Think: Why You Should Question Everything

215 Pages·2013·2.03 MB·English

by  Guy P. Harrison

Published 2013 by Prometheus Books Think: Why You Should Question Everything. Copyright © 2013 by
Guy P. Harrison. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, digital, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording, or otherwise, or conveyed via the Internet or a website without prior written permission of the
publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
Prometheus Books recognizes the following registered trademarks, trademarks, and service marks
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Cover image © 2013 Media Bakery
Cover design by Nicole Sommer-Lecht
Illustrations by Kevin Hand, © Guy P. Harrison Inquiries should be addressed to Prometheus Books
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The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:
Harrison, Guy P., author.
Think : why you should question everything / Guy P. Harrison.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-61614-807-2 (pbk.) ISBN 978-1-61614-808-9 (ebook) 1. Reasoning—Miscellanea. 2.
Critical thinking—Miscellanea. 3. Skepticism—Miscellanea. 4. Science—Methodology. I. Title.

BC177.H378 2013
153.4—dc23
2013024867
Printed in the United States of America
This book is dedicated to my mother, Coni Harrison.
Thanks for all those trips to the public library, Mom. They mattered.
50 POPULAR BELIEFS THAT PEOPLE THINK
ARE TRUE
“What would it take to create a world in which fantasy is not confused for fact
and public policy is based on objective reality? I don’t know for sure. But a good
place to start would be for everyone on Earth to read this book.”
—Neil deGrasse Tyson, astrophysicist, American Museum of Natural
History
“Harrison has added to the growing body of skeptical literature a contribution
that will continue to move our culture toward one that openly embraces reason,
science, and logic.”
—Michael Shermer, publisher of Skeptic, columnist for Scientific
American, and author of The Believing Brain
“Being a skeptic can be hard work, but Harrison makes it a lot easier. . . . This is
the book I wish I had written.”
—Phil Plait, author of The Bad Astronomer
“Deserves to be shelved alongside the works of such giants of the field as Randi,
Shermer, Kurtz, and Nickell. . . . A valuable, not to mention very entertainingly
written, addition to the literature of skepticism.”
—Booklist
50 REASONS PEOPLE GIVE FOR BELIEVING IN
A GOD
“Deep wisdom and patient explanations fill this excellent book.”
—James A. Haught, editor of the Charleston Gazette
“Engaging and enlightening. . . . Read this book to explore the many and diverse
reasons for belief.”
—Michael Shermer, publisher of Skeptic, columnist for Scientific
American, and author of The Believing Brain
“Doesn’t bully or condescend. Reading Harrison’s book is like having an
amiable chat with a wise old friend.”
—Cameron M. Smith and Charles Sullivan, authors of The Top 10
Myths about Evolution
50 SIMPLE QUESTIONS FOR EVERY CHRISTIAN
“Guy P. Harrison’s new book is a sober, thoughtful, and engaging series of
inquiries for us Christians. Answering them or at least responding to whether
they are ‘simple’ or the ‘correct’ questions is the kind of challenge we should
embrace wholeheartedly.”
—Rev. Barry Lynn, author of Piety & Politics and The Right to
Religious Liberty
“A thoughtful, conversational, and eminently engaging book. Harrison offers a
respectful and yet frank and undauntedly critical approach to Christianity.
Believers and nonbelievers alike will find this a worthy, provocative read.”
—Phil Zuckerman, PhD, professor of sociology and secular studies,
Pitzer College, author of Faith No More
“Carl Sagan taught us that we make life significant by the courage of our
questions and the depth of our answers. Guy P. Harrison offers fifty such
questions for Christians to better know their own religion.”
—Cameron M. Smith, PhD, Portland State University anthropologist,
author of The Fact of Evolution, and coauthor of The Top 10 Myths
about Evolution
“Award-winning writer Guy P. Harrison is an indispensable voice for science and
reason. I sincerely hope every Christian reads this remarkable and important
book so that they will better understand the real reasons why so many people are
skeptical of Christianity. As Harrison skillfully shows, it is not about anger,
arrogance, or rebellion, it’s about looking for answers to simple questions.”
—Peter Boghossian, instructor of philosophy, Portland State
University
“Harrison has posed serious challenges for Christians who explain their religious
practice as ‘a simple matter of faith.’ With persistent, but gentle, words, Harrison
injects logic, science, and rational thinking into the discussion of Christian
religions, asking only for consideration of facts without the emotional reaction of
considering all questions as attacks. This book is another well-written and well-
