To The Skeptic's Dictionary - Table of Contents


Awards & Favorable Comments

Sept 1997 jan 20, 1997 aug 11, 1997 aug 15, 1997 pc magazine

The comments posted with dictionary entries are mostly critical and mostly negative. I have received favorable comments from many people who thank me for the Skeptic's Dictionary. I am now posting some of the more recent votes of confidence. I thank you all for the support. Your notes more than compensate for the effort that goes into writing the dictionary and for the verbal abuse I frequently encounter from those who are offended by my thoughts. [R.T.C.]


06 Jan 1998
I just wanted to let you know how MUCH I have enjoyed reading "The dictionary"! I stumbled onto your web-site while whiling away time at work just before the Christmas holidays. What a delight! I have been (practically) unable to stop reading.

Keep up the great work!

(I also wanted to send you a complimentary note WITHOUT following it with a "But" or "If you'd only".)

Nice job. Your "stuff" makes one think and isn't that the ultimate quest?

Thanks!!!
Carlton


20 Dec 1997
I came upon your website purely by chance, and I am ecstatic that I found it! I was thinking about Pyramid Schemes one night, and did a websearch...Lo and behold, I found a site that had intelligent and comprehensible writing on the subject...and you should have seen my reaction when I found out that I had just hit the tip of the iceberg!!

I've given the URL to your site to several of my friends, and we hold debates on your entries.

Please keep on the good work! If I lived in California, I would attend your classes.
Chia Chin Lee


19 Dec 1997
I recently received "Becoming a Critical Thinker" and I find it clear, succinct, and useful. Thank you.
Sarah Nordholm


19 Dec 1997
I have found your The Skeptic's Dictionary to be the most refreshing piece of work on the internet to date. I especially enjoy the humor with which you use to express some of your views, i.e. "enneagrams". Please, please, please find a publisher and put The Skeptic's Dictionary in book form. I only ask this so I may have something to read while in bed.
Thanks for the wisdom,
M.Walmsley


2 Dec 1997
I am a 16 year old sophomore in high-school and recently we had debates on several topics. I chose the existence of UFOs. I was amazed at the amount of information I was able to find in your "Skeptic's Dictionary". It was extremely informative. I was able to use many of the ideas you referred to to win my debate against the existence of UFOs. I just wanted to personally thank you for putting out that home page. It is a great addition to the internet. Keep up the good work!
Sincerely,
Scott


29 Jul 1997
You've done a huge amount of work. Thank you.

It's a bit tiring, living in the Bible belt, having to defend evolution, arguing politics with televangelist followers. I went to Catholic school for eight years, both my parents are enthusiastic members of the Moral Majority, and I've been told more than once that I'm on my way to hell. Your skeptic's refuge is just that, a bit of affirmation for my battered beliefs. I've downloaded and bookmarked it, and hereby vow to consult it every time I feel myself attracted by an Amazing Prediction, a Miraculous Occurrence, or a Wonderfully Accurate Personality Profile (even the Myers-Briggs one, despite it's handy vocabulary and appealing descriptions.)

A bit of atheistic compassion, that's what's wanted. Some new tools with which to defend myself, a few more logical fallacies exposed. It inspired me with an overwhemling desire to express my appreciation, if only for the sake of communicating with a like mind.

Thank you again.
Mary Messall


27 Jul 1997
I bookmarked your website after only a few moments perusal. An enormous amount of work and talent went into it, and the results show. I surf a lot, and this site stands out. I like to think of myself as an aspiring skeptic, and recently have stooped to firing off an e-mail or two to the creator (no pun intended) of a creationist website. What can I say? I get bored sometimes.

Anyway, he has an impressive academic pedigree in biochemistry, so I gave him my thoughts on the matter of creation v. evolution (which is that whatever you think of evolution, creationism is a scientific impossibility and no alternative to the former). He responded with an excerpt on a paper of his own writing which stated that because the chance formation of proteins from the primordial soup were infinitesimally small, evolution was therefore disproved and "scientific " creationism proven. My response was that his abiogenesis argument was irrelevant simply because (1) proteins do exist, (2) if his model of the statistical chances of protein formation state that protein formation is impossible, then (3) his model is flawed. I also pointed out that regardless of the probabilities his model comes up with, he is not justified in inserting into the equation, in essence "then a miracle occurred".

