Superstition: Belief in the Age of Science

From uttering a prayer before boarding a plane, to exploring past lives through hypnosis, has superstition become pervasive in contemporary culture? Robert Park, the best-selling author of Voodoo Science, argues that it has. In Superstition, Park asks why people persist in superstitious convictions long after science has shown them to be ill-founded. He takes on supernatural beliefs from religion and the afterlife to New Age spiritualism and faith-based medical claims. He examines recent controversies and concludes that science is the only way we have of understanding the world. Park sides with the forces of reason in a world of continuing and, he fears, increasing superstition. Chapter by chapter, he explains how people too easily mistake pseudoscience for science. He discusses parapsychology, homeopathy, and acupuncture; he questions the existence of souls, the foundations of intelligent design, and the power of prayer; he asks for evidence of reincarnation and astral projections; and he challenges the idea of heaven. Throughout, he demonstrates how people's blind faith, and their confidence in suspect phenomena and remedies, are manipulated for political ends. Park shows that science prevails when people stop fooling themselves. Compelling and precise, Superstition takes no hostages in its quest to provoke. In shedding light on some very sensitive--and Park would say scientifically dubious--issues, the book is sure to spark discussion and controversy.

Table of Contents:
Introduction: Lessons from a tree vii CHAPTER ONE: A BIGGER PRIZE 1 In which we discover scientists of faith CHAPTER TWO: THE SECRET OF LIFE 23 In which Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection survives CHAPTER THREE: MIRACLE AT COLUMBIA 56 In which both sides pray for victory CHAPTER FOUR: GIVING UP THE GHOST 79 In which we search for the soul CHAPTER FIVE: THE SILENT ARMY 93 In which we search for an afterlife CHAPTER SIX: THE TSUNAMI GOD 104 In which the innocent suffer CHAPTER SEVEN: THE NEW AGE 116 In which anything goes CHAPTER EIGHT: SCHRODINGER'S GRAVE 129 In which quantum mysticism is found to be superstition CHAPTER NINE: THE BARBARY DUCK 142 In which the body heals itself CHAPTER TEN: THE DEER 161 In which the placebo effect is explained CHAPTER ELEVEN: THE MORAL LAW 188 In which we instinctively know right from wrong CHAPTER TWELVE: THE LAST BUTTERFLY 202 In which there is no place else to go Bibliography 217 Index 221

About the Author :
Robert L. Park is professor of physics at the University of Maryland. He is the author of Voodoo Science: The Road from Foolishness to Fraud.

Review :
"Park writes with bemusement at human folly but also with outrage at the misappropriation of science."--Robert A. Segal, Times Higher Education "Park uses his personal story to great effect to champion scientific thinking. He also gets under its skin, to explain how, as well as what, science delivers."--Mark Henderson, Times (London) "For Princeton physicist Robert Park, science serves as a rapier for skewering all beliefs not sustained by empirical proof. Predictably, religion heads the list of targets ... [Park] pits experimental rigor not only against the creeds of antiquity but also against the irrationality of New Age gurus who evangelize for alternative medicines or extrasensory perception... Sure to spark sharp debate."--Bryce Christensen, Booklist "Parks' main target in the first part of his book is Christianity, especially its creationist and so-called intelligent-design offshoots. However, the world's other religions do not emerge unscathed... He takes on New Age beliefs, reserving particular scorn for those practitioners who add the word 'quantum' to unrelated topics like 'healing' to give themselves an imprimatur of scientific respectability... Both religious and non-religious scientists are sure to find something of interest in the rest."--Physics World "Genial anecdotal tales introduce each chapter, which are then followed with the cutting criticism of various pseudobelief systems. Dogmatic in his emphasis that science is the only way of knowing, Park weighs faith-based beliefs against scientific evidence and makes no allowance for other ways of knowing... The controversial content should provide debate material for the high school and young college crowd as well as the general public."--R.A. Hoots, Choice "With acerbic wit, Park, professor of physics at the University of Maryland, asks why we believe weird things even when no evidence supports our claims... A humanist and naturalist, Park asserts that science rejects appeal to authority in favor of empirical evidence."--Roy E. Perry, The Tennessean Bob Park is a sceptic's sceptic, a consummate critical thinker, a no-nonsense scientist who knows baloney when he detects it... Superstition is more than an entertaining romp through the weird and wonderful. It is an important contribution to the sceptical literature ... that every scientist needs to be aware of."--Michael Shermer, Nature Physics "Guns blazing, Park hunts down what he calls pseudo-science... I found myself enjoying much of this feisty book as a kind of entertainment that raises serious questions."--Evelyn Juers, Australian