I’ve really been wanting this book: The Skeptic Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience edited by the darling Michael Shermer. It is, however, a LOT of money – the cheapest I’ve seen is $130.00 through the Skeptic’s Society. It would be the most I’ve ever spent on a book, and it’s most unlike me to buy an expensive (to me, anything over $25.00 qualifies as an expensive book) book without having read it first. My local library doesn’t have it for me to check out, and neither do any of the local bookstores. Has anyone read it? Is it good enough to justify the price?
I’d wait for the library copy (however long that takes) or try to glance through a few pages at a bookstore if/when they get copies in.
An alternate title might be “How To Sucker People Into Buying An Overpriced Book.” Be sure it’s not that before plomping down that much money.
You could be well on your way to a set of Britannica at that price.
Maybe you could look for a used copy?
I’d say on the whole, not worth it. (Disclaimer: I have not read or even seen it).
My rationale for judging this book not even by its cover is as follows:
If you’re skeptical by nature you probably already know, or have suspected much of what the book is going to tell you.
If you’re anti-skeptical and cherish your beliefs in Atlantis, ancient astronauts, or what have you, you’re not going to like this book. Moreover, you’re probably not going to be convinced by it since the whole anti-skeptical worldview rests on what cannot be verified. Sure it’s logically disproved by the book, you’ll tell yourself, but that doesn’t mean absolutely that there’s no evidence in support of my viewpoint that will one day come to light.
If you’re skeptical, the book’s arguments are probably not going to aid you much in convincing the non-skeptical, for reasons already mentioned.
So either way it seems like a bust and definitely not worth $130.
You can request that your local library purchase a copy. If they have funds, they can be very accomodating for patron requests, especially for their reference collection (which can’t be borrowed from other libraries as easily as most books). This sounds like one most libraries would like to have in their collection, and to a library $130 isn’t a lot of money to spend on a reference work. (Those big light-brown Gale books on Literary Criticism that almost any library of any size stocks cost more than- you won’t believe it, especially if you know what books I’m talking about- $1,500 each.)
This site has a complete table of contents for the two volumes, which is more than the Skeptic website seems to have.
It also links to two complete entries from the encyclopedia.
As somebody who deals with tons and tons of reference works everyday, I’d say don’t buy it but request it from the library. For the same $130 you could buy several books on most of the entries that interest you.
I’m not sure where you are with respect to these colleges, but the following college libraries in Virginia have the book:
EASTERN SHORE COMMUN COL LRC
EMORY & HENRY COL
MARY WASHINGTON COL
THOMAS NELSON COMMUN COL
UNIV OF VIRGINIAS COL AT WISE
VIRGINIA TECH
Good luck!