He was kind enough to devote a great deal of time in his correspondence with me; I didn't think it would be right, therefore, to tell him the person on the other end of the line was a mailman.

Anyway, wonderful site. I look forward to many hours of perusal.

Many thanks!
Ron Tolle


17 Jul 1997
Stupendous work! Your arguments are lucid, well-informed and cogent. It's a thrill to read the dictionary. I live with three housemates who compulsively use crystals, tarot, 'celtic meditation cards' and other occult accoutrements. My skepticism does not sway them, which is strange considering that, as someone with a long-standing (but skeptical) interest in the occult I'm generally much more informed about these matters than they are.
Congratulations on one of the best websites I've ever encountered.
Cheers,
Mark McInnes


15 Jul 1997
I was in a whimsical mood this morning so I was watching Kenneth Copeland (Texan evangelist). After attacking Earth's scientific beginnings (storms, water...uniformitarianism) he casually dismissed it and said "Well that's what you get for thinking!" He also plugged a book: "Understanding Creation." I hope it doesn't require a lot of thinking!

Your Skeptic's page is a regular, daily stop for me, I tell all my friends, well actually I tell everybody about it.
Brent Slensker
Las Cruces NM


12 Jul 1997
Best page I have seen!!! Truly a breath of fresh air.

Darryl


12 Jul 1997
I just want to say how much I appreciate this. I am presently working on a group project on fraud and deception for a university natural science course. Another group member found you first and enthusiatically e-mailed the rest of us. Her words; "Check out this unbelievable mother lode of information." It is so well done and entertaining. Thank you again.

V. Fullwood


11 Jul 1997
Thank you for compiling the Skeptic's Dictionary. It's a wonderful resouce to obtain the FACTS about so many "mysteries." Keep up the good work.

Steve Bremser


23 May 1997
Dear Robert,

It's friday afternoon, Memorial Day weekend is looming and for some reason I have surfed into your dictionary and have been here for hours. I consider myself a rational, middleaged female whose career is in financial investing, although my graduate work was in Anthropology. It finally dawned on me why my family has considered me an educated nitwit for years. I have been Ested, Lifesprung , regressed, told my future, and as I sit here beside my bottle of Ginko Biloba, your dictionary has added one of the most comically relieving afternoons I have had in a long time. I think your dictionary is WONDERFUL and yes useful, especially for people like myself who have the offbeat notion that my plants probably talk about me after I leave for work. It has taken me many years to just come home from work, pop in a movie and think, gee.. life is great. Thank you for breathing some much needed reality checks into the things we do, and long for.

Please don't print my name (for fear of being labelled The Wacky Stockbroker)

P.S. No reply is needed, I'd rather you keep expanding your topics. By the way when will you add the X-files phenomenon ? I have a baseball cap that says the truth is out there..Oh well.

reply: I think the X-Files is really made by the FBI to try to make them look good for a change.


11 May 1997

I just wanted to say, "Thank you." My name is Perry DeAngelis, co-founder of the Connecticut Skeptical Society. Your dictionary is a phenominal resorce for all skeptics and critical thinkers. I just wanted to give you my personal admiration and thanks.


08 May 1997 A very handy site, I leave it bookmarked where the kids can find it, please keep it up.
Brendo Dragon


17 Mar 1997

....millions of thank you's for the web site and its contents!

George L. Hody, MD
Medical computing consultant and chronically misunderstood skeptic!


4 Mar 1997
Thank you for a great website! I'm a Christian, and I will stay a Christian, but I am also a great skeptic owing to the proliferation of nonsense in the world. I read with great interest the article on scientology.

John Wood says in his letter to you: "According to the US government, courts in many countries around the world and academic experts, Scientology is a bona fide religion."

