For this post I was going to read a dictionary, front to back, A to Zombie in this case, and then make some nerdy quip about it. So I started at acupuncture but was immediately side-tracked and ended up reading this book like a Choose Your Own Adventure: starting with chi, and from there energy, looking up the how-cool-would-this-be-if-it-contained-a-shred-of-truth entry for iridology, then reading about the various ways people use to back up their claims; pragmatic fallacy, regressive fallacy and confirmation bias.
While flicking for those entries I passed others that looked interesting and made notes to return to them. So I did, and even I have not admittedly read the whole dictionary, I must be close.
Carroll is the creator of skepdic.com and in a nice Introduction describes the four types of people he wants to reach with this book (basically everyone except the “true believer”). The entries are written with a palpable skeptic undertone (on avatar: “These notions seem so obviously a mixture of the true, the trivial, and the false that one hesitates to comment on them.”) but will acknowledge any relation to real phenomena fairly.
Some of my highlights included finding out about urine therapy, the different made-to-fit versions of Nostradamus‘ predictions, the Bible code entry and of course the penile plethysmograph, which measures invisible change in circumference of the penis and “[i]n addition to identifying false gays, [...] is used to treat sex offenders and to identify potential sex offenders”.
While reading the Skeptic’s Dictionary I passed an unlikely evening in the company of a tarot card reader and a woman who was about to go to her study group on reflexology, iridology and natural healing. Only politeness and embarrassment prevented me from laying on the skeptic’s arguments and spoiling the mood. If you have fewer inhibitions, by all means buy this book, it will provide you with all the ammunition you’ll need.
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