Michael Shermer
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Image:MichaelShermer02.jpgMichael Shermer (born 1954) is a science writer, historian of science, founder of The Skeptics Society, and editor of its magazine Skeptic, which is largely devoted to investigating pseudoscientific and supernatural claims. Shermer also produces and co-hosts the 13-hour Fox Family television series, "Exploring the Unknown," and is a monthly columnist for Scientific American magazine.
Shermer is the author of several books that attempt to explain the ubiquity of what in his opinion are irrational or unsubstantiated beliefs. Why People Believe Weird Things, treats a variey of "weird" ideas and groups (including cults), in the tradition of the skeptical writings of Martin Gardner. He has devoted entire books to Holocaust deniers (Denying History), and to belief in God (How We Believe). Shermer was once a fundamentalist Christian, but according to his book The Science of Good and Evil, is now an atheist and an advocate for materialist philosophy.
Shermer received his bachelor's degree from Pepperdine University in 1976 in Psychology/Biology, his master's degree from California State University, Fullerton in Experimental Psychology two years later, and his Ph.D. from Claremont Graduate University in History of Science in 1991 (with a dissertation entitled "Heretic-Scientist: Alfred Russel Wallace and the Evolution of Man: A Study on the Nature of Historical Change").
Shermer is also a cycling enthusiast and was once a marathon bicycle racer; he helped found the Race Across America and competed several times. He has produced over a half dozen documentaries on cycling.
Books
- Sport Cycling: A Guide to Training, Racing, and Endurance 1985 ISBN 0809252449
- Cycling: Endurance and Speed (Sportsperformance) 1987 ISBN 0809247755
- Teach Your Child Science 1989 ISBN 0929923081
- Teach Your Child Math and Mathemagics 1999 ISBN 0737301341
- The Borderlands of Science: Where Sense Meets Nonsense 2001 ISBN 0195143264
- How We Believe: The Search for God in an Age of Science 2001 ISBN 0613354133
- Denying History: Who Says the Holocaust Never Happened and Why Do They Say It? 2002 ISBN 0520234693
- In Darwin's Shadow: The Life and Science of Alfred Russel Wallace: A Biographical Study on the Psychology of History 2002 ISBN 0195148304
- Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time (2nd Revision edition) 2002 ISBN 0805070893
- The Science of Good and Evil: Why People Cheat, Gossip, Share, Care, and Follow the Golden Rule 2004 ISBN 0805075208
- Science Friction : Where the Known Meets the Unknown 2005 ISBN 0805077081