thought-out work by Guy P. Harrison, and it deserves serious consideration by
believers and nonbelievers alike.”
—Nick Wynne, author of Florida in the Great Depression:
Desperation and Defiance
“Guy P. Harrison has done the impossible, he has critically analyzed myth,
dogma, and belief in the most respectful and accessible way. Many have tried,
Guy has succeeded.”
—Jake Farr-Wharton, author of Letters to Christian Leaders
RACE AND REALITY: WHAT EVERYONE
SHOULD KNOW ABOUT OUR BIOLOGICAL
DIVERSITY
“This is a very important, profound, enjoyable, and enlightening book. It should
go a long way in helping disprove man’s most dangerous myth.”
—Robert W. Sussman, professor of anthropology, Washington
University; editor of Yearbook of Physical Anthropology; and editor
emeritus of American Anthropologist
“A tour de force that conveys the current science on racial classification in a
rigorous yet readable way. A book so clearly written, so elegantly crafted, so
packed with nuggets that even those who think they know it all about race and
racial classification will come away changed.”
—David B. Grusky, professor of sociology, Stanford University
“Guy P. Harrison’s well-written and passionate plea for eliminating the idea and
ideology of race should be widely read. He has shown that the idea of race not
only is contradicted by science but is a social anachronism that should not be
tolerated by society in the twenty-first century.”
—Audrey Smedley, professor emerita, anthropology and African
American studies, Virginia Commonwealth University
“Harrison shows we have a lot to learn and he is a great teacher. Drawing on a
wide variety of evidence—the hard data from fossils and DNA, interviews with
the victims of racism, and personal experiences—Harrison dismantles the ‘race’
concept, bolt by bolt. Exposing race as a social illusion and political tool—rather
than a biological reality—Harrison forces the reader to consider how they think
about ‘other folk.’ Anthropologists have no use for the race concept, and neither
should educated citizens.”
—Cameron M. Smith, PhD, Department of Anthropology, Portland
State University
“Guy P. Harrison’s comprehensive and engaging book should be required
reading for anyone who has thought about the benighted issue of ‘race.’ It will
clear the cobwebs from your head.”
—Steve Olson, author of Mapping Human History: Discovering the
Past through Our Genes
“Harrison challenges us to scrutinize our views about the reality of race and its
social consequences, marshaling impressive data and cogent arguments to
support his case against the validity of biological race categories. This is a true
work of enlightenment, one man’s grass-roots effort to raise our collective
consciousness to the absurdity of belief in the notion of race, and to raise
awareness of the fundamental unity of humankind.”
—George Williamson, PhD, Department of Philosophy, University of
Saskatchewan
“For decades, social and biological scientists have amassed evidence
demonstrating that the human species has no races, and that differences between
groups called races are not biologically based. Harrison makes this knowledge
accessible, and knocks the props out from under scientific arguments that have
been used to justify racism.”
—Jefferson M. Fish, professor emeritus of psychology, St. John’s
University, New York
Visit the author’s website at www.guypharrison.com
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
INTRODUCTION
1. STANDING TALL ON A FANTASY-PRONE PLANET
Think Like a Scientist
Halfway Home
Wait, What Is Skepticism?
No Off Days
Who Cares? So What? and Why Bother?
The Greatest Show in the Universe
Hate the Belief, Love the Believer
The Young Thinker
Take Responsibility for Your Own Brain
The Daily Grind
Fantasy and Fiction Are Okay
Science versus Superstition
It’s Not about Intelligence
Skepticism Takes on All Comers
Never Give Up! Never Surrender!
The Green Troll in a Red Dress
It’s Always a Good Time for Skepticism
Believers Say the Darndest Things
Evidence? We Don’t Need No Stinking Evidence!
“I Come in Peace”
Wrap It Up
Good Thinking!
2. PAY A VISIT TO THE STRANGE THING THAT LIVES INSIDE
YOUR HEAD
Remember Not to Trust Your Memory
I’ll Never Forget That Day! (Yes, You Will)
The Deceptive Brain
Forget Eyes—It’s the Brain That Sees
The Ape That Wasn’t There
Confirmation Bias
The Tale of Little Gretchen Greengums
Your Bizarre and Biased Brain
Arm Yourself in the War against Reality
Good Thinking!
3. A THINKER’S GUIDE TO UNUSUAL CLAIMS AND WEIRD
BELIEFS
Magical, Supernatural, Paranormal
UFOs
Alternative Medicine
Ghosts
Alien Abductions
Bigfoot and Cryptozoology
Psychics
The Roswell UFO Crash
Conspiracy Theories
Astrology
Miracles
Ancient Alien Astronauts
The End of the World
Moon-Landing Hoax
Nostradamus
Near-Death Experiences
Bermuda Triangle
Atlantis
Area 51
Extraordinary Religious Claims
Good Thinking!
4. THE PROPER CARE AND FEEDING OF A THINKING MACHINE
Brains Deserve Better Than This
Embracing the Brain
Eat Well, Think Well
Stand Up for Thinking
Sleep