Committee for Skeptical Inquiry

[SkeptInq@aol.com]

 Skeptical Inquirer Electronic Digest 12-1-99

 Visit the CSICOP and Skeptical Inquirer Magazine website at
http://www.csicop.org. Receiving over 200,000 hits per year, the CSICOP site
was rated one of the top ten science sites by HOMEPC magazine.

 In this week's SI DIGEST:

 --NY TIMES BOOK REVIEW: Two Sagan Biographies
 --NY TIMES BOOK REVIEW: Within Reason
 --TIME Features Bible Fiction, NEWSWEEK Covers Mars Exploration
 --Recent Programs of Note on National Public Radio (NPR)

 NY TIMES BOOK REVIEW: TWO SAGAN BIOGRAPHIES

 Reviewed in the NY TIMES on November 28, 1999

 For the full review go to:
http://www.nytimes.com/books/99/11/28/reviews/991128.28holingt.html

 CARL SAGAN
 A Life.
 By Keay Davidson.
 Illustrated. 540 pp. New York:
 John Wiley & Sons. $30.

 CARL SAGAN
 A Life in the Cosmos.
 By William Poundstone.
 Illustrated. 473 pp. New York:
 Henry Holt & Company. $30.

 From the review by David Hollinger:

 ...Sagan's role as a celebrity-scientist defines two biographies published
simultaneously by two leading science journalists, Keay Davidson of The San
Francisco Examiner and William Poundstone, a Los Angeles freelance writer.
Davidson's ''Carl Sagan: A Life'' and Poundstone's ''Carl Sagan: A Life in
the Cosmos'' both narrate Sagan's Jewish upbringing in Brooklyn and New
Jersey, and emphasize his aloofness from Judaism and his skeptical outlook on
religion. Both provide engaging accounts of the politics and technology of
the space program during Sagan's involvement with it. Both reveal Sagan as a
dreadful narcissist and an irresponsible parent until middle age, when his
third wife, Ann Druyan, apparently transformed him into a something of a
mensch. Both books delight in the discovery that Sagan smoked bales of
marijuana and attributed to the weed vital moments of intellectual
inspiration. Yet these two accessible, carefully documented biographies
diverge fortuitously in the details of their exploration of Sagan's life.

 NY TIMES BOOK REVIEW: WITHIN REASON

 Reviewed in the NY TIMES on November 21, 1999

 WITHIN REASON
 Rationality and Human Behavior.
 By Donald B. Calne.
 332 pp. New York:
 Pantheon Books. $26.

 A neurologist explores the human reasoning power.

 For the full review go to:
http://www.nytimes.com/books/99/11/21/reviews/991121.21restakt.html

 From the review by Richard Restak:

 ...."What's true within reason.'' ''Let's reason this out'' -- such
admonitions pepper our everyday discourse. Implied is the belief that we
operate at our best when we enlist reason as the ultimate arbiter. But Donald
B. Calne, a neurologist, would caution us against granting reason too
privileged a place in our mental armory. Rather, reason should be considered
''a biological instrument -- a highly versatile instrument, but still just an
instrument, without any independent, direct ability to generate, replace or
refine our goals.'' In addition, reason cannot make ''any legitimate claim to
moral content.'' In short, Calne would have us believe that reason is no more
than, in Herbert Simon's words, a ''gun for hire.''

 TIME FEATURES BIBLE FICTION, NEWSWEEK COVERS MARS EXPLORATION

 An interesting contrast appears this week between the two major U.S. news
magazines.  TIME has a cover article  titled "Jesus at 2000" that features a
novelist's rendition of a "new" Gospel. NEWSWEEK offers solid science
reporting in a cover article on "The New Search for Life on Mars."

