Conspiracies & Conspiracy Theories

What We Should and Shouldn't Believe - and Why

By: Michael Shermer, The Great Courses

Narrated by: Michael Shermer

Length: 6 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's Summary

Millions of Americans buy into conspiracy theories. Did you know that...

• 81 percent of Americans believe more than one person was responsible for the assassination of John F. Kennedy?
• 1/3 of this country thinks 9/11 was an “inside job” by the Bush administration? 
• 21 percent believes aliens crash-landed in Roswell and are being hidden in Area 51? 
• 7 percent are convinced that the moon landing was faked?

What causes some people to advocate these unfounded—often disproven—ideas as reality? And why is the power of conspiracies so compelling that they can motivate people to act, some even participating in acts of violence?

In this eye-opening Audible Original, Professor Michael Shermer, publisher of Skeptic magazine and the host of the Science Salon podcast, takes you through some of the most prevalent conspiracy theories in history, giving you a clear understanding of how and why they came about, who was likely to believe and perpetuate them, and the reality behind these beliefs.

Whether you are looking for the truth regarding popular conspiracy theories; are fascinated by the psychology of why people buy into them; or are interested in how they shaped and were shaped by history, this course will provide you all the tools you need to better understand the pervasiveness of conspiracy theories.  

©2019 Audible Originals, LLC (P)2019 Audible Originals, LLC.

Unconvincing take on conspiracies and conspiracy theories

This Audible Original course from the usually excellent The Great Courses would have better been titled 'The psychology of conspiracy theories', since that is the main focus of this course. The first handful of lectures deal with a breakdown of what makes a conspiracy theorist tick but I found the argument unconvincing. In this era where conspiracy theories have become common fodder on cable news and talk radio, fills up the shelves of our bookstores and is swamping the internet I think we have moved beyond the concept of a loony tune ranging away in a crowded room. Conspiracy Theories have almost become part of pop culture and group think than one man shouting loudly from the fringe. Unfortunetly, this premise is not explored at all even though the most popular theories - such as UFO or 911 - involve numerous people spouting theories over decades. The psychology used is solid but not related to the topic and, thus, I found it to be unconvincing. This short series of lectures was interesting but, in the end, unrewarding.

not what I was hoping for

I was hoping for more about what makes people susceptible to this sort of thinking, and how to effectively argue against conspiracists.
The lectures touched on those, but spent far more time giving historical accounts of known conspiracies that failed, succeeded, or never were.
it might be a great series if you are more interested in the history end than the psychological one.

No chapter titles!!???

I find it unbelievable that Audible would make a special contract with Great Courses to provide exclusive content but get lazy about putting in chapter titles. Without chapter titles, we can’t go from chapter to chapter depending on the topic we want to read about, which is the whole point of the great courses. Please fix this failure.

Really good review of conspiracy theories topic

Very interesting topic with many good examples including analysis of how/ why/ who around conspiracies.

Not ALL conspiracies are wrong…

(As posted in GoodReads)
I personally am not one for conspiracy theories, but the question of why some people get so convinced and drawn in by some of these has long baffled me. This book both points out some of the best known and most influential conspiracy theories and the aspects that pull people in. And it makes clear that, in fact, some conspiracies are real and that evolution has a good deal to do with the development of conspiracy theories in general. I am confident that I still use enough skepticism and reality to help build my beliefs.
Some of what is pointed out in lecture 10 is particularly unnerving and disturbing, but I really like this book.

Leftist Rant

If you are a leftist you may enjoy this book. Otherwise don't waste your time.

Persuasive discussion of the Kennedy assassination

As the author indicated, remastered HD versions of the Zapruder film do seem to show a spray of blood fanning out in a forward direction (before getting caught in the 20mph headwind) from the 3rd & fatal head shot, consistent with a shot from the rear

Irrekevant

immorally biased, irrelevant examples, short in perspective, narrow scope, pompous introduction, poorly written and read, a waste of time and money.

Not what I was expecting!

I got this thinking they’d be explaining all major conspiracy theories. Instead, you get education into the minds of conspiracies and those who believe them. It’s a very interesting listen to learn about why certain theories take off and the hardcore believers of that theory very seldom waiver. Great stuff here!!

A healthy dose of skepticism combined with a healt

Shermer's work here provides the tools needed to distinguish real conspiracies from the fraudulent.

Doesn't mock creationists

Despite what other reviewers have said, this presentation does not mock creationists. What it does, however, is compare the kinds of mental processes that might make a person favour "conspiracist" view of world politics, with those that might make a person favour creationism. This position, it seems to me, is both well-supported by evidence, and actually fairly obvious. Conspiracist politics provides a relatively simple, overarching principle that explains at a stroke the messiness and confusion of real-world politics, while creationism attempts to apply a unifying principle to the complexities of biology. Both politics and biology suffer from being pretty-much incomprehensibly untitdy, so people who like order and regularity will be drawn to modes of thinking that attempts to simply and organize things.

