I started listening to this course with the goal of getting a better idea of how to determine what and what not to believe in terms of conspiracies by how to deploy critical thinking to what we are exposed to. Plus, I'm a big fan of Michael Shermer's work. The course begins by defining the differences between conspiracies and conspiracy theories and giving a breakdown of some of the psychological reasons we believe (and hold onto)them, even if they are debunked. Several examples of conspiracies

This was a fun book that talked about why people believe in conspiracy theories. Surprisingly, people of different political opinions, race, and gender believe in conspiracy theories at about the same rate—they just differ in *which* theories they believe in.Michael Shermer breaks down all the biases that lead to belief and provides a framework for evaluating the plausibility of the most popular theories.He also gets into the difference between conspiracies (which do exist) and conspiracy theori...

So good. Anyone with a conspiracy theorist in their life should read this and encourage their person to read it too. The author does a wonderful job of breaking down the complexities of conspiracy and debunking common theories. Bravo!

Last week, a conspiracy theory about Wayfair spread amidst a resurgence of #PizzaGate and "the Rothschilds." It is helpful to have constructive paranoia and skepticism, especially these days with the social internet. It's a fact that some conspiracies are actually true. (See: Fred Hampton; MK Ultra; PORTLAND.) I thought it'd be helpful to have a framework and approach to vet theories.The world is chaotic. Our brains want to move away from the cognitive dissonance that makes us uncomfortable to c...

This is an interesting series of lectures on conspiracy theories as well as actual conspiracies. It includes a nice little checklist on what to look for to separate what is likely true from what is most certainly nonsense. Some historical conspiracies are discussed along with some of the biggest conspiracy theories of recent memory. This didn’t come out recently enough to really cover the true gravity of the QAnon nonsense, but there was plenty here to sink your teeth into.Worth my time.

Conspiracy theories are compelling because some turn out to be true.The course focuses on why people believe conspiracy theories and figuring out which are likely to be true or not. “Although the terms conspiracy theory, conspiracy theorist and conspiracist do sometimes carry pejorative connotations meant to disparage someone or their beliefs, as in ‘that’s just a crazy conspiracy theory’ or ‘he’s one of those nutty conspiracists’, the terms, in fact, have a rich history not meant to disparage.”...

Most of the Great Courses skew heavily left, and with a topic like conspiracies and conspiracy theories, I was bracing myself for a one-sided liberal rant against the idiocy of conservatives. But I have to hand it to the author/lecturer: while it's clear that he identifies as liberal, for the most part he was quite fair and balanced. He made the point early on that there is (and should be) a distinction between conspiracies and conspiracy theories, because of course, some conspiracies are true.

An introduction to an imperial approach with massive broad strokes. Accuses others of making claims without supporting evidence, then proceeds to state things are wrong without providing supporting evidence. Rejects and accepts ideas according to his middle-left perspective without recognizing his own bias. He does go through quite a few at the end, so it gets better over time. The paranoid would claim he is in on the conspiracy and part of the problem. Those who know God would just acknowledge

I say the same thing just about every time I read one of Michael Shermer’s books, and it’s that he writes some of the best books on skepticism out there. This is a brief audio course on Audible that covers everything about conspiracies and conspiracy theories. What I love about Shermer’s books is that even though I read so many of his books, there’s always something different in each one so it’s not repetitive. I really enjoyed this course because it starts with various cognitive biases that mak...

Very entertaining while informative. The first half develops a framework on how to analyze conspiracies and why the human brain is prone to believing such. The second half debunks false conspiracy theories (e.g. JFK’s murder by something larger than Lee Oswald or Obama’s “false” birth certificate) or confirms actual conspiracies such as the murder of Frank Ferdinand by the “Black hand” organization rather than it being an orchestrated assassination by the Serb government. The course ends with an...

This is a lecture series that drills down on conspiracies and conspiracy theories. It’s a balanced, evenhanded study of the phenomenon and Shermer makes an effort to avoid presenting it through political perspective, to the extent that such is possible given how so many conspiracy theories have a strong foothold in reactionary politics. At the same time, he pulls no punches in calling out the unfounded bases of most conspiracy theories and pinning the tail on the asses who fall prey to them, be

There is no denying that this is a fascinating book, but it is not the book I expected it to be. Where I was expecting each lecture to be dedicated to a famous conspiracy theory or two, most of the book is dedicated to the psychology of people who believe in conspiracy theories and trying to understand what attracts them to them. It turns out that everyone believes in conspiracy theories of some sort—the political left and right, the rich and the poor, people of every race, people of every relig...

The topic is interesting, but when presented as a "course" it probably shouldn't lean so heavily on the author's bias.

Given its brevity (6.5 hours), this is a highly informative introduction to conspiracies and conspiracy theories. Overall, the lecture series is objective, professionally researched, and well organized. The first lecture explains the difference between conspiracies and conspiracy theories. The next three lectures provide a framework for understanding the psychology of people who believe in conspiracy theories. What are the characteristics of believers, why people believe what they do, and what a...

Interesting but quite boring with typical template of listing data without the supporting data as to believe why people believe it without testimony as to why.. Example Aliens how many cave painting, new paper articles, ancient religious text and even now released govt documents not even including the thousands of people world wide who have said they have first hand knowledge still listed as a conspiracy theory. Come on what exactly constitutes proof. The testimony of 3 witnesses which is well k...

As the founding publisher of Skeptic magazine, and host of his own science podcast you might expect to be in the safe hands of an excellent teacher. While he did touch upon some relevant points when dealing with conspiracy theories, I found his digression into 9/11 and the murder on JFK distracting. In need of an update.

Review to come

In a word, underwhelming.Part of it is my fault - I can in expecting to learn more about conspiracy theories and less about human psychology so the disappointment on subject matter is on me. But beyond that, Shermer is incredibly repetitive. He brings up the same theories, constructs and examples not only multiple times in individual lectures, but multiple times across the course. This series could have comfortably been completed in half the time, and there would not have been any substantial co...

The begining seemed a bit dragging, I suppose because I already heard lot of the content from other sources (mainly SGU podcast).What grabbed my attention back was in-depth debunking of some of the most famous conspiracy theories. Then the author switched it and started with description of some real conspiracies. I liked the contrast of the two. I also liked that he talked about scale of how different conspiracy theories are crazy (which was taken from different book, Escaping the rabbit hole) -...

I personally am not one for conspiracy theories, but the question of why some people get so convinced and drawn in by some of these has long baffled me. This book both points out some of the best known and most influential conspiracy theories and the aspects that pull people in. And it makes clear that, in fact, some conspiracies are real and that evolution has a good deal to do with the development of conspiracy theories in general. I am confident that I still use enough skepticism and reality