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Belief in the Age of Science
Princeton University Press
October 2008
On Sale: September 22, 2008
240 pages
ISBN: 0691133557
EAN: 9780691133553
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
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.
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