If you are a layman like myself with an interest in reading about science, this is a basic book in the philosophy of science that will aid in the rational analysis of scientific claims. Naturally the book wouldn't sell too many copies if the word "Philosophy" ended up in the title so we have this cutesy title that unfortunately may not give sufficient clues as to what is inside.

My wife is a believer in all things paranormal, and I am a true skeptic with an education in experimental psychology. We have a shaky truce in our house about these issues, and I have developed an intense interest in the claims made in astrology, channeling, ESP, NDE and the like.

This book lays out the logic for analyzing claims made in the name of science or the paranormal. We are told first of all that knowledge without evidence is not knowledge; it may constitute a belief, but it is not knowledge. What is reliable evidence? What is objective truth? What is the value of anecdotal evidence? What are the criteria of adequacy for a hypothesis? How is a scientific study properly set up? What sort of studies can establish the effectiveness of a medical treatment beyond a reasonable doubt?

The author discusses all of this and more as he applies the logic learned to medicine, dowsing, astrology, ESP, Channeling, and even UFO abductions. Its an informative, entertaining book that will educate without boring you or even making your poor brain work overtime. If nothing else you can read the book, and impress (or bore) your friends by telling them you just read a book on applied epistemology.

I took Weird behavior in college and this was one of our textbooks

One cannot avoid thinking, sidestep decision making, nor elude the bombardment of poor logic and irrationality so abundant in society. It makes perfect sense to learn to become as clear a thinker and decision maker as possible. Schick and Vaughn, in their Critical Thinking masterpiece "How to Think About Weird Things" dive head first into the fundaments of rational thought, the aspects of human nature that produce irrationality, and the means to think as productively as possible. Ripe with examples from absurd lines of thinking to common complex fallacies, the book covers all pertinent aspects of critical thinking.

Put best in their own words on page 2, the authors state:

"You hear a lot of `whats', but seldom any good `whys'. You hear the beliefs, but seldom any solid reasons behind them - nothing substantial enough to indicate that these assertions are likely to be true. You may hear naiveté, passionate advocacy, fierce denunciation, one-sided sifting of evidence, defense of the party line, leaps of faith, jumps to false conclusions, plunges into wishful thinking, and courageous stands on the shaky ground of subjective certainty. But the good reasons are missing. Without good `whys', our beliefs are simply arbitrary, with no more claim to knowledge than the random choice of a playing card. Without good `whys' to guide us, our beliefs lose their value in a world where beliefs are already a dime a dozen."

While this thinking may not resonate with everyone, the reality is that it should. If society as a whole shifted to more rational thought and a consistent standard of scrutiny among all beliefs, there would be a lot less friction on this planet and a lot more level headed views. How to Think About Weird Things offers a comprehensive overview of rational thinking aimed at causing such a positive shift, and thus I recommend this book to any serious thinker.

Purchased for my college course

This book explains how to analyize things rationally, without being swayed by emotional considerations. In that regard its very good. They explain how to judge the value of evidence in a logical way.

In many places in the book, however, they dont appear to follow their own advice. The book is full of exemplary analyses of 'strange' topics such as near-death expeiences, UFOs, ESP and so on. In many of these analyses, they appeal to the readers sense that these things are 'riduculous' or 'silly'. Instead of arguing these points on-their-merits, the authors disregard their own good advice. For example, in a section devoted to near-death experiences, the authors describe the possible reality of these events as 'incomprehensible'. The authors then use this as a reason to dismiss NDE. Well, perhaps NDES are 'incomprehensible' simply for a lack of imagination. Also, the authors should be reminded that quantum mechanics (the most accurate physical theory ever created) is 'incomprehensible'-after 70 years physicists still cant figure out if its real or what. Also, Occams razor (a principle discussed and advocated in the book) suggests that taking NDEs on face-value is reasonable since it is much less complicated than the Rube-Goldberg explanations used to dismiss NDEs.

A second failure of the book is its double-standard toward alternative medicine and orthomolecular medicine (e.g. using vitamins to treat disease) generally. In discussing some alternative medicine, the authors rightly make references to the financial conflicts of interest of those involved in selling dubious products. Why is this same analysis NOT applied to the pharmaceutical companies and allopathic doctors that bash alternative medicine? The authors apparently dont understand that giant pharmaceutical firms play just as dirty, and have a gigantic financial interest in undermining research into competing alternative therapies.

So, While I appreciate the authors recommendations for analysis, I think they either fail to properly apply their own advice, or are unaware of (or ignore) facts pertaining to the unconventional topics they discuss.

Not only is this book really informative, it's also entertaining. It goes through most of the 'weird' stories that you have probably heard. Stories like the monster of loch ness, bigfoot, near-death experiences, mediums, haunted houses, etc. And it analyzes each of these claims with a framework built on top of logic and the scientific method.

The authors do a pretty good job of giving each of these issues a fair treatment. E.g. they don't claim that UFOs are non-existant, or impossible to exist. They just claim that for the set of phenomena reported as UFOs, there are other, simpler, explanations.

Somewhere in the book it says "The more a theory contradicts your existing beliefs, the more suspicious you should be of it" (paraphrasing). What I'm driving at is that if you have a lot of beliefs about weird things, like ESP, etc. you will find a lot of the things in this book hard to swallow. If you're already a skeptic you'll be nodding your head a lot.

However, if you believe in something and are trying to convince someone else to believe it too, the tools in this book are probably the only ones that will accomplish the deed.

You can either think about weird things and let it bother you or you can analyze it. This book was a fun read and worth the purchase. Also, it was a textbook for a philosophy class.

What a Hoot. I loved the book and the ideas other people came up with. Some ideas are weird, but some are just plain crazy. If I stray into "CRAZY" I hope a friend or two will make a comment.

Best to everyone!

I was recommended this book buy someone who was helping me improve my academic writing skills.

I have, in the past, taken compulsory classes on critical thinking without ever getting much out of them. But critical thinking is an essential skill for anyone looking to be successful in business, science, academia - the list goes on.

The difference with this book is that a find it more accessible and instead of just bashing the "weird things" it truly objectively looks at them whilst introducing you to key concepts and terminology.

The book points out the weakness of both people who propose and try to refute certain claims, this is a huge strength.

In short if you want to improve your reasoning/logic/critical thinking abilities, especially if you have had trouble with formalised teaching of this subject this book is very likely to help.

Clearly a university textbook but a great read for anyone interested in demystifying strange occurrences and conspiracy theories. Shows how extraordinary hypotheses need extraordinary proofs and how our minds are too easily persuaded by unsupported arguments such as pure wishful thinking leading to faith beliefs without a shred of evidence. However, in my opinion the book evades the obvious criticism of religious beliefs except to mention that the Catholic Church still endorses the idea that the devil can enter a person's mind and that miracles are God's will based on the fact that no natural explanation is forthcoming. I recommend Christopher Hitchin's book "God is not great" as a logical follow-on.

This book does require work to get the best from it. But it is worth it the effort.

Small size means it is succinct but with just enough real world examples to make it comprehensible.

It has changed my view on a number of issues.

If you like you books to get to the point then this is the one.

Mentally stimulating book, helps us think critically. Somethings that happen to us in life cant be explained away.

Excellent.