Superstition: Belief in the Age of Science

This book is great for spiritual seekers. Parks starts a narrative from being near death and rescued by passer byers. He does some soul searching as he contrasts the scientific naturalistic world view with the the opposite. It is a fascinating story backed up by many real world examples. I see it as a more personal version of his best selling book Voodoo Science. I've met Park in person - he is a quick witted great human being who has added a lot to the world and taken on questions that most people are afraid of. I'm not an atheist myself but have great respect for the well though out position of people like Park. I highly recommend this for anyone who searches for more meaning and purpose in life than what prime time TV offers. Eric Krieg

Robert L. Park is professor of physics at the University of Maryland and author of Voodoo science: the road from foolishness to fraud. In this brilliant book, he examines and debunks many popular illusions: intelligent design, parapsychology, spoon-bending, reincarnation, astral projections, extra-sensory perception, homoeopathy, acupuncture, magnetic healing, crystal healing, pyramid healing, life after death, the existence of souls, the efficacy of prayer, and the notions of hell and heaven. He also wittily proves that inter-stellar travel and time travel are impossible. He shows that these are all products of wishful thinking, or of outright fraud (spoon-bending, for goodness' sake!). Some are cultural relics from a pre-scientific age, others are misunderstandings, wilful or not, of scientific advances (for example, ignorant notions of `quantum' healing). Some are superstitions learnt in childhood. He describes how people developed randomised controlled trials so that they could sift sense from nonsense and impose checks on their perceptions. By thorough testing, we have made great progress in science, especially in medicine. He praises Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection as one of the greatest steps forward in our understanding of the world around us. . Using science's skills, we have moved from purging, cupping and bleeding to anaesthetics, antibiotics and surgery. We have ended smallpox and could end polio and malaria were it not for the resistance of ignorant imams and greens. We have progressed from a belief that disasters are God-given (to punish sinful mankind) to understanding how to predict and cope with disasters.

This is a very interesting book. It is kind a diatribe against religion, and yet he very open to conversations with believers. I liked the way he bought out the oddities and inconsistencies that some people believe because it is part of their religion. He is an avowed atheist, but his friends throughout this book are a couple of Roman Catholic Brothers. They are all inquisitive people, but none of them are willing to change their religion. After a lot of reflection, I have come to understand that Christianity is based on mythology (if you need faith, you are believing in mythology, or else it is fact and faith is unreasonable), and this book speaks of Christianity as mythology, the first time I have seen it in print as such. He goes through a lot of interesting science and religion and health claims and puts them into a form where you can see the impossibility of them being true. Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research studying parapsychology does a lot of extensive studies to prove the existence of ESP, but Mr. Park suggests they could just have the participants move a scale with little or no weight on it. If it works, consistently, there is the proof, if not, there is no proof and no need to spend more on proving nothing happens. There was some talk of habitats built in orbit to relieve population growth in the Seventies. He explains how he gives this as a problem for his students to see if they can prove or disprove its practicality. It is not possible, too much money and energy and too many people to be accommodated. This was one exceptional book. Easy to read and understand and interesting.

With acerbic wit and humorous repartee, Robert L. Park, professor of physics at the University of Maryland, asks why we believe weird things even when no evidence supports our claims. "Science," he writes, "is the only way of knowing--everything else is superstition. Everything in the universe is governed by the same natural laws; there is a physical cause behind every event." A humanist and naturalist, Park asserts that science rejects appeal to authority in favor of empirical evidence. He attacks pseudoscience--from so-called "intelligent design" and young-Earth fundamentalism to New Age mysticism, homeopathic "remedies," and snake-oil "cures." "Science," he says, "is the only way humankind has found of separating truth from fraud or mere foolishness; it's what we've learned about how not to fool ourselves." If you like Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and Christopher Hitchens, you'll love Robert L. Park.

Bob Park has done a great service in this book about current superstitions in mentioning the "superstitious nonsense" known as vitalism, the foundation of many 'alternative medicines,' including naturopathy [which ludicrously claims such survives scientific scrutiny!]. Here's a sample, and I quote: "at the beginning of the twentieth century, the existence of a 'vital life force' or 'divine spark' still seemed necessary to some scientists [...] this is the ancient concept of vitalism, which long ago lost any meaning in science. The chemistry and physics that animates matter has ceased to be a mystery. Certainly since Watson and Crick resolved the mystery of DNA, there is no longer a need for a 'divine spark' [p.081...and] Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection in particular gave rise to naturalism [...which] left no room for vitalism or other spiritual explanations. The germ theory of disease, emerging from the work of Pasteur and Koch after the death of Darwin, would prove to be the death of such superstitious nonsense as vitalism [p.151]." I recommend all of Dr. Park's books -- including this excellent one -- and his "What's New" weekly online UM column. -r.c.