Skeptic: Viewing the World with a Rational Eye

In an age of unchecked Internet hearsay and metastasizing comments sections, any serious attempt to confront junk science with the real thing should be applauded. Shermer, author of some 15 science books, founding publisher and editor in chief of Skeptic magazine, and senior research fellow at Claremont Graduate University, does just that with this collection of his "Skeptic" columns for Scientific American. Ultimately, however, the book is smart and interesting but slight. The author deftly takes on such topics as creationism, extraterrestrial intelligence, New Age pseudoscience, and the dynamics of confirmation bias in thematically grouped chapters. But even repurposed for this collection, essays don't top 1,000 words—scratching the surface, sometimes frustratingly although always competently. Also, they're taken from the column's inception in 2001 through 2007 and as such feel dated. A discussion of bad medical science without mention of anti-vaxxers, or of the wisdom of crowds without Wikipedia or citizen science, feels incomplete in a discipline that needs to keep itself contemporary or risk losing its intended audience. Still, the subject matter is both welcome and necessary.