The Unpersuadables: Adventures with the Enemies of Science in Science and Inquiry

Apr 25, 2021 Petra lives on a little Caribbean island added it

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I don't understand this, Christianity is a monothesist religion but sound more like a dualism with two supremely opposed Gods each with their own realm in the hereafter:

"When God says something's wrong, the Devil's out to do anything to convince us it's right."
"But if you follow that logic, any thought we have that goes against the Bible is the Devil. So we're not allowed to think for ourselves."
"We are allowed to think for ourselves. Your first step is thinking that God's wiser than me so I wi ...more

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Apr 20, 2014 David Rubenstein rated it it was amazing

Shelves: religion, ethics, memoirs, psychology, nonfiction, science, evolution, crackpot-science

This is a fascinating work of investigative journalism. The author, Will Storr, examines a range of beliefs that are antithetical to science, history, and even common sense. He interviews people who have these strange beliefs, and digs in deep. He tries to understand why people have these beliefs, their motivations, their way of thinking. Storr sometimes mentions the contradictions between these crazy ideas and reality--and listens carefully as these people rationalize their beliefs.

Storr interv This is a fascinating work of investigative journalism. The author, Will Storr, examines a range of beliefs that are antithetical to science, history, and even common sense. He interviews people who have these strange beliefs, and digs in deep. He tries to understand why people have these beliefs, their motivations, their way of thinking. Storr sometimes mentions the contradictions between these crazy ideas and reality--and listens carefully as these people rationalize their beliefs.

Storr interviews creationist John Mackay, UFO believers Glennys Mackay and Kay McCullock--and psychiatrist Professor John Mack, who tries to understand the psychology of why people believe in UFO's and alien abductions. Storr joins an enormous yoga session led by "swami" Ramdev, and later interviews him and his assistants. Ramdev claims to be able to cure just about any disease, including cancer (but not AIDS). Storr interviews "past-life regression" counselors, and takes a radical ten-day Buddhist mediation course that turns out to be psychologically painful. He interviews people who are convinced that homeopathy works, and he interviews "skeptics" who turn out to be just as closed-minded as the so-called "quacks". He interviews a climate-change denier and a holocaust denier.

Then, Storr interviews people who complain of painful symptoms of a disease named Morgellons. The medical establishment dismisses this disease as non-existent, that is to say, it is in the minds of the sufferers. However, there is strong evidence that it is a real syndrome caused by very small mites that dig into one's skin. But the medical establishment believes that the sufferers are delusional, and seem to reject the possibility of a real, physical cause.

Storr describes some fascinating interviews with schizophrenics, and he interviews psychiatrists who try to treat them--some using conventional medicine, and others using unconventional approaches. In some cases, there is evidence that schizophrenia can be triggered by traumatic events--but this idea is very controversial. Storr interviews a number of scientists, trying to understand how people acquire these strange ideas. He investigates how much of our political preferences are due to nature and how much are due to our environment.

There is a very confusing chapter, centered around a woman who committed suicide. She surely suffered from some mental illness. But there are strong suspicions that certain "therapists" pushed her into mental aberrations, by inducing memories of abuse by satanic cults--memories of events that probably never occurred. Storr goes into detail, trying to understand how memories of non-existent events can be induced.

This book is also a very personal memoir. Will Storr brings up his own history, and tries to understand his own beliefs--how he came by them, and how he sometimes suffers from delusions that are just as confounding as the subjects of his interviews. The book is entertaining, engaging, and gives a wonderful insight into the field of investigative reporting. I highly recommend it! ...more

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Oct 26, 2018 Nicola rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Those of you prepared to doubt forever your own 'reality', read this book. It's worth it full stop, but even if you only read about our confabulations you won't have wasted your time. May have to purchase to re-read several time. ...more

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