Michael Shermer

Michael Shermer is a science writer, founder of The Skeptics Society, and editor of its magazine Skeptic, which is largely devoted to investigating pseudoscientific and supernatural claims. Shermer also produces and co-hosts the 13-hour Fox Family television series, "Exploring the Unknown," and is a monthly columnist for Scientific American magazine.

Related Topics:
The Skeptics Society - ''Skeptic'' - Television - Scientific American

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Shermer is the author of several books that attempt to explain the ubiquity of irrational or unsubstantiated beliefs. Why People Believe Weird Things, treats a variey of "weird" ideas and groups (including cults), in the tradition of the skeptical writings of Martin Gardner. He has devoted entire books to Holocaust deniers (Denying History), and to belief in God (How We Believe). Shermer, once a fundamentalist Christian, is now, according to his book The Science of Good and Evil, a nontheist and an advocate for a materialist philosophy.

Related Topics:
Martin Gardner - Holocaust deniers - Fundamentalist Christian - Nontheist - Materialist

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Shermer received his bachelor's degree from Pepperdine University in 1976 in Psychology/Biology, his master's degree from California State University, Fullerton in Experimental Psychology two years later, and his Ph.D. from Claremont Graduate University in History of Science in 1991 (with a dissertation entitled "Heretic-Scientist: Alfred Russel Wallace and the Evolution of Man: A Study on the Nature of Historical Change").

Related Topics:
Bachelor's degree - Pepperdine University - 1976 - Psychology - Biology - Master's degree - California State University, Fullerton - Experimental Psychology - Ph.D. - Claremont Graduate University - History of Science - 1991 - Alfred Russel Wallace

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Shermer is also a bicycle enthusiast and was once a marathon bicycle racer; he helped found the Race Across America and competed several times. He has produced over a half dozen documentaries on cycling.

Related Topics:
Bicycle - Race Across America

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