How and Why We Use, Downplay, or Ignore Evidence

This is a review of Truth: What It Is, How To Find It & Why It Still Matters. by Michael Shermer, forthcoming from Johns Hopkins University Press.

Amidst claims of “fake news,” “alternative facts,” misinformation and disinformation, cognitive psychologist Keith Stanovich has identified a “myside bias” in “every stage of information processing,” including the search for, evaluation and circulation of evidence, and our memory of outcomes.

In Truth, Michael Shermer (the publisher of Skeptic magazine, podcaster, and author of more than a dozen books, including Conspiracy: Why the Rational Believe the Irrational) makes a compelling case that the scientific method is the best, albeit imperfect, source we have for the critical thinking that is essential to a more just democracy.

Revisiting topics and themes he has addressed throughout his long career, ranging from Japan’s “rape” of Nanking, China, the Holocaust, and UFOs, to the Resurrection of Jesus, the existence of God, and

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