The Hundredth Monkey
The 44 essays in this collection originally appeared in the Skeptical Inquirer , published by the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP). Among the contributors are Carl Sagan, Isaac Asimov, Paul Kurtz, Martin Gardner, and Philip J. Klass. Their main purpose is not to debunk paranormal claims per se , but to examine them using a healthy dose of skepticism. However, even inveterate humanist Kurtz warns against skepticism becoming a new orthodoxy and exhorts diehard skeptics to give unorthodox claims a fair hearing. Sagan echoes Kurtz's view, calling for an "exquisite balance" between open-mindedness and skepticism. The book is divided into ten sections covering such topics as alien abduction and hypnosis, past life and hypnotic regression, miracles, firewalking, spontaneous human combustion, graphology, chiropractic, astrology, cold fusion, and crashed saucer claims. Essays on the human need to believe, ways to encourage critical thinking, and how to evaluate anomalous experiences are especially helpful in arguing the case for a skeptical approach to life. This challenging yet accessible compilation of readings on critical thinking offers a much-needed balance to books on "fringe" beliefs of all types. Highly recommended for most libraries, high school level on up.- Gary D. Barber, SUNY at Fredonia Lib.Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.