 You can check out the TIME article at:
 http://www.pathfinder.com/time/interstitials/inter.html

 The NEWSWEEK article can be found at:
 http://www.newsweek.com/nw-srv/printed/us/st/a47817-1999nov28.htm

 NPR ON THE CULTURE OF FEAR, HORROR FICTION AND FILM, IG NOBLE AWARDS,  THE
SCIENCE IN SCIENCE FICTION, AND SCIENCE IN CONGRESS

 NPR's All Things Considered and Science Friday has had some interesting
programs recently.  See descriptions below, and go to the URL listing to
listen to them via RealAudio.

 --THE CULTURE OF FEAR

 http://search.npr.org/cf/cmn/cmnpd01fm.cfm?PrgDate=11/09/1999&PrgID=5

 GUESTS:
 BARRY GLASSNER
 *Professor of Sociology at the University of Southern California
 *Author, The Culture of Fear: Why Americans are Afraid of the Wrong Things
 (Basic Books, 1999)

 JOEL ACHENBACH
 *Washington Post Reporter
 *Author, Captured by Aliens: The Search for Life and Truth
  in a Very Large Universe

 Judging from the airwaves, the constant threat of unpredictable dangers like
plane crashes or random shootings pervade our lives. IS the world really such
a dangerous place, or is that idea simply fostered by the people who want us
to buy security systems and watch the local news? Join Melinda Penkava and
guests to examine the culture of fear.

 --HORROR FICTION AND FILM

 http://search.npr.org/cf/cmn/cmnpd01fm.cfm?PrgDate=11/29/1999&PrgID=5

 GUESTS:
 CLIVE BARKER
 *Author of many books, including Everville, Weaveworld, and Galilee

 GEORGE ROMERO
 *Producer, Director of many films, including Night of the Living Dead, Dawn
of the Dead, and Creepshow

 Tales of the macabre are as old as storytelling, and despite the comforts of
technology, low crime and a booming economy -- or perhaps because of them --
our appetite for fright is as sharp as ever. Do people have a fundamental
need to get scared out of their wits every so often? Join Brooke Gladstone
and guests for a look at horror fiction and film, and why we love the genre.

 --1999 IG NOBEL PRIZE CEREMONY

 http://search.npr.org/cf/cmn/cmnpd01fm.cfm?PrgDate=11/26/1999&PrgID=5

 Join Ira Flatow on the next Science Friday for the annual broadcast of this
year's Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony, and an hour of science that cannot--or should
not--be reproduced.

 --THE SCIENCE IN SCIENCE FICTION

 http://search.npr.org/cf/cmn/cmnpd01fm.cfm?PrgDate=11/30/1999&PrgID=5

 GUEST:
 JAMES GLEICK
 *Author, Faster: The Acceleration of Just About Everything (Pantheon Books,
August 1999)
 ANN SIMON
 *Author, The Real Science Behind X-Files: Microbes, Meteorites, and Mutants
(Simon & Shuster)
 *Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of
Massachusetts, Amherst

 Captain Kirk called it a communicator, we might call it a cell phone. Is
there much else in science fiction that's likely to become science fact? Or
are transporters, time machines and faster than light travel little more than
good ways to move a story along? Fire up your warp engines and join Brooke
Gladstone and guests as they try to find the science in science fiction, on
the next Talk of the Nation.

 --PHYSICIST AND U.S. REPRESENTATIVE RUSH HOLT

 http://search.npr.org/cf/cmn/cmnpd01fm.cfm?PrgDate=11/19/1999&PrgID=5

 GUESTS:
 PAUL BUTLER
 Astronomer, Department of Terrestrial Magnetism
 Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, D.C.

 RUSH HOLT
 U.S. Representative (D-NJ)
 Former Assistant Director
 Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Hopewell, New Jersey

 This week, scientists announced the first direct observation of a planet
outside our solar system. In the past, the presence of such planets was
inferred from their gravitational tug on their star. In this hour, we'll talk
with a planet hunter. Plus, a wrap-up of the current Congressional session
with scientist-turned-politician Rush Holt.

 __________________________________________

 SI Electronic Digest is the biweekly e-mail news update of the Committee for
the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP.)

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Physics behind amazing feats, famous curses, and the Star of Bethlehem.

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