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March 31, 2008

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Mark Horn

The difficult, thing, I think, is not in accepting the validity of that statement, but in learning how to apply 'skeptical scrutiny' in the first place. I've said this before, but I think it's important to 1) not become to arrogant about the fact that we, as skeptics, are immune to crazy ideas; we're not, and 2) work as hard as we can, daily, to learn to strengthen our ability to think critically. I think, as you alluded to, critical thought is not only difficult, but unnatural for us. It takes work, constantly, because it is something that our very nature rebels against. For instance, confirmation bias: we all have it, and the trick is to be aware of it and attempt to actively minimize its influence on our thought. I love Sagan, I think I'll post my thoughts on that book in my next blog post. Nice one, Matt!

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Books I've read this year

  • Leonard Mlodinow: Feynman's Rainbow: A Search for Beauty in Physics and in Life
  • Robert Louis Stevenson: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
  • J.K. Rowling: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
  • Neil Shubin: Your Inner Fish: a Journey into the 3.5-billion-year History of the Human Body
  • Chris Hedges: I Don't Believe In Atheists
  • Mike Sexton: One of a Kind
  • Voltaire: Candide
  • Orson Scott Card: Ender's Game
  • Ayaan Hirsi Ali: Infidel
  • Josh Waitzkin: The Art of Learning
  • Carl Sagan edited by Ann Druyan: The Varieties of Scientific Experience
  • Victor Stenger: God: The Failed Hypothesis
  • Mark Leyner and Billy Goldberg, M.D.: Why Do Men Have Nipples?
  • Mark Leyner and Billy Goldberg, M.D.: Why Do Men Fall Asleep After Sex?
  • Piers Anthony: Castle Roogna
  • Piers Anthony: The Source of Magic
  • Piers Anthony: A Spell for Chameleon
  • Kurt Vonnegut: Slaughterhouse Five
  • Bill Bryson: A Short History of Nearly Everything
  • Douglas Adams: The Restaurant At the End of the Universe
  • Andy Bellin: Poker Nation
  • Douglas Adams: Life, the Universe and Everything
  • Sam Harris: Letter to a Christian Nation
  • A.J. Jacobs: The Know-It-All
  • Douglas Adams: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
  • Christopher Hitchens: God is Not Great
  • Richard Dawkins: The God Delusion
  • Steven Pressfield: Gates of Fire
  • Edwin A. Abbott: Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions
  • Terry Brooks: First King of Shannara