Eight Preposterous Propositions

Placebo cures. Global warming. Extraterrestrial life. Psychokinesis. In a time when scientific claims can sound as strange as science fiction--and can have a profound effect on individual life or public policy--assessing the merits of a far-out, supposedly scientific idea can be as difficult as it is urgent. Into the breach between helpless gullibility and unyielding skepticism steps physicist Robert Ehrlich, with an indispensable guide to making sense of "scientific" claims. A series of case studies of some of the most controversial (and for the judging public, deeply vexing) topics in the natural and social sciences, Ehrlich's book serves as a primer for evaluating the evidence for the sort of strange-sounding ideas that can shape our lives. A much-anticipated follow-up to his popular Nine Crazy Ideas in Science, this book takes up issues close to readers' everyday reality--issues such as global warming, the dangers of cholesterol, and the effectiveness of placebos--as well as questions that resonate through (and beyond) civic life: Is intelligent design a scientific alternative to evolution? Is homosexuality primarily innate? Are people getting smarter or dumber?;In each case, E

"Ehrlich insists that, with little homework, anyone can tool up enough mentally to discriminate between the wholly plausible and the downright dodgy."--Anjana Ahuja, The Times (London) "Ehrlich has set himself the heroic task, concealed beneath his flippant title, of confronting the tide of irrationality in what is in effect a manual of scientific reasoning... He has dug consistently deep and marshaled the evidence in masterly style."--Walter Gratzer, Nature "A thoroughly responsible, persuasive collection of science demystification."--Michael Pakenham, Baltimore Sun "Ehrlich impressively covers a wide range of topics, and we are once again reminded of the tentative nature of many assertions made about the world... I believe the vast majority of the readers of this book will learn a good deal, even if they disagree with some of Ehrlich's conclusions."--Peter Lamal, Skeptical Inquirer "U.S. physicist Ehrlich, author of more than 20 books, here calmly and intelligently confronts what has been called a 'tide of irrationality' in modern thinking, including not just the two subjects in the subtitle, but one of great current interest: Is Intelligent Design a Scientific Alternative to Evolution? (The short answer: No.)"--H.J. Kirchhoff, Toronto Globe and Mail "Some of Ehrlich's discussions surprised and enlightened me. Nearly all of them left me smiling in satisfaction that here was both a congenial author and an elegant, critical scientific thinker."--Dr. Richard Isaacman, Bridges

Robert Ehrlich is Professor of Physics at George Mason University and a Fellow of the American Physical Society. He is the author of twenty books, including "Nine Crazy Ideas in Science: A Few Might Even Be True", "Why Toast Lands Jelly-Side Down", and "Turning the World Inside Out & 174 Other Simple Physics Demonstrations" (all Princeton).