Research Guides: Signature Course: Pseudoscience and Media: Books

Suggested Keywords

Communication, conspiracies, conspiracy, fraud, media, news, newspapers, paranormal, parapsychology, pseudoscience, reason, science, scientific errors, skeptic, skepticism, television

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RamCat

Search RamCat for eBooks, eJournals, DVDs, Government documents, and more.

e-Books

Here are some examples, search for more in RamCat or USearch!

Abominable Science! Origins of the Yeti, Nessie, and Other Famous Cryptids by Loxton, Daniel
Publication date: 2013
An entertaining, educational, and definitive text on cryptids, presenting the arguments both for and against their existence and systematically challenging the pseudoscience that perpetuates their myths.
Nonsense on Stilts: How to Tell Science from Bunk by Pigliucci, Massimo
Publication date: 2010
Noted skeptic Massimo Pigliucci sets out to separate the fact from the fantasy in this entertaining exploration of the nature of science, the borderlands of fringe science, and—borrowing a famous phrase from philosopher Jeremy Bentham—the nonsense on stilts.
The Pseudoscience Wars: Immanuel Velikovsky and the Birth of the Modern Fringe by Michael D. Gordin
Publication date: 2012
Resurrects the largely forgotten figure of Velikovsky and uses his strange career and surprisingly influential writings to explore the changing definitions of the line that separates legitimate scientific inquiry from what is deemed bunk, and to show how vital this question remains to us today.
Quantum Leaps in the Wrong Direction: Where Real Science Ends...and Pseudoscience Begins (2nd edition) by Charles M. Wynn; Arthur W. Wiggins; Sidney Harris (Illustrator)
Publication date: 2016
Get the straight, scientific story on things like astrology, ghosts, spontaneous human combustion, psychic surgery, and ESP.
Reality Check: How Science Deniers Threaten Our Future by Donald R. Prothero; Pat Linse
Publication date: 2013
Explains the scientific process and why society has come to rely on science not only to provide a better life but also to reach verifiable truths no other method can. obtain.
The Skeptic's Dictionary: A Collection of Strange Beliefs, Amusing Deceptions, and Dangerous Delusions by Robert Carroll
Publication date: 2003
Featuring close to 400 definitions, arguments, and essays on topics ranging from acupuncture to zombies, this reference source is a lively, commonsense trove of detailed information on all things supernatural, occult, paranormal, and pseudoscientific.

Books

Bad Science: Quacks, Hacks, and Big Pharma Flacks by Ben Goldacre
Location: Second Floor Stacks | Call Number: Q172.5.E77 G65 2010
A hilarious and caustic but sobering diatribe against the bad science that surrounds us, giving readers the tools they need to uncover the BS for themselves.

Examples, search for more in RamCat!

The Believing Brain: From Ghosts and Gods to Politics and Conspiracies - How We Construct Beliefs and Reinforce Them as Truths by Michael Shermer
Location: Second Floor Stacks | Call Number: BF773 .S54 2011
In this work synthesizing thirty years of research, psychologist, historian of science, and the world's best-known skeptic Michael Shermer upends the traditional thinking about how humans form beliefs about the world. Simply put, beliefs come first and explanations for beliefs follow.
Bogus Science: Or, Some People Really Believe These Things by John Grant; Paul Barnett
Location: Second Floor Stacks | Call Number: Q172.5.P77 G73 2009
Takes a hard and lively look at pseudoscience, speculating on whether it’s just entertaining folly or (as many scientists believe), a threat to civilization
Communicating Science: Professional, Popular, Literary by Nicholas Russell
Location: Second Floor Stacks | Call Number: Q223 .R87 2010
Written in an engaging style, and avoiding specialist jargon, this book provides an insight into science's place in society by looking at science communication in three contexts: the professional patterns of communication among scientists, popular communication to the public, and science in literature and drama.
Denialism: How Irrational Thinking Hinders Scientific Progress, Harms the Planet, and Threatens Our Lives by Michael Specter
Location: Second Floor Stacks | Call Number: Q175.5 .S697 2009
An assessment of the ways in which the scientific community is mistrusted cites the consequences of such fear-based behaviors as the avoidance of vaccines, the banning of genetically modified crops, and the denouncement of the pharmaceutical industry.
Doing Science: Design, Analysis, and Communication of Scientific Research (2nd edition) by Ivan Valiela
Location: Second Floor Stacks | Call Number: Q180.A1 V35 2009
Offers a rare compendium of practical advice based on how working scientists pursue their craft. It covers each stage of research, from formulating questions and gathering data to developing experiments and analyzing results and finally to the many ways for presenting results.
Lies, Damned Lies, and Science: How to Sort Through the Noise Around Global Warming, the Latest Health Claims, and Other Scientific Controversies by Sherry Seethaler
Location: Second Floor Stacks | Call Number: Q223 .S33 2009
Leading science educator and journalist Dr. Sherry Seethaler reveals how science and health research really work, how to put scientific claims in context and understand the real tradeoffs involved, tell quality research from junk science, discover when someone’s deliberately trying to fool you, and find more information you can trust!
Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming by Erik M. Conway; Naomi Oreskes
Location: Second Floor Stacks | Call Number: Q147 .O74 2010
Tells the story of how a loose-knit group of high-level scientists and scientific advisers, with deep connections in politics and industry, ran effective campaigns to mislead the public and deny well-established scientific knowledge over four decades that link smoking to lung cancer, coal smoke to acid rain, and CFCs to the ozone hole.
Science Under Siege: Defending Science, Exposing Pseudoscience by Kendrick Frazierk (Editor)
Location: Second Floor Stacks | Call Number: Q173 .S4265 2009
A collection of outstanding and stimulating articles exploring science and skeptical inquiry, public controversies, and investigating pseudoscientific claims.
Unscientific America: How Scientific Illiteracy Threatens our Future by Chris Mooney; Sheril Kirshenbaum
Location: Second Floor Stacks | Call Number: Q149.U5 M66 2009
The authors criticize scientists for talking down to the misinformed and insulting the religious while calling for more friendly and magnanimous science advocates. They also blame the New Atheist movement, the creation–evolution controversy, the entertainment industry, the media, and science skeptics for the problem of scientific illiteracy in America.

Other Catalogs

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