Conspiracies & Conspiracy Theories
What We Should and Shouldn't Believe - and Why
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Narrated by:
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Michael Shermer
About this listen
Millions of Americans buy into conspiracy theories. Did you know that...
- 81 percent of Americans believe more than one person was responsible for the assassination of John F. Kennedy?
- 1/3 of this country thinks 9/11 was an “inside job” by the Bush administration?
- 21 percent believes aliens crash-landed in Roswell and are being hidden in Area 51?
- 7 percent are convinced that the moon landing was faked?
What causes some people to advocate these unfounded—often disproven—ideas as reality? And why is the power of conspiracies so compelling that they can motivate people to act, some even participating in acts of violence?
In this eye-opening Audible Original, Professor Michael Shermer, publisher of Skeptic magazine and the host of the Science Salon podcast, takes you through some of the most prevalent conspiracy theories in history, giving you a clear understanding of how and why they came about, who was likely to believe and perpetuate them, and the reality behind these beliefs.
Whether you are looking for the truth regarding popular conspiracy theories; are fascinated by the psychology of why people buy into them; or are interested in how they shaped and were shaped by history, this course will provide you all the tools you need to better understand the pervasiveness of conspiracy theories.
©2019 Audible Originals, LLC (P)2019 Audible Originals, LLC.Listeners also enjoyed...
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About the Professor
Dr. Michael Shermer is the publisher of Skeptic magazine, the host of the Science Salon podcast, and a Presidential Fellow at Chapman University where he teaches Skepticism 101, a course in how to think like a scientist. For 18 years he was a monthly columnist for Scientific American. Dr. Shermer is the New York Times best-selling author of numerous books including Heavens on Earth, The Moral Arc, The Believing Brain, The Mind of the Market, Why Darwin Matters, The Science of Good and Evil, and Why People Believe Weird Things. Dr. Shermer received his BA in psychology from Pepperdine University, his MA in experimental psychology from California State University and his PhD in the history of science from Claremont Graduate University. He has been a college professor since 1979, has appeared on such shows as The Colbert Report, 20/20, and Dateline, and is a guest on such popular podcasts as The Joe Rogan Experience. Dr. Shermer was co-host and co-producer of the television series Exploring the Unknown.
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In 1992, the deadliest year in Chicago’s history, seven-year-old Dantrell Davis was shot and killed in front of his elementary school inside the public housing complex Cabrini-Green. What happened to Dantrell led to a truce among Chicago’s gangs, but it also ignited a national panic about poverty and violence in America’s cities. Dantrell’s name would soon be used to demolish all of Chicago’s high-rise public housing, displacing tens of thousands of low-income families.
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Chicago Housibg
- By Ruby on 11-21-24
By: Ben Austen, and others
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MOVE: The Untold Story of an American Tragedy
- By: Curtis Bryant, Kevin Arbouet
- Narrated by: Tariq Trotter
- Length: 5 hrs and 19 mins
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This searing audio documentary brings listeners deep inside the unforgettable story of MOVE, gaining unprecedented access to surviving MOVE members, elected officials from the era, eyewitnesses, and historians to create an indelible portrait of an American tragedy.
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Balanced Examination of History
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The Autobiography of Malcolm X
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Experience a bold take on this classic autobiography as it’s performed by Oscar-nominated Laurence Fishburne. In this searing classic autobiography, originally published in 1965, Malcolm X, the Muslim leader, firebrand, and Black empowerment activist, tells the extraordinary story of his life and the growth of the Human Rights movement. His fascinating perspective on the lies and limitations of the American dream and the inherent racism in a society that denies its non-White citizens the opportunity to dream, gives extraordinary insight into the most urgent issues of our own time.
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it's Nearly perfect
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I Thought It Was Just Me (but it isn’t)
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Based on seven years of ground-breaking research and hundreds of interviews, I Thought It Was Just Me shines a long-overdue light on an important truth: Our imperfections are what connect us to each other and to our humanity. Our vulnerabilities are not weaknesses; they are powerful reminders to keep our hearts and minds open to the reality that we're all in this together.
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I'm sure its great if you are a mother ....
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Caffeine
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- By: Michael Pollan
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Michael Pollan, known for his best-selling nonfiction audio, including The Omnivores Dilemma and How to Change Your Mind, conceived and wrote Caffeine: How Caffeine Created the Modern World as an Audible Original. In this controversial and exciting listen, Pollan explores caffeine’s power as the most-used drug in the world - and the only one we give to children (in soda pop) as a treat.
