Skeptical Odysseys

S K E P T I C A L O D Y S S E Y S P E R S O N A L A C C O U N T S BY THE W O R L D ' S LEADING PARANORM AL INQUIRERS S K E P T I C A L O D Y S S E Y S EDITED PAUL KURTZ BY Prom etheus Books E D IT E D BY PAUL K U R T Z James Alcoclc Steve Allen Robert A. Baker Barry L. Beyerstein Susan Blackmore Vern L. Bullough Geoffrey Dean Neil deGrasse Tyson Cornells de Jager Sanal Edamaruku Antony Flew Kendrick Frazier Luis Alfonso Gamez M artin Gardner H enry Gordon Leon Jaroff Barry K arr Ivan W. Kelly Philip J. Klass Paul Kurtz Valerii A. Kuvakin Mario Mendez-Acosta David M orrison Joe Nickell Jan Willem Nienhuys Lee Nisbet Bill Nye Jean-Claude Pecker Massimo Polidoro Gary P. Posner Wallace Sampson Bela Scheiber Eugenie Scott Robert Sheaffer Michael Shermer V ictor J. Stenger David E . Thomas S K E P T I C A L CONTRIBUTORS O D Y S S E Y S This book brings together personal statements by the leading skeptics of the world on their investigations of the paranormal. Am ong the topics explored are ESP, psychic phenom ena, UFOIogy, astrology, alternative medicine, claim s of miracles, and religion. EDITED PAUL KURTZ BY PROMETHEUS BOOKS 5 9 J o h n G l e n n Dr i v e • A m h e r s t , N e w Y o r k 1 4 2 2 8 - 2 1 9 7 www.prometheusbooks.co m Prom etheus Bo ok s S K E P T I C A L O D Y S S E Y S Hayden Planetarium director Neil deGrasse Tyson, science educator Eugenie Sco tt, Bill Nye “T h e Science Guy,” and others. T h ey com e from the United States, Canada, Great Britain, France, India, the Netherlands, Aus­ “We hope that the rea d er o f this book will em bark with us upon these various skepti­ cal odysseys. They a re pluralistic a n d d i­ verse, yet they enable the rea d er to explore the power o f skeptical thinking and, I sub­ mit, to see its value to any civilized com ­ m unity. They also provide overviews o f a sig n ifica n t skeptical m ovem ent that has em erged in the latter q u a rter o f the twen­ tieth century as it tries not only to gra p p le with pseudoscience a n d antiscience but to d efen d the integrity a n d significance o f science a n d reason.” tralia, Spain, M ex ico , and Russia. T h e co n trib u tors focus on the evolu ­ tio n o f con tem porary skepticism , parapsy­ chology, U F O s , astron om y and the space age, astrology, creationism, alternative m ed­ icine, skepticism around the world, personal reflections, religion, and popular investiga­ tions o f the paranorm al. This is a unique and exciting history o f the current skeptical m ovem ent. -PAUL KURTZ Issued 011 the tw enty-fifth anniversary o f the C om m ittee for the Scientific Investiga­ tion o f Claims o f the Paranormal (C S IC O P ), Skeptical Odyss