How Do You Know It's True?: Discovering the Difference Between Science and Superstition
by Hyman Ruchlis
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Book Summary Information
Author: Hyman RuchlisEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 1991-08
ISBN: 0879756578
Number of pages: 112
Reading Level: Young Adult
Publisher: Prometheus Books
Book Reviews of How Do You Know It's True?: Discovering the Difference Between Science and Superstition
Book Review: Immunizing yourself vs. superstition and uncritical thinking
Summary: 5 Stars
HOW DO WE KNOW IT'S TRUE by Hy Ruchlis. Far and away the best of the best of new releases for teaching critical thinking to young people. Actually, this is for anybody, young or old, who still has a tendency to flirt with any form of superstition or fairy-tale thinking or is curious why other people do so. Ruchlis patiently leads the reader through an appreciation of science as a way of thinking about the world we live in. A short history of superstitions and the occasional horrors attributed to magical thinking (e.g., fear and persecution of "witches)" are provided, along with a delightful and entertaining commentary on astrology as an example of worseness tendencies in contemporary mental processes.
Highlights include an explanation of science as a way of thinking critically, with examples of how facts are discovered. Vital to an understanding of why there is so much superstition and other forms of magical thinking is to know the history of religious repression of free thought, with stories about the struggles of such heroes of science as Nicolas Copernicus, Giordano Bruno, Galileo Galilei and the framers of our own Bill of Rights in 1789. By the way, the photos and illustrations are also terrific. But, it's words like the following that lead me to urge that you check this one out if you want to incorporate CT into wellness:
"All of us stand on the shoulders of giants. Every bit of food we eat, the clothes
we wear, the houses we live in and anything else we know how to make or do today would not be possible without the knowledge given to us by people who lived in the past. We must be ever grateful to the many thousands of people, past and present, who made it all possible.
What part of these great accomplishments has been contributed by the superstitious way of thinking? Absolutely nothing. The belief in fairy-tale magichas blocked attempts to explain how and why things happen. Today it is a lazy person's excuse to avoid thinking about why things happen."
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