Why People Believe Weird Things
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Narrated by:
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Michael Shermer
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By:
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Michael Shermer
About this listen
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In The Butchering Art, the historian Lindsey Fitzharris reveals the shocking world of 19th-century surgery on the eve of profound transformation. She conjures up early operating theaters - no place for the squeamish - and surgeons, working before anesthesia, who were lauded for their speed and brute strength. They were baffled by the persistent infections that kept mortality rates stubbornly high. A young, melancholy Quaker surgeon named Joseph Lister would solve the deadly riddle and change the course of history.
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Not one boring moment!
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Cosmic Queries
- StarTalk’s Guide to Who We Are, How We Got Here, and Where We’re Going
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In this illuminating audiobook, Tyson and coauthor James Trefil, a renowned physicist and science popularizer, take on the big questions that humanity has been posing for millennia - How did life begin? What is our place in the universe? Are we alone? - and provide answers based on the most current data, observations, and theories.
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Not worth it
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The real stories behind the scenery of America’s national parks. For 12 years, Andrea Lankford lived in the biggest, most impressive national parks in the world, working a job she loved. She chaperoned baby sea turtles on their journey to sea. She pursued bad guys on her galloping patrol horse. She jumped into rescue helicopters bound for the heart of the Grand Canyon. She won arguments with bears. She slept with a few too many rattlesnakes. Hell yeah, it was the best job in the world! Fortunately, Andrea survived it.
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Depressing from Cover to Cover
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By: Andrea Lankford
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What listeners say about Why People Believe Weird Things
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- David
- 09-25-12
Interesting But I Want More
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
Yes I'd recommend it because there are some good stories and ideas here.
Who was your favorite character and why?
N/A
What about Michael Shermer’s performance did you like?
He read the book and made understandable considering the topics could have come off dry but he made it all the more interesting hearing it the way he meant it to be heard.
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
N/A
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1 person found this helpful
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- The Accountant
- 07-24-15
great read
What made the experience of listening to Why People Believe Weird Things the most enjoyable?
I like all of Michael Shermer's books. He makes science understandable for non science people like me.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Stephen
- 08-28-08
Misleading Title
I was hoping to get a better understanding of how our brains work and why we believe inexplicable things. Instead this is a book about things that people believe and why they are weird or wrong for believing them. I disagreed with a number of his critical analyses, and I was somewhat offended by his self-appointed position of intellectual superiority. This book could have been much better researched and more imaginative than it was.
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7 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Leilah
- 01-27-08
Smart
Learn to think for yourself. How come I have never asked myself these questions? This book is so revealing.
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7 people found this helpful
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- Robert A. Lime
- 05-25-14
Great but maybe not what you think
Any additional comments?
Nice, short read/listen, although the book is not exactly what I thought it would be. Perhaps a more appropriate title would be "Weird Things People Believe" as it was more or less an exploration of common fallacious beliefs, not a theory or explanation as to why people believe them. I guess I expected more of a Chris Mooney approach - an exploration into the psychology of why people believe weird things. Nonetheless, I don't feel that 1 second was wasted in reading/listening to this book and I would highly recommend.
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- Beth P
- 06-08-22
Less of a why and more of a what
The title “why people believe strange things” had me expecting a break down of WHY people believe things. The author doesn’t really go into it at all. There’s a lot of what people believe, and examples that are definitely interesting but no actual explanation as to why people are sucked into conspiracy theories or weird ideology. It’s not a bad book, but just note that it’s much less of a lesson on why and more of a lesson in examples.
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Overall
- Jennifer
- 10-07-10
Tricky concepts made easy
This book is really clear and easy to follow without being patronising. I love the section on logical fallacies.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Guillermo Gandara
- 02-22-10
Worth reading.
The author explains in clear manner why we are afraid of many things and are willing to accept absurd things.
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2 people found this helpful
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- curious_reader
- 03-20-22
Obvious facts and common sense
Book states obvious facts and common sense.
One might ask him/herself what kind of context and society is out there that required such book to be published.
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- Jim
- 02-06-24
Very Interesting Facts. Made me think
I really enjoy books like this that provide facts and information that make me think and learn about human nature. The author provides the data in an easy to understand format
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