Debunked!


Book Description

During the most scientifically advanced period in human history, belief in the paranormal and the supernatural is alarmingly common. Nobel Prize winner Georges Charpak and physics professor Henri Broch team up to show you the tricks of the trade and sleight of hand that keep astrologers, TV psychics, and spoon benders in business. Using only the simplest of science, the authors explore the effectiveness of horoscopes--the blander the better--and why, with a television audience in the millions, any strange, unlikely prediction is almost certain to come true. Not merely an exposé of magic tricks, this book demonstrates how pseudoscientists use science, statistics, and psychology to bamboozle an audience--sometimes for fun, sometimes for profit. Entertaining and enlightening, Debunked! is the antidote, vigorously asserting the virtues of doubt, skepticism, curiosity, and scientific knowledge.--From publisher description.




Debunking Howard Zinn


Book Description

Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States has sold more than 2.5 million copies. It is pushed by Hollywood celebrities, defended by university professors who know better, and assigned in high school and college classrooms to teach students that American history is nothing more than a litany of oppression, slavery, and exploitation. Zinn’s history is popular, but it is also massively wrong. Scholar Mary Grabar exposes just how wrong in her stunning new book Debunking Howard Zinn, which demolishes Zinn’s Marxist talking points that now dominate American education. In Debunking Howard Zinn, you’ll learn, contra Zinn: How Columbus was not a genocidal maniac, and was, in fact, a defender of Indians Why the American Indians were not feminist-communist sexual revolutionaries ahead of their time How the United States was founded to protect liberty, not white males’ ill-gotten wealth Why Americans of the “Greatest Generation” were not the equivalent of Nazi war criminals How the Viet Cong were not well-meaning community leaders advocating for local self-rule Why the Black Panthers were not civil rights leaders Grabar also reveals Zinn’s bag of dishonest rhetorical tricks: his slavish reliance on partisan history, explicit rejection of historical balance, and selective quotation of sources to make them say the exact opposite of what their authors intended. If you care about America’s past—and our future—you need this book.




Debunk It!


Book Description

A guide to critical thinking for young readers looking to find some clarity in a confusing world




Death by Petticoat


Book Description

This myth-busting compendium sets the record straight on American history, from famous-but-false legends to weird-but-true stories. American history is full of oft-repeated errors and outright fabrications—as well as truths that are stranger than fiction. Collaborating with The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Mary Miley Theobald has uncovered the real stories behind many well-known myth-understandings. Did pregnant women really seclude themselves indoors? Were uneven stairs made to trip up burglars? Did people only bathe once a year? Death by Petticoat reveals the truth about these and many other funny, surprising, and strange misapprehensions of history.




Exercised


Book Description

The book tells the story of how we never evolved to exercise - to do voluntary physical activity for the sake of health. Using his own research and experiences throughout the world, the author recounts how and why humans evolved to walk, run, dig, and do other necessary and rewarding physical activities while avoiding needless exertion. Drawing on insights from biology and anthropology, the author suggests how we can make exercise more enjoyable, rather that shaming and blaming people for avoiding it




Debunking Economics


Book Description

What is the score card for economics at the start of the new millennium? While there are many different schools of economic thought, it is the neo-classical school, with its alleged understanding and simplistic advocacy of the market, that has become equated in the public mind with economics. This book shows that virtually every aspect of conventional neo-classical economics' thinking is intellectually unsound. Steve Keen draws on an impressive array of advanced critical thinking. He constitutes a profound critique of the principle concepts, theories, and methodologies of the mainstream discipline. Keen raises grave doubts about economics' pretensions to established scientific status and its reliability as a guide to understanding the real world of economic life and its policy-making.




Marijuana Debunked


Book Description

Marijuana subtly damages the teenage brain, causing lifelong problems. Yet four million teens in Canada and the United States use the drug, a half million of them daily. For those who have heard only the pro-legalization side, this book presents the case against marijuana on an equal footing. In it, you will learn: - The scientific research refuting all the pro-marijuana talking points - Why marijuana is not safe for adolescents, especially those behind the wheel - How the news media helped to create an epidemic of teenage use - Why the promise of tax revenue is a mirage - Why legalization would be an economic burden on society - The misleading language used by pro-legalization partisans - Why marijuana laws that prohibit use are good for the public health Ed Gogek, MD, an addiction psychiatrist for 30 years, has treated more than 10,000 addicts and alcoholics in jails, prisons, homeless clinics, mental health centers and substance abuse treatment programs. His opinion pieces on addiction and mental health have appeared in the New York Times and over a dozen major U.S. newspapers. He received his medical training in Canada and the United States. "Dr. Gogek has a unique ability to master the complex and hotly contested material to make it understandable. His book has a strong message that our nation, including both Left and Right, needs today when most discussions of drug policy are filled with dangerous misinformation." Robert L. DuPont, MD First Director of National Institute of Drug Abuse Second White House Drug Chief "This book is a must-read for anyone who cares about accuracy and fairness in news coverage." Christine Tatum, Former National President, Society of Professional Journalists "Gogek lists all the pro-legalization arguments in detail, and refutes them exceptionally well." Library Journal




Debunking 9/11 Myths


Book Description

“9/11 conspiracy theorists beware: Popular Mechanics has popped your paranoid bubble world, using pointed facts and razor-sharp analysis.” —Austin Bay, national security columnist (Creators Syndicate) and coauthor of From Shield to Storm Decades after the World Trade Center disaster, rampant speculation abounds on what actually happened. Wild talk flourishes on the Internet, TV, and radio. Was the Pentagon really struck by a missile? Was the untimely death of Barry Jennings, who witnessed the collapse of Tower 7 and thought he heard “explosions,” actually an assassination? Not everyone is convinced the truth is out there. Once again, in this updated edition of the critically acclaimed Debunking 9/11 Myths, Popular Mechanics counters the conspiracy theorists with a dose of hard, cold facts. The magazine consulted more than 300 experts in fields like air traffic control, aviation, civil engineering, firefighting, and metallurgy, and then rigorously, meticulously, and scientifically analyzed the twenty-five most persistent 9/11 conspiracy theories. Each one was conclusively refuted with facts, not politics and rumors, including five new myths involving the collapse of 7 World Trade Center and four longstanding conjectures now considered in the context of new research. “A reliable and rational answer to the many fanciful conspiracy theories about 9/11 . . . What happened on 9/11 has been well established by the 9/11 Commission. What did not happen has now been clearly explained by Popular Mechanics.” —Richard A. Clarke, #1 New York Times-bestselling author of Against All Enemies “Do you have a friend who emails you the most recent documentary ‘proving’ that a missile impacted the Pentagon or that timed explosions brought down WTC-7? Buy him a copy of this book. He’ll thank you later.” —The Weekly Standard




Debunked


Book Description




Five Teaching and Learning Myths--Debunked


Book Description

Drawing from research in developmental and educational psychology, cognitive science, and the learning sciences, Five Teaching and Learning Myths--Debunked addresses some of the most commonly misunderstood educational and cognitive concerns in teaching and learning. Multitasking, problem-solving, attention, testing, and learning styles are all integral to student achievement but, in practice, are often muddled by pervasive myths. In a straightforward, easily digestible format, this book unpacks the evidence for or against each myth, explains the issues concisely and with credible evidence, and provides busy K-12 teachers with actionable strategies for their classrooms and lesson plans.