Would You Want to Know If You Were Wrong?

The uh surveillance camera in his office when no one was there capturing a book. Bible, he said, flying off of the corner of the desk on its own. And that was very different from everything else in the video. I interviewed parapsychologists, almost all the most prominent ones, and I asked them what the biggest problem was in parapsology, and the consensus was evidence, we need better evidence. I also interviewed most of the Best known skeptics at the time and asked them what the problem was the biggest problem was with parapsychology, and almost to a person, they said the lack of a theory. All right, hey everybody, it's Michael Shermer. It's time for another episode of the Michael Shermer Show. Here we are. My guest today is Dr. Barry Markovsky his the new book here every day.

Extraordinary A scientist ponders a lifetime of magical, bizarre. And paranormal experiences you could tell while I like this particular topic. Barry is a social psychologist who studies social influences on beliefs and behavior. He received his PhD from Stanford University Served on the faculties of the University of Iowa and the University of South Carolina, and he directed the sociology program at the National Science Foundation. His recent publications include a series of popular articles at the Conversation dot com on superstitions, ghosts, and UFOs.

Everyday Extraordinary is his first book written for a general audience. He also writes a blog column under the same title for Psychology Today. Barry lives in Asheville, North Carolina. You can check him out at B Markovsky B. M-A-R-K-O-V-S-K Y dot com for more information. So there it is. All right. Love the book. It was fun. A lot of good topics there, Barry. Nice to see you. Uh so just uh give us a kind of a broad overview. What made you decide to to to to write some popular articles, uh and so forth, rather than just scholarly articles.

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