Note: All links to Doubtful News are dead. My main project, Doubtful News is on hiatus right now. (Update 22-Jan-2016: We’re back.) Honestly, it’s because I don’t have the motivation to keep up with the onslaught of questionable claims that are in the media. Twice this week, I was reminded by others of the following:… Read More: Trust No One: All news is doubtful »
There are few good skeptical books for kids. But there are a shit-ton of terrible books promoting mystery and pseudoscientific nonsense aimed at kids or those getting started exploring a paranormal topic. I often peruse the 001 section of Juvenile Literature in the library. Mostly, I’m sickened. Occasionally, I’m surprised. There is a need for better… Read More: The stupidiocy of Ancient Aliens for kids (Book Review) »
It’s not news that the paranormal is mainstream, which is ironic since we commonly understand the paranormal to be events that are NOT normal yet the discussion about it is an everyday occurrence. If you follow TV ghost hunters or paranormal researchers, “evidence” is all around us. So much for it being all that “extraordinary”.… Read More: Media as ‘medium’: Review of Paranormal Media and the good… »
The Paranormal by Kenneth PartridgeMy rating: 1 of 5 stars Mostly poor choice of selections for this collection. It’s a book marketed to university libraries as a “resource” but not worth it. Teachers would do far better finding their own readings online. Paranormal Media by Annette HillMy rating: 2 of 5 stars Some interesting ideas… Read More: Miscellaneous book review quickies Fall 2015 »
A correspondent clued me in to what he called a “devastating commentary on parapsychology.” I agree. The review on the Magonia Review of Books meshes with what I had written in June 2014 when I looked into parapsychology, comparing then and now. It’s helpful to see an independent critique that notes the same flaws as you did. I’m not the… Read More: Parapsychology continues to fail to impress reviewers »
A paranormal investigator who writes a column called Paranormal Corner for NJ.com broke a story this weekend that was both a coup for web hits and an utter disaster for her credibility. Kelly Roncace received an email with a photo of what the sender said was the Jersey Devil. The JD is one of the… Read More: “True Jersey” NJ.com published a stinker of a story on… »
A person making an extraordinary claim may feel very special. A couple that I met recently who do paranormal research described some acquaintances’ behavior during an investigation of a supposedly haunted place : a woman “swooned” as the spirit overcame her. It was all very dramatic, they said. I’ve seen similar when one ghost hunter of a… Read More: If you think Bigfoot is an interdimensional being, you’ve lost… »
This is the fifth and final post in a series examining cryptids (“hidden” animals said to exist based on local testimony), namely lake monsters, in terms of the folklore, tradition, and native tales of these creatures. Previous parts: Cryptozoology and Myth, Part 1: The Illusion of Facticity in Unknown Animal Reports Cryptozoology and Myth, Part 2:… Read More: Cryptozoology and Myth, Part 5: Which came first – the… »
Harry Houdini needs no introduction, but there are several facts that people do not know about this consummate skeptic. That makes this book a must for everyone interested in psychics and paranormal claims. Just the Introduction to this great book floored me. How much we needed Houdini at the time. How much we STILL need… Read More: Houdini. Skeptic. (Book Review) »
This is the fourth post in a series examining cryptids (“hidden” animals said to exist based on local testimony), namely lake monsters, in terms of the folklore, tradition, and native tales of these creatures. Previous parts: Cryptozoology and Myth, Part 1: The Illusion of Facticity in Unknown Animal Reports Cryptozoology and Myth, Part 2: Lake Monster Tropes… Read More: Cryptozoology and Myth, Part 4: Crypto-zoologizing the natives’ magic monster »
This is the third in a series of posts examining cryptids (“hidden” animals said to exist based on local testimony), namely lake monsters, in terms of the folklore, tradition, and native tales of these creatures. The first part is here: Cryptozoology and Myth, Part 1: The Illusion of Facticity in Unknown Animal Reports The second part… Read More: Cryptozoology and Myth, Part 3: Hiding in the cold, dark… »
In the course of writing, there are times when you have to either create a new word because there isn’t just the right one coined yet or you adopt a word, use it three times, and make it your own. My research and writing for the public has often been about how activities, advertisements, and… Read More: Sciencey: People get it »
I was in the grocery checkout line a few weeks ago. I sometimes scan the magazine rack impulse grabs but never buy them. This week, the crop circle cover photo of a special edition of Popular Science caught my attention: Mistakes and Hoaxes – 100 Things Science Got Wrong What did science get wrong about… Read More: 100 Things Popular Science Thinks Science Got Wrong, but Didn’t… »
This is the second in a series of posts examining cryptids (“hidden” animals said to exist based on local testimony), namely lake monsters, in terms of the folklore, tradition, and native tales of these creatures. The first part is here: Cryptozoology and Myth, Part 1: The Illusion of Facticity in Unknown Animal Reports What can… Read More: Cryptozoology and Myth, Part 2: Lake Monster Tropes »
What can we make of folklore tales that cryptozoologists use to support claims that an unknown animal has been historically reported and remains to be identified? Cryptid researchers say that modern reports of Bigfoot-Sasquatch, lake monster, sea serpents, giant flying animals, and elusive land creatures are supported by the stories of native people, legends or… Read More: Cryptozoology and Myth, Part 1: The Illusion of Facticity in… »
Jon Ronson is someone with whom you could sit down and just start up a conversation like you have known him for years. In fact that happened to me a few years back when Jon sat down beside me at a conference, I introduced myself and we started chatting. I feel I could always just… Read More: Is the snowflake to blame for the avalanche? (Book review) »
Broadcast Hysteria: Orson Welles’s War of the Worlds and the Art of Fake News by A. Brad Schwartz, 2015 “Believe nothing you hear, and only one half that you see.” – Poe This quote is the frontispiece to this book. Hits me right in my skeptical soul. I run Doubtful News, a site that deals daily… Read More: Believe nothing you hear, and only one half that you… »
Paul Cropper sent me a copy of his new book with co-author Tony Healy, Australian Poltergeist: The Stone-throwing Spook of Humpty Doo and Many Other Cases. He must have known how much I love this topic and was eager to learn about various cases around the world. I learned about the concept of poltergeists before… Read More: Stone-throwing wall-thumpers: Review of Australian Poltergeists »
I like reading historical books when the narrative flows and the information is new and intriguing. I really liked A Storm of Witchcraft: The Salem Trials and the American Experience by Emerson W. Baker, a professor at Salem State College. I’ve read some about the Salem witch trials but this book was from another angle.… Read More: Storm and the devil: Book review »
Sometimes publishers and authors send me stuff. I’m not sure why they think I’ll suddenly be open to unscientific, fringe ideas about how the world works and overthrow what we know via just one book. Yes, that’s right, KNOW. This book, Paradigm Busters, from the Atlantis Rising magazine library, starts off by confusing conditional scientific… Read More: I know, not just believe, this book is nonsense: Book… »