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Leaves much to be desired
- By Melody H on 02-02-20
By: Michael Pollan
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Mythology: Mega Collection
- Classic Stories from the Greek, Celtic, Norse, Japanese, Hindu, Chinese, Mesopotamian and Egyptian Mythology
- By: Scott Lewis
- Narrated by: Madison Niederhauser, Oliver Hunt
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Do you know how many wives Zeus had? Or how the famous Trojan War was caused by one beautiful lady? Or how Thor got his hammer? Give your imagination a real treat. This Mega Mythology Collection of eight audiobooks is for you....
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An interesting set of introductions.
- By Kevin Potter on 05-30-19
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The Strange Death of Europe
- Immigration, Identity, Islam
- By: Douglas Murray
- Narrated by: Robert Davies
- Length: 12 hrs and 17 mins
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The Strange Death of Europe is a highly personal account of a continent and culture caught in the act of suicide. Declining birth rates, mass immigration, and cultivated self-distrust and self-hatred have come together to make Europeans unable to argue for themselves and incapable of resisting their own comprehensive alteration as a society and an eventual end.
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Fear-mongering
- By Kat Cat on 01-22-19
By: Douglas Murray
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A social study about horror literature and media.
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Mescaline, LSD, and psilocybin mushrooms. There’s been a lot of discussion in the medical world lately about the potential benefits of these and other drugs for certain medical conditions, such as anxiety and depression. As we consider the place of psychedelics in the future, we can draw insight and guidance from the history of how psychedelics have been described, sought after, applied, and prohibited over the centuries. Erika Dyck, professor of history at the University of Saskatchewan, introduces you to the world of hallucinogens.
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An OK Overview
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Every year has its share of notable events, but some years seem to capture the essence of a decade in a handful of months. The year 1954 is one such year. It began in January with a celebrity marriage heard round the world and then progressed through a series of major political, social, and cultural milestones that would echo through the next several decades. The years following World War II were a time of increased wealth and confidence, years that saw the rise of a solid, increasingly powerful middle class in America.
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Grasp the important ideas that have served as the backbone of philosophy across the ages with this extraordinary 60-lecture series. This is your opportunity to explore the enormous range of philosophical perspectives and ponder the most important and enduring of human questions-without spending your life poring over dense philosophical texts.
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A Hard Review to Write
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Through these 10 lectures, you will delve into the darkness of Poe’s most nightmarish stories, including “The Tell-Tale Heart”, “The Pit and the Pendulum”, and “The Fall of the House of Usher”. You’ll also learn how he invented the detective story and explored themes of love and loss in such poems as “Ulalume” and “Annabel Lee”. And you’ll discover how Poe employed symbolism, imagery, rhythm and rhyme, irony and paradox, repetition, simile, and foreshadowing to create a unique body of work.
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Interesting but not what I was expecting
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Faith and the Founding Fathers
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About As Accurate As Any Woke History Prof Can Get
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Conspiracy Theories That Were True
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BONUS BOOK INCLUDED WITH KINDLE! ALMOST 300 PAGES OF CONTENT! In the dark corners of whispered conversations and the labyrinthine pathways of the internet, conspiracy theories have long found fertile ground to take root. To many, these tales are but the outlandish products of overactive imaginations, often dismissed with a wave of the hand or a skeptical eye roll. Yet, while the world is awash with unfounded speculation, every so often, a conspiracy theory emerges from the shadows to reveal itself as undeniable fact. Conspiracy Theories That Were True delves deep into these once-mocked ...
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Energy medicine. Acupuncture. Superfoods. Healing magnets. What does the scientific evidence really say about these and other eclectic treatments for personal wellness that fall under the popular term “alternative medicine”? How can we know if a treatment is safe and effective? How can you become your own best skeptical consumer of health news in the media? Join neurologist and science educator Dr. Steven Novella for a fascinating exploration of these and other important questions about the truths - and myths - behind alternative medicine.
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An interesting look at one mans bias
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What listeners say about Conspiracies & Conspiracy Theories
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- david malaguti
- 01-21-24
misleading, disappointing
The first 7 lectures were spent explaining this inquiry as an academic pursuit.
(about five lectures too much..)
Schermer's politics also make make me suspect his motives;
He vocally defended the Trump- Russia hoax. he called the wuhan lab leak theory a "right-wing hoax" and he dismissed hunter's laptop.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Lisa Gilkison
- 11-02-21
Explained well.
