Michael Shermer Lecture on Truth

Join us as we welcome Michael Shermer to discuss his new book Truth What It Is, How to Find It, and Why It Still Matters.

Q&A will be moderated by Dr. John Banja.

There will be a book signing following the lecture.

Books will be available for purchase at the event.

Michael Shermer is the publisher of Skeptic magazine, the executive director of the Skeptics Society, and the host of the popular podcast The Michael Shermer Show. His previous books include Conspiracy: Why the Rational Believe the Irrational; Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time; and The Believing Brain: From Ghosts and Gods to Politics and Conspiracies—How We Construct Beliefs and Reinforce Them as Truths.

In this book Mr. Shermer explores why truth deserves our attention, how falsehoods take hold in the public’s imagination, and how we can resist manipulation through reason, evidence, and open inquiry. This book introduces powerful tools for evaluating claims, including the concepts of causality, correlation, and Bayesian reasoning. Beyond these abstract ideas, Shermer also examines how we determine truth in specific domains—such as science, history, and religion—and brings clarity to hot-button topics like UFOs, conspiracy theories, miracles, mystical experiences, consciousness, morality, God, and even existence. With his trademark wit and intellectual rigor, Shermer reveals how even the most intelligent among us fall prey to such pitfalls as "myside bias" and motivated reasoning and how a commitment to universal realism can help push back against tribalism an misinformation.

"Michael Shermer reminds us that the search for truth is not a luxury, but a necessity. This book is a powerful argumentfor why reality matters and a practical toolkit for how to find it.”

—Sabine Hossenfelder, author ofExistential Physics: A Scientist’s Guide to Life's Biggest Questions

“Michael Shermer has spent his career grappling with the slipperiest word in our language: truth. As someone whoknows firsthand what happens when truth gets lost in noise and narrative, I'm grateful for Shermer’s clear-eyedinsistence that truth is not only real, but necessary.

—Amanda Knox, author ofFree: My Search for Meaning

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Host or Publisher Emory University Center for Ethics