# Best Debunkers? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 20, 2012, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-debunkers/628900 "2012-07-20T23:03:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Victor\_Charlie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7ea924/32.png) [@Victor\_Charlie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Victor_Charlie)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-debunkers/628900/21 "2012-07-24T04:18:01Z")
> [@grude](#): > > Bullshit had some excellent episodes where they completely blow apart cultural bias, the circumcision and immigration and prison episodes come to mind. > > They had some episodes that picked much less focused targets and just felt boring and like shooting fish in a barrel, oh look they got a woman selling healing crystals to say a bunch of nonsense on camera like contacting past lives etc. They then proceed to freeze frame and insult her, good thing they pointed out to me that reincarnation isn’t real:smack: > > Some episodes just seemed about mocking non-mainstream beliefs which never needed the debunking as no testable claims were made. The one on recycling was great. And I believe they did one on hygiene and germaphobia that was one of the first to put those risks into proper perspective. If I ever meet Penn I will, at his suggestion, rub asses instead of shaking hands. If you’ve seen that episode you’ll know why that’s not weird. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-debunkers/628900/22 "2012-07-24T12:06:50Z")
There are plenty of great debunkers out there who I’m surprised haven’t been listed Donald H. Menzel – the original UFO debunker, not to mention Harvard-Smithsonian professor and editor of _Mathematical Formulas_ and other books Philip J. Klass – who took over after Menzel Robert Schaeffer – who stepped in while Klass was still alive on UFOs Lawrence David Kusche – Bermuda Triangle debunker extraordinaire L. Sprague de Camp – although lots of folks dislike him (especially about things Robert E. Howard), I love his SF and fantasy, and his writings on science and the ancient world are great. He wrote a book about Atlantis and other lost contrinents that puts him squaely in this category, one of the most readable books on the Scopes trial, and several articles on random topics, some of which were collected in _The Ragged Edge of Science_. Willy Ley – Rocket pioneer and unjustly forgotten science popularizer, who wrote debunking stuff on Pyramid insanity, man-eating trees, and other esoterica Harry Houdini – Yes! The great magician and escape artist also wrote books debunking not only Spirit Mediums, but also Miracle Men of various sorts William Poundstone – his Big Secrets series has a lot of fascinating reading about the truth behind random facts, recipes, and details, with debunking mixed in Bergen Evans – The proto-Cecil. Would there even be a _Straight Dope_ without his shining example? Read _A Natural History of Nonsense_ and _On the Spoor of Spooks_ for a wonderful mix of investigative digging and snark Richard Shenkman – His _Legends, Lies, and Cherished Myths of American History_ is still selling (as is, inexplivcably to me, his _One Night Stands with American History_). His next book, the unfortunately-named _I Love Paul Revere, Whether he cRode or Not_ is also excellent, although his last book _KLegends, Lies, and Cherished Myths of World History_ feels like a Contractual Obligation Book. Worth reading, all, though. There are plenty of others, but that’s enough for now. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Knig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@Typo\_Knig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Knig)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-debunkers/628900/23 "2012-07-24T14:03:35Z")
deCamp’s The Ancient Engineers is a great book, with much debunking baked in. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Knig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@Typo\_Knig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Knig)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-debunkers/628900/24 "2012-07-24T14:13:46Z")
deCamp’s The Ancient Engineers is a great book, with much debunking baked in. ---
**Author:** ![MarcusF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/67e7ee/32.png) [@MarcusF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MarcusF)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-debunkers/628900/25 "2012-07-24T15:27:12Z")
A couple of journalists from across the pond who have done their bit: Simon Singh who wrote \*Trick or Treatment? Alternative Medicine on Trial \*and an article in the Guardian that had the British Chiropractic Association suing him for libel (he fought them off 😃 ) and David Aaronovich whose book _Voodoo Histories: The Role of the Conspiracy Theory in Shaping Modern History_ is a brilliant gallop through the whole range of CTs [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-debunkers/628900.md?page=1)