"The 7 Laws of Magical Thinking" by Matthew Hutson

 

Publisher: One World Books

Copyright: 2012

ISBN: 9781851689347

Mr. Hutson is an extremely interesting author to read, and one who does a lot of research. This book is essentially about critical thinking. And he has broken down human beliefs into seven general areas.

The seven laws themselves are: that objects carry essences, that symbols have power, the actions have distant consequences, but the mind knows no bounds, the soul lives on, but the world is alive, and that everything happens for a reason.

Each of these laws in turn talks about things like contagions and historicity, spells in ceremonies, luck and superstition, psychokinesis and ESP, Life after death, animism, and destiny.

The overall premise of the book is that all people wherever they are, believe in magic of some kind. They might not define it as magic, but that is essentially what it is. The author starts out this way by giving examples of various things that people typically do that have links to magic in the past, and he concludes in the eighth chapter by returning to this.

And excellently researched book that is well worth reading and what that would hopefully be a good medium level read for somebody who is interested in critical thinking. I suggest medium level because I think people should have some Basic understanding of critical thinking and what is required prior to starting this book.

Highly recommended.

"Don't Swallow You Gum: Myths, half-truths, and out right lies about your body and health" by Dr. Aaron E. Carroll and Dr. Rachel C. Vreeman

Publishers: St. Martin’s Griffin

Copyright: 2009

ISBN: 9780312533878

This is the second book of Dr. Carroll's I've reviewed. The first "Bad Food Bible: How and Why to Eat Sinfully" was very good as well.

In this book he is joined by Dr. Rachel Vreeman, and it is a collection that reviews 62 health related myths about your body. It is separated into six sections entitled: Myths About Your Body, Myths About How We Contract and Treat Diseases, Myths About Sex and Pregnancy, Myths About Babies and Children, Myths About What We Eat and Drink, and finally Myths That Sparked Controversy and Debate.

The book itself is very well written and should be easy to understand for people of any educational background. Both the authors are practising paediatricians, and did extensive literature based research in working on this book. All of the 62 myths that are debunked are nice and short and to the point.

Some of the myths that are debunked include: only using 10% of your brain, ruining your eyesight if you read in the dark, you can beat a breathalyzer test, Cold and wet weather making you sick, a dogs mouth is cleaner than humans, flu shots can cause the flu, losing most of your body heat through your head, singles having better sex than marry people, not being able to get pregnant using the withdrawal method, prediction of gender, baby Einstein making your baby smarter, alcohol consumption by breast-feeding women, sugar making kids hyper, the good old five second rule, chewing gum is better than brushing your teeth, double dipping, poisoning and Hallowe'en candy, newer drugs are always better, and vaccines causing autism. All of which were debunked!

This book also has extensive citations, and references for those who want to check up and read more about the various subjects.

Highly recommended as a very good book, looking forward to reading Drs. Carroll and Vreeman's next book.