I like how it's broken down & explained how good people believe these conspiracies.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Jt1111
- 04-07-22
Great
I will read anything Dr. Shermer puts out. His logic is so concise would recommend!
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1 person found this helpful
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- William
- 08-23-21
But I Heard on FB...
Another of the “Great Courses” of lectures by university professors, this course is a bit briefer than some but still complete enough. But, if you’re expecting a discussion of various conspiracy theories with arguments for or against them, note the subtitle. Professor Michael Shermer does pick up some theories and some that are not just “theories” but certainly real and true conspiracies and uses them as examples or illustrations, but the focus of this book if more on helping us to understand them and be better equipped to judge between those that are true or possibly true and those that are likely not or certainly not.
With that goal, Shermer has succeeded fairly well. He reminds us to make a distinction between conspiracies (secret plots) and conspiracy theories (what people think might be a secret plot). Shermer is not trying to convince you to disbelieve in all conspiracies. Conspiracies are real and are carried out by groups of individuals, government officials, and business. But, how can we decide which ones are believable? Some of the lectures touch on subjects that you may already have heard about, such as cognitive biases and why the theories can hold such sway. He discusses how to rate them according to probability. He talks about how difficult it is to carry out a conspiracy and thus the more complicated and the more people are involved, the more likely it is to fail. He gives us a conspiracy detection kit and then finally does review some of the more famous ones (from some that are almost certainly false to some that are proven to be true) including 9/11, Obama’s birthplace, the JFK assassination, the tobacco companies hiding of the tobacco/cancer link, drug companies, and what he calls “the Deadliest Conspiracy Theory in History,” the plot to assassinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand which was the catalyst for World War I which resulted in the deaths of at least 20 million people, enabled the Spanish Flu (which started in Kansas, not in Spain) to spread around the world, brought on an economic collapse in Europe and the Great Depression, sped up the collapse of the Colonial Empires, and set the stage for the Russian Revolution as well as WWII. And, it was carried out by a group of 6 men.
There are some caveats. The author is strongly biased against any idea of a belief in transcendence and several times states that the theistic belief that “everything happens for a reason” allows some people to more readily look for a conspiracy to explain what may well be chance. But, he then evokes science as a search for the reason behind all things. He shows his misunderstanding of transcendentalists who can believe in a sovereign God who allows man to make choices, even evil ones. He disparages the idea of a God with a “secret” plan for the universe but misunderstands the distinction between “secret” and “mystery.” He also forgets that while science rightly seeks truth through data, this is still a theoretical ideal because scientists also have biases, preconceptions, and emotions. Transcendentalism is not intuitive any more or less than empiricism. Modern research has shown that we don’t believe because of data. We believe because of our emotional side and we tend to see the data that supports that belief. There are checks and procedures that try to minimize and overcome that, but it’s still true of scientists and of him.
Nonetheless, the lectures are worth listening to and there is much to learn. Despite this criticism, the lectures are quite balanced and they are certainly relevant to today when it seems that people see conspiracies in every corner.
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- Craig S.
- 09-18-19
Great listen!
Great listen! Shermer does a great job as always! Entertaining, enlightening and thoroughly engrossing stuff!
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10 people found this helpful
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- William
- 03-01-20
Not What I Thought
I thought this would be an interesting description of the conspiracy theories people believe. Instead, it was a lecture on what kind of people believe in them. OK, but disappointing.
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- CBH76244
- 08-23-22
Free pass on liberal media
I'm no Trump fan, but the kicking a dead horse Trump and his insane antics) while giving today's CNN and others narrative silence is unfortunate.
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- Roland
- 06-14-20
Informative, Interesting and Slightly Biased
While reading this book, one must remember that most conspiracies are unbelievably inconceivable until they have been proven otherwise. A conspiracy theory that has not yet been proven can not necessarily be labeled as false.
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- Alan
- 12-03-21
Excellent education on real and fake conspiracies
I had listened to the Believing Brain Audiobook so felt repetitive, but the best parts were the real conspiracies, sometimes they really are out to get you.
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- Faithful
- 09-12-21
Worth Your Time
A timely exploration and well researched explanation of what Conspiracy Theories are and what they have done and can do, to harm the social fabric of a nation via eroding public trust. With a close look at how real conspiracies have helped give plausibility to theories. Interesting content that does a good job examining scientific knowledge and historical facts.
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