Summary
Title: Skeptical Odysseys: Personal Accounts by the World's Leading Paranormal Inquirers
Author: edited by Paul Kurtz.
Publisher: Prometheus Books
ISBN: 1573928844
Pro:
• Biographical and personal accounts of skepticism not usually seen in such anthologies
• Humanizes and personalizes the skeptical movement
Con:
• None
Description:
• Thirty-fives essays exploring the nature of skepticism on a very personal and biographical level
• Published on the 25th anniversary of the founding of CSICOP
• Explains why people are skeptics despite the considerable social pressure to conform
Book Review
Understanding the backgrounds and personalities of those who pursue skepticism is the general theme of Skeptical Odysseys, edited by Paul Kurtz. As the founder of CSICOP (Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal), Kurtz has become personally acquainted with hundreds of skeptics over the past couple of decades, many of whom have joined CSICOP or who have become leaders of skeptical, critical, and scientific organizations elsewhere.
This book was published on the 25th anniversary of CSICOP's founding in order to commemorate both the skeptical movement and those who have played such an important role in promoting skepticism and science. Thirty-five different people reflect upon their own personal odyssey to skepticism - the issues they have had to tackle, their own biographical history, and the challenges which continue to animate skeptical inquiry today.
In some ways this book is very similar to dozens of other skeptical anthologies, offering a series of essays presenting a skeptical take on issues like ESP, creationism, near death experiences, and so on. Where this book differs, however, is in the very personal quality of each of these articles. Instead of just criticizing paranormal beliefs, the authors explain how and why they came to be skeptical - not only of something in particular but of various paranormal ideas generally.
In doing so, the essays accomplish something too rarely seen in skeptical books: they emphasize the positive and human aspects of skepticism, not just the critical and negative. As Kendrick Frazier writes in his article:
- "I think that the best way for most scientists, scholars, and teachers to [promote skepticism] is to emphasize the positive. Emphasize what you are *for. We share important core values that should appeal to a good part of the public: honesty, integrity, and the value of good science, clear thinking, intelligence, scientific literacy, science education, and open scientific inquiry."
Other authors include Susan Blackmore, Henry Gordon, Bill Nye, and Martin Gardner. Many of them reveal details about their lives and their research that you definitely won't find elsewhere. While regular readers of Skeptical Inquirer and other skeptical publications may be most inclined to buy this, others should give it serious consideration as well.
I don't think that it was meant to serve as an introduction to skepticism, but it may accomplish that task very well by humanizing and personalizing what skepticism is all about.
