The Borderlands of Science

Where Sense Meets Nonsense

By: Michael Shermer

Narrated by: Grover Gardner

As author of the bestselling Why People Believe Weird Things and How We Believe, and Editor-in-Chief of Skeptic magazine, Michael Shermer has emerged as the nation's number one scourge of superstition and bad science. Now, in The Borderlands of Science, he takes us to the place where real science (such as the big bang theory), borderland science (superstring theory), and just plain nonsense (Big Foot) collide with one another.

Shermer argues that science is the best lens through which to view the world, but he recognizes that it's often difficult for most of us to tell where valid science leaves off and borderland science begins. To help us, Shermer looks at a range of topics that put the boundary line in high relief. For instance, he discusses the many theories of everything that try to reduce the complexity of the world to a single principle, and shows how most fall into the category of pseudoscience. He examines the work of Darwin and Freud, explaining why one is among the great scientists in history, while the other has become nothing more than a historical curiosity. He also shows how Carl Sagan's life exemplified the struggle we all face to find a balance between being open-minded enough to recognize radical new ideas but not so open-minded that our brains fall out. And finally, he reveals how scientists themselves can be led astray, as seen in the infamous Piltdown Hoax.

Michael Shermer's enlightening volume will be a valuable aid to anyone bewildered by the many scientific theories swirling about. It will help us stay grounded in common sense as we try to evaluate everything from SETI and acupuncture to hypnosis and cloning.©2001 Michael Shermer; (P)2001 Books on Tape, Inc.

A rambling man.

This book has some good insight and history mixed in with the author's rambling on and of topic. I would only choose it if you cannot find anything captivating or you need to argue a point with a psuedo-scientist.

Oh my...

I am somewhat disappointed to be honest. Usually, the author is 1,2,3 kind of person. With this, do not expect a sign post type book. It is somewhat hard to track, and I can not say I am happy with it. Best to spend your credits elsewhere I think

reasonable

its hard to get a honest review of a book about reason in a world where d chopra's book is listed in the (audible.com b and nobles and amazons) nonfiction section.... shermer is a clear thinker and an important writer. an ejoyabe book for every level. cleverly and repectfully helps all of us to understand the crutial differences between hard facts and soft feelings.

Like a mosaic

The title may be deceiving. The book is like a mosaic, never gets focused on some specific area. It was a great joy to learn lots of valuable details on "History of Science" from my favorite author M.Shermer. But I think, I expected something more.

Who makes an audiobook of a book with figures?

I began by searching for all of Grover Gardner's books, then picked the best of those that I had not heard. He's in my top 3! He did not disappoint in this work. I wonder if Audible could cross-reference all three of Grover's noms de lire? It would be nice if a search for Grover Gardner, narrator also listed Tom Parker's and Alexander Adam's works.

This book is actually a collection of essays called chapters. The chapters/essays pretty much follow the same theme, but only loosely in some cases. The big surprise came when Grover made reference to a figure numbered in the thirties! There had been no figures 1-29, so I sussed that I was listening to a collection of smaller works. Grover didn't attempt to describe the figures, but I think I figured it out anyway.

By the way, before I started listening I wondered why Michael Shermer's name was so familiar to me. RAAM!