If this amounts to 'mocking', then mock away, but it isn't mocking somebody to explain why he or she might think in a particular way.

Having said all that, Shermer's smug scepticism does get rather wearing. In his books, and in this presentation, I really do get the impression that he's preaching to the choir -- and preaching it good and hard. If you're sceptically inclined yourself -- and I confess that I lean in that direction -- you don't need to have the merits of science and logical thinking drummed into you. And if you're not, you're not going to be convinced by logical thinking, by definition. So we could have done with more of the facts, and less of the bombast.

Moreover, this isn't an easy listen, even if you're fascinated by the subject -- which I am. There's an awful lot of facts and figures crammed into a relatively short presentation. He frequently refers to the work of other academics -- which, of course, he should -- but you have to pay attention, which makes it hard to listen when you might be interrupted. To be honest, I think the whole thing would be better presented as a book.

Thought provoking and well-balanced

Thought provoking and well balanced.
Well presented, well argued and effectively deals with a lot of the questionable speculative threads that dog a lot of dubious conspiracy theories.

Commonsense navigating nonsence

A welcome calm approach to rationalise the sensationalism of today. A gentle awakening to the fact that people want you to have their version of events as your version from within and without conspiracy, actual or theoretical. Not just pointing out where bias is but why as well. Enjoyed it.

It is a good course indeed.

I enjoyed this book a lot, not just because the conspiracy theory phenomenon is ever-growing and, it seems, more threatening to our democracy and social order. Sure, you get all the juicy details you might want to know about QAnon, but the book is really about humans and how we operate. Recommended.

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I thought I was buying a book about conspiracy theories but it's quite a dry lecture for 80% of the book about theory rather than actual conspiracies.

Spoilt by blinkered views

This book contains a lot of very useful information on psychology and the tendency for the human brain to work in certain repeatable ways.

However the credibility is destroyed by the author’s evaluations of conspiracy theories. The takeaways from this book seem to me to be:

- There are some real conspiracies in history but only the ones I say you can believe
- Belief in conspiracies puts you equivalent to the subjects of the Milgram experiments where lethal electric shocks were “given” to other participants
- witnesses can only be believed if their account matches the official version
- in a nutshell, to paraphrase the well know saying: if a conspiracy doth prosper none dare call it a conspiracy

Examples: if an autopsy shows that all fatal bullets were fired from close range behind the victim, but the suspect was always 3-5 feet in front of the victim? Apparently questioning that makes me nuts.

If the police provably falsified the ballistic evidence in order to obtain a conviction? No problem- if there had been a conspiracy someone would have talked.

(All of the above are from the Robert Kennedy case)

His treatment of JFK is even worse. Apparently trained and experienced doctors were unable to distinguish the back of the head from the side of the head. Again, witnesses can only be believed if they support one version. The “magic bullet” which suddenly appeared on a stretcher unconnected to either JFK or Governor Connolly? No problem. Or the fact that the person that handed it in said that it was not the same as the bullet on show now? Who could expect a witness to recognise something they held in their hand from a photo? A bullet which had no blood on it?

An interesting book which is ruined by, despite accusing conspiracy theorists of doing exactly this, cherry picks from available evidence. Gerald Posner and Vincent Bugliosi literally wrote two of the worst and most inaccurate books on the JFK case and these are the only two this author mentions.

Roswell, not sure now.

I like anything about UFOs and the section dedicated to the subject was fantastic. And there are many other subjects the book as a good look at, I thought it was a great read and the Narrator was top class.

Easy read

Great length chapters, well read, interesting and covered a lot of conspiracies and theories from a skeptic point of view

Smug

Very interesting topic. Was hoping to learn insights into if various theories held any standing. Quite relevant in this day and age. But I couldn’t get past the condescending, smug tone of the narrator.

Conspiracies & Theories

At first I found this book interesting! However the longer it went on it became more about debunking peoples believes then conspiracies and conspiracy theories and how they come about.

Now I’m not one to insult anyone’s intelligence but when we get to Lee Harvey Oswald was the shooter, I had to turn off!

What you believe is up to you and I will not try and persuade you otherwise why would I? But if Lee Harvey Made that shot he would have been the best of the best sniper the world had ever seen!

Now if you don’t believe me that’s fine I can live with that, but what cannot be denied is that shot came from the front of the vehicle sadly causing part of the president’s skull to explode out over the trunk!

When a bullet hits a target it makes a hole proportionate to its size then explodes out of a target, so unless you are saying that Lee Harvey Oswald was capable of firing a bullet from behind the president getting it to do a 180degree turn and then locking onto the presidents forehead all from behind the the motorcade which is in motion? Well your understanding on Newton’s Physics is better then mine! So ultimately what does this say it can only lead to one conclusion that some Conspiracies are real.

However it seems the writer wants us all to believe the opposite and the Government is this loving truth telling collection of our peers that would never lie and only ever tell you the truth, yeah right Michael this is one conspiracy that will never go away, because it is based on fact.