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Lunch » Tags » Books » Reviews » Denialism: How Irrational Thinking Hinders Scientific Progress, Harms the Planet, and Threatens Our Lives

Denialism: How Irrational Thinking Hinders Scientific Progress, Harms the Planet, and Threatens Our Lives

4 Ratings: 2.3

A book by Michael Specter

Although denialists, according to Specter, come from both ends of the political spectrum, they have one important trait in common: their willingness to replace the rigorous and open-minded skepticism of science with the inflexible certainty of ideological … see full wiki

Tags: Books

Author: Michael Specter

Genre: Science

Publisher: Penguin Press HC, The

4 reviews about Denialism: How Irrational Thinking Hinders...

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review by TStocksl. October 04, 2009

I don't believe you, You're a liar

Dylan's infamous (and considered apocraphal until documented on the official bootleg version of the concert) retort to British hecklers during his 1965 plugged-in tour serves as a good colloquial definition of "denialism", Specter's term for the tendency to "replace the rigorous and open-minded skepticism of science with the inflexible certainty of ideological commitment." Specter documents denialism in its most visible and he believes most damaging manifestations: anti-vaccination … more

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review by CRSwanson. July 04, 2010

The anti-truthiness

Back on the first episode of "The Colbert Report", Stephen Colbert offered up a word: truthiness. This word describes the sort of belief where you don't require evidence to back up what you think is true. You just "know" that it's true, and that's good enough, darn it! There's a lot of truthiness out there, and sadly much of it is pushed by people like the soon-retiring Larry King and the also soon-retiring Oprah Winfrey. They feed into the belief that vaccines are dangerous, … more

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review by tunguz. April 21, 2010

posted in Cafe Libri: Reviewing Books & More

A well intentioned book that is unfortunately not very balanced

The tempo of technological development and scientific discovery seems only to be accelerating every day, and the time that it takes for a discovery to make its way in everyday life shortens all the time. Unfortunately, many of these changes are not very well understood and there are vocal opponents of many of them. A healthy dose of skepticism about everything that is novel and makes promises that seem too good to be true should be welcome, especially for tools and technologies that have not been … more

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review by cecilbothwell. September 30, 2009

In the eye of the beholder

Michael Specter has delivered a strong argument to back his assertion that denial of scientific proof is a threat to personal and planetary health. He makes a compelling case that those who reject vaccinations due to unsubstantiated fear of collateral effects put themselves and society at risk. Similarly he argues fairly effectively that recombinant DNA techniques and gene splicing are here to stay and are more likely to be beneficial as harmful, while acknowledging that resultant harm could be … more

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