and 40 Nights: Darwin, Intelligent Design, God, OxyContin, and Other Oddities on Trial in Pennsylvania
Over the Hill on UFO Abductions
by Robert Sheaffer
Volume 31.6, November / December 2007
Book Review
The story of the alleged UFO abduction of Betty and Barney Hill in New Hampshire in 1961 is well known to the public.
A Model UFO Debunking
by Robert Sheaffer
Volume 31.5, September / October 2007
Book Review
While such a book is not likely to make any best-seller list, it's a valuable contribution to our understanding of UFO mania
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A Model UFO Debunking
by Robert Sheaffer
Volume 31.5, September / October 2007
Book Review
Review of Ware of the Words: A True but Strange Story of the Gulf Breeze UFO by Craig R. Myers.
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A Welcome Compilation of Classic Critiques
by Angelo Stagnaro
Volume 31.5, September / October 2007
Book Review
Review of Paranormal Claims: A Critical Analysis. Edited by Bryan Farha.
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Addressing the Crucial Issues of Stem-Cell Research
by Kenneth W. Krause
Volume 31.4, July / August 2007
Book Review
Review of The Stem Cell Controversy: Debating the Issues 2nd Edition by Michael Ruse and Christopher A. Pynes.
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An Effective, Positive Approach to Teaching Critical Thinking
by David W. Clapsaddle
Volume 31.4, July / August 2007
Book Review
The Power of Critical Thinking: Effective Reasoning about Ordinary and Extraordinary Claims. By Lewis Vaughn.
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A Call to Be Heeded
by Peter Lamal
Volume 31.4, July / August 2007
Book Review
Review of Dark Ages: The Case for a Science of Human Behavior. By Lee McIntyre.
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Islam’s Troubled Relationships with Science
by Harry Eagar
Volume 31.4, July / August 2007
Book Review
Review of An Illusion of Harmony: Science and Religion in Islam. By Taner Edis.
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Why Religion and Medicine Don’t Mix
by Kenneth W. Krause
Volume 31.4, July / August 2007
Book Review
Review of Blind Faith: The Unholy Alliance of Religion and Medicine. By Richard P. Sloan.
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Defending Evolution, but with a Cop-Out
by Kenneth W. Krause
Volume 31.3, May / June 2007
Book Review
Review of The Top Ten Myths about Evolution. By Cameron M. Smith and Charles Sullivan.
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A Pathologist Among the Spirits
by Joe Nickell
Volume 31.3, May / June 2007
Book Review
Beyond Knowing: Mysteries and Messages of Death and Life from a Forensic Pathologist. by Janis Amatuzio, MD
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The Nonsense and Non-science of Sasquatch
by Benjamin Radford, MIchael R. Dennett, Matt Crowley, and David J. Daegling
Volume 31.3, May / June 2007
Book Review
Review of Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science by Jeff Meldrum.
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A Renewal of Sagan’s Voice on Science, Religion, and Survival
by Lauren Becker
Volume 31.2, March / April 2007
Book Review
Review of The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God. by Carl Sagan.
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Counterproductive Mix of Science and Theology
by William D. Stansfield
Volume 31.2, March / April 2007
Book Review
Review of Astronomy and the Bible—Questions and Answers. Second ed. By Donald B. DeYoung
For the God Question, a Biological Perspective
by Kendrick Frazier
Volume 31.2, March / April 2007
Book Review
That a book so forthrightly titled could reach the best seller lists may tell us something about a shifting cultural climate.
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Intellectual and Creative Magnificence
by Kenneth W. Krause
Volume 31.2, March / April 2007
Book Review
Review of What We Believe But Cannot Prove: Today's Leading Thinkers in the Age of Uncertainty by John Brockman, ed.
Available in the Print Edition. Subscribe Here.
Smart Scientists on Intelligent Thought (If Not Design)
by Matt Young
Volume 31.1, January / February 2007
Book Review
Review of Intelligent Thought: Science versus the Intelligent Design Movement. Edited by John Brockman.
