Science Friction

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From gods to Gould - Rated
Being a sceptic takes courage. Scepticism means assaulting dogmas - read "entrenched stupidity" - and coping with the reaction. Shermer, who puts his scepticism on public view in his magazine, isn't lacking courage. With a flair for investigative journalism and a fine prose style to render results into words, he is always an informative and entertaining read. This collection of his articles is a delight, unmarred by the passage of time. Each one addresses a topic of enduring interest, guaranteeing a "read again" condition for these essays for some time to come.

Shermer displays his mettle up front by taking up roles in performing in the "paranormal". He "reads" Tarot cards, palms of hands and the stars. All of these experiments demonstrate the gullibility of those too inept or too lazy to learn how hollow these techniques really are. Why people believe such phenomena can answer the problems of everyday life remains one of our great mysteries. Shermer isn't addressing these topics from an "intellectual high ground" but from real experience. In his youth he was a Christian, buying into all the contrived legends and empty myths that superstition perpetuates. Discovering reality, he abandoned the trappings of deceptive teachings and struck out against them - all of them. This collection of essays isn't only a display of his experiences, it's ammunition we may all use in dealing with other misleading or manipulative teachings.

As a collection of writings on various topics, this book is naturally difficult to categorise. He discusses the difficulties the "secular humanists" endured with the creation of The Brights. The Brights are an attempt to coalesce the various non-theists in our society. While the name is logical, especially given its true meaning, American society has granted it the rank of a slur on those who refuse to accept easy dogmas. Essays on "heresies of science" and "spin-doctoring science" are a depressing indication of how the public lacks understanding of what science does and has done. If a particular column must be selected as noteworthy, it's Shermer's discussion of the Cancer in the Classroom, "intelligent design". Although much has been written on this insidious threat from Christians attempting to destroy scientific education, Shermer's essay "The New New Creationism" is an excellent overview. He summarises the history and tactics of the movement, recognising that only reality can counter it. Understanding of reality comes through education. It's a vicious circle.

Shermer concludes the collection with an adulatory essay on Stephen J. Gould. It's almost embarrassing to read. Shermer recounts John Maynard Smith's assessment that Gould's ideas were "so confused as to be hardly worth bothering with". Although intending to praise Gould, Shermer then goes on to prove Maynard Smith correct. Following the US academic theme of "publish or perish", Shermer does his sums - even to the level of word count. How much did Gould publish and on what? After gathering his numbers, Shermer goes on to shuffle them around by categories. We are given line, bar and pie charts as tokens of Gould's worth. That Gould had wide interests is a given. Baseball, a topic that puzzled Maynard Smith, loomed largest. Evolution, of course, was a major theme, with history of science close behind. What Shermer omits is Gould's approach to these topics. He enjoyed lifting people from obscurity and defending the indefenisble. Shermer notes Gould's resurrection of Jimmie Ussher's reputation [while misspelling his name], but ignores Gould's constant chipping away of Darwin's or Wallace's. Perhaps Shermer should have included a category for this approach in his counts. This flawed essay is the low point of the book, yet it is well presented and informative. Gould was a friend and Shermer's applause for him is understandable. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]