The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe

How to Know What's Really Real in a World Increasingly Full of Fake

By: Steven Novella, Bob Novella - contributor, Cara Santa Maria - contributor, Jay Novella - contributor, Evan Bernstein - contributor

Narrated by: Steven Novella

Length: 15 hrs and 55 mins

Publisher's summary

An all-encompassing guide to skeptical thinking from podcast host and academic neurologist at Yale University School of Medicine Steven Novella and his SGU co-hosts, which Richard Wiseman calls "the perfect primer for anyone who wants to separate fact from fiction."

It is intimidating to realize that we live in a world overflowing with misinformation, bias, myths, deception, and flawed knowledge. There really are no ultimate authority figures - no one has the secret, and there is no place to look up the definitive answers to our questions (not even Google).

Luckily, The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe is your map through this maze of modern life. Here Dr. Steven Novella - along with Bob Novella, Cara Santa Maria, Jay Novella, and Evan Bernstein - will explain the tenets of skeptical thinking and debunk some of the biggest scientific myths, fallacies, and conspiracy theories - from anti-vaccines to homeopathy, UFO sightings to N-rays. You'll learn the difference between science and pseudoscience, essential critical thinking skills, ways to discuss conspiracy theories with that crazy co-worker of yours, and how to combat sloppy reasoning, bad arguments, and superstitious thinking.

So are you ready to join them on an epic scientific quest, one that has taken us from huddling in dark caves to setting foot on the moon? (Yes, we really did that.) Don't Panic! With The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe, we can do this together.

"Thorough, informative, and enlightening, The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe inoculates you against the frailties and shortcomings of human cognition. If this book does not become required reading for us all, we may well see modern civilization unravel before our eyes." (Neil deGrasse Tyson)

"In this age of real and fake information, your ability to reason, to think in scientifically skeptical fashion, is the most important skill you can have. Read The Skeptics' Guide Universe; get better at reasoning. And if this claim about the importance of reason is wrong, The Skeptics' Guide will help you figure that out, too." (Bill Nye)

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2018 Steven Novella, Bob Novella, Cara Santa Maria, Jay Novella, Evan Bernstein (P)2018 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

"A terrific book for anyone who wants a better understanding about the world around them and an essential guide to navigating modern life. The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe will help readers recognize pitfalls in reasoning, combat bad arguments and avoid superstitious thinking." (Simon Singh, skeptic and author of Fermat's Enigma)

"If everyone in the world were to read this book, we might just arrest humankind's depressing slide into truthlessness. Someone should put the Skeptics' Guide on the vaccination schedule." (Tim Minchin)

"Empowering and illuminating, this thinker's paradise is an antidote to spreading anti-scientific sentiments. Readers will return to its ideas again and again." (Publishers Weekly)

Amazing resource to sharpen your logic tools

Hey SGU Team,

I’ve just listened to your new book through Audible and I am encouraged to write this letter with admiration for what you have all created.

First of all, I was already excited for the book as I’m a big fan of the podcast and I’m a big fan of science and the logical processes involved. So of course I thought that this book was for people like me. But I was wrong. This book is far more inclusive than expected, and I certainly mean that in a positive way.

You all did an amazing job making Skeptics Guide to the Universe a book for everyone. It is like a universal tool, a kind of Swiss Army Knife for rational thinking. You manage to bring everyone to the table and treat them as equals even on topics that could otherwise easily alienate people due to their beliefs or biases. You manage to defuse that right out front in the first few chapters of the book by just laying it out there that we are all human and we all have the same natural biological and psychological tendencies when it comes to clutching to false ideas, preconceived notions and imperfect memory. You demonstrate how it’s natural for that to affect our opinions and beliefs and what we think we know to be factual. And then you provide the tools that allow us to sharpen our intellect and self-correct on our own paths to greater understanding.

I’m also grateful for all that you have done to demonstrate how science can be so much more than just the endless studies that get published. It is a process and a method of self-correction that leads to a greater understanding of life, the universe and everything and how much more amazingly beautiful, complex and mysterious it all is with each new discovery we make.

Cheers to all of you and that you continue to share with the world,

Colin Flahive
Kunming, China

No Headings For Table Of Contents

The audiobook doesn't include the titles of the chapters, just the numbers. That makes it hard to find what you're looking for and that's a problem because the book is a great reference book for various logical fallacies and cognitive distortions. If I want to find the section on, say, the Dunning-Krueger effect, I have to look at the print source.

The title says it all.

This is a must read for anyone that cares about drawing true conclusions and finding out when they've been wrong about something. When it comes to critical thinking, science, logical fallacies, and pseudoscience, they cover everything, and it's very accessible. And it's really entertaining. My only gripe is that the narrator and author doesn't always have the same energy as he does on their podcast. But it's a minor complaint.

So flex your intellectual honesty and just dive in. Because the world could use a few more critical thinkers and a LOT more neuropsychological humility.

probably a good starter for a budding skeptic

I listen to the podcast a lot so might be a little biased. Good stuff.

Perfect intro to being science literate

This book contains the perfect starter toolset for becoming science-literate -- how to evaluate claims, how to recognize cognitive and logical roadblocks, valid observational logic, and how to spot instances where this rigor is not followed.

I noticed a few stances in this book, including 2 whole chapters, where I believe the authors did not follow their own strenuous guidelines and came to some misleading if not wrong conclusions. This 100% does NOT invalidate their points on the standards of logic or rigor. As they point out several times: the process is more important than the conclusions. And the process they teach here is exactly how one should approach issues.

The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe teaches that science is a methodology and a way of evaluating reality. "Science" emphatically is not a set of conclusions or beliefs. The conclusions and beliefs are held in high regard to the extent that they are a result of this methodology.

The book runs a bit long and there are a few dry spots that can be tough to get through. As such, it's hard to recommend to everyone at large. I wish it had been edited down a bit for this reason. This is information that everyone should have, but this specific book may not be the best way for everyone to get it.

great! we all need more of this!

all of these concepts... I think I get it, but then a new Vista opens. it seems endless.

Great book on why we believe wrong things.

Holy crap, they really knocked this book out of the park. There's a short clump in the middle I felt slowed down a bit, but everything else is solid, insightful, and fascinating.

Solid information that is explained well.

This is a difficult subject that most adults have limited information about. Good overview and solid reference guide. This book will help you think and analyze information better. A must read for anyone involved in science communication, teaching, or the media.

Vital reading for everyone!

Wonderful, fun primer for critical thinking and skepticism. Short, pithy segments and a breezy listen!

Amazing book!!!!!

I couldn't stop listening to this book. I definitely learned new things and will be rereading it again a few times. Hope there will be more like it.