Here are some gems to unmask the bunco artists - Rated 
"First you decide what you believe, then you find the evidence, brushing aside anything that doesn't fit," writes Thompson in explaining how irrational beliefs develop.
Logic is the ideal way to unmask the bunco artists of the modern world. So, how does a modern Don Quixote challenge the windmills of superstition, nonsense and lies of zealots, crackpots, frauds and government bureaucrats?
This book is a great answer. It is a marvelous collection of fads, fallacies, farces and frauds in the name of science, religion, medicine and every other modern topic. Thompson does a masterful job in exposing the myriad phantasies of the modern world; however, even the best of logic cannot overcome the delusions of true believers.
Folly is usually the result of stupidity or cupidity.
For example: Tobacco is harmful to one's health. The British health ministry knew this by 1956; but any warning was vetoed by Prime Minister Harold Macmillan "because the Treasury believed the revenue from cigarette taxation was too important to be put at risk." (This direct quote is from John Kay, the Financial Times, June 4, 2008)
Government officials took the attitude, "We lied to you for our own good. Now trust us." President George W. Bush used a similar rationale of "lying to Americans for our own good" to generate fear about Weapons of Mass Destruction and thus justify his war on Iraq.
Since governments lie, why should people trust official government statements? Likewise, why trust an expert doctor who diagnoses cancer? This legacy of distrust by official sources is why some people trust quacks and charlatans more than experts for simple answers to complex issues.
Actually, the desire for simple solutions goes back at least to the legend of Alexander the Great and the Gordian Knot - - the ultimate simple but irrelevant solution to a complex problem. In today's world, Creationism is the simple answer vs. the complexities of the math and physics of Quarks and/or Superstring theories.
The practical person, more so in modern American than in Alexander's time, is admired. Instead of untying the long complex knowledge-knot of cancer, it's easier to trust the counterknowledge of a quack-with-a-pill than a doctor with a complicated diagnosis. Since government officials tell lies or deliberately bury the truth, it's hardly surprising that some suspect the World Trade Center attacks are an American government plot?
Some people want quick and easy answers. As Thompson clearly shows, there's always someone who "knows about a secret little shortcut". This book is a first-class debunking of today's popular bunk and bunco artists.
It's a marvelous roadmap of modern gullibility. It is concise, readable, straightforward and packed with logic. For that reason, it should be read by everyone; for that reason, sadly, only the intelligent will find it interesting. It's simply too logical, too rational, too good, to become a best seller.
As such, it's a pity. The book is excellent; being so, it will only appeal to readers who don't believe in fads, fallacies, cults and things-that-go-bump-in-the-night. It's truly an example of offering gems to the literate audience . . . Let's hope there's enough rational people left to make it a best seller.
short, narrow, shallow. - Rated 
I found myself agreeing with the reviewer who gave this book one star. For a start it is very short, narrow and shallow. It makes no attempt at all to contextualise the subject either from a historical or a human viewpoint. After all false knowledge is nothing new, history is riddled with it. There is a vague attempt to understand the human element in the last chapter, but only from a modern viewpoint. I found the chapter on alternative medicine very weak because the writer doesn't bother to ask why so many people turn to this when anyone who has been to see their G.P. lately could tell him the answer. To sum up this book is really just a rant or if you like, a list, and I didn't read anything at all in it that I didn't already know, and I am just a cook.
Feeling a little sick? - Rated 
If your feeling a little sick, a little bit tired of being spun, hoodwinked and lied to then I suggest you read this book. There are better books out there doing valuable service in the battle to bayonet the pseudo historians, pseudo scientists, Creationists and other assorted charlatans out of their prepared positions but, if your a new recruit, this is a succinct and readable first step on the road. Go get em!
Pretty unhelpful, abusive and twisted - Rated 
I was really looking forward to this book. The amount of urban myth expunged by the media and internet meant this should be a rare opportunity to get a decently written and factual point of view. Alas all we get is Thompson's own twisted view on things and personal abuse - that just devalues his objective.
He lurches all over the place and tries to 'debunk' pretty much everything based seemingly on his own jaundiced preferences. He complains that counterknowledge is based only on random references or unproved theory or single source evidence. Unfortunately he falls in to the same trap himself and weighs in with some pretty unconvincing 'facts' of his own. In some areas, such as 9/11, the book covers the issues well - but elsewhere all we get is his abuse and standpoint without convincing argument. All in all this should have been a great book but instead its one man's twisted perception and bias. There are much better factual books. Not worth buying it really.
At last, the tool a true sceptic needs.... - Rated
If like me you are fed up with 'George Bush planned 9/11' or 'MI6 killed Diana' or even 'The Da Vinci Code has some thought provoking ideas' then this is the book for you. Thompson makes an impassioned cry for research and evidence based conclusions. For the reader, ammunition is provided to shoot down those who keep coming out with such witless and baseless statements. Quite what the authors association with the Catholic Herald has to do with the quality of this book I don't know, especialy as one of his main targets in the book are creationists. Thompson does not close his mind to new ideas or science only bad methodology passed off as science.
My only criticisms are that the author does not explore why people are prepared to fall for counterknowledge despite all the evidence to the contrary. I also would like the book to have had more content, ie: more de-bunking of all the quacks and conspiricists that plague modern life
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