Scientology is a business. Or so the Germans would have us believe. Germany recently declared that the church of scientology was not entitled to exemption from tax laws because it is not a "bona fide religion". They classify it as a business (like Amway?) and say it must register as such or get the hell out of Deutschland. Germany has had its ups and downs throughout history, but this act is definitely a feather in the its loden.

Keep up the good work!
Tom Haymon


6 Feb 1997

Thank you for your fine book. I downloaded it, and have kept it close at hand on my office computer. It works very well in South Africa. You might not think that your book would be useful here on the bottom bit of Africa, but you would not believe the amount of total bunk that floats around in my country. Sometimes I think this is Ponzi Scam land, every week a new pyramid game starts. The newest called Rainbow even got into the press. The operators were quoted as saying, " we're not a pyramid game, we are a Trapazoid Business Club" gotta luv these guys !!!

I guess being so far away means we become the dumping ground for all the worst parts of civilization, and every one of your chapters seems to have some applicability in this place.

Please accept my thanks, and I shall continue reading and telling people your WWWBook

Adrian jessop
Durban, South Africa


13 Dec 1996
Enjoyed spending a couple of hours today with The Skeptic's Dictionary.

If I were a member of the Giant Board of Education in the Sky, I would vote to make your work required reading for everyone, irrespective of age, who contemplates performing any thinking.

I'd like to buy the dictionary in book form and give a copy to my brother for Christmas. Is it available as a book?

It makes superb sense to give him the URL...you know, a nice ribbon around parchment, engraved with the web address. Then, my brother could read it as he wished, with updates. Even offer contributions.
Beau Cutts


26 Dec 1996
Feeling very isolated as a true skeptic, I was heartened to find your truly great site. It is fascinating to find that there are indeed others who have such similar views on so many topics. Over the years I have resisted pressure from many people around the world to "open my mind" and "find inner peace" by "experiencing" various fads and sucumbing to widely held beliefs. The bottom line is that (as with most skeptics) I am not seeking any answers and have no need to seek some mindless spirituality.

It is quite disturbing that there are so many intelligent people who need fads as a crutch to help them get through life.

Mark Allison


26 Dec 1996
I stumbled across your Dictionary a few days ago. This is perhaps the best use of the Web I've seen yet. Thank you for providing us with concise definitions and explanations to use as ammunition in our battle against mumbo-jumbo and paranormal nonsense. Fortunately, I found your Dictionary just a few days after a close family member gave me the Eli Wallach "Dead Doctors Don't Lie" tape. I was quite pleased to find that your entry on "Dr." Wallach confirmed my suspicions that the man was selling a load of bull to gullible people.

Joe Henderson


15 Dec 1996
Thanks for the neat web site! I printed your definition of extraterrestrials for one of my sixth graders, who is studying UFOs. Your site gives her an alternative viewpoint and a way to develop her own critical thinking skills.
Glad I found you!

Carole Hamilton
Walton Middle School
Charlottesville, Virginia

reply: Your letter is good news. An astronomy teacher at my college recently wrote an article for the Skeptical Inquirer, describing how his students researching the same topic cite the "X-files" and films such as "Fire in the Sky" for their "research" papers!


15 Dec 96
I just read your discussions of God and Satan. It was a pleasure. Please keep up the good work - we need more skeptics in the world.

CCB

reply: I agree. Now, if you will just recruit 6 friends to be skeptics, and have them recruit 6 each who do the same, etc. etc., soon we'll have a whole planet of skeptics! On second thought, if we're successful, I'll have to abandon the Skeptic's Dictionary project. That would leave more time for the golf. What a dilemma!


26 Nov 1996
After an especially exasperating argument with a Ph.D. psychologist friend over her advocacy of Touch Therapy, I decided to search the WEB for more information about this dangerous nonsense. Lo and behold, there you were - the Skeptic's Dictionary - What a wonderful service you are performing!! This site is truly an oasis of critical reason is our sadly deteriorating society.

Skepticism needs to become more militant in defense of the positive intellectual achievements of human civilization. Touch Therapy -just for one example- is on the march. It is now even being demonstrated at hospitals in "family-oriented and conservative" Pittsburgh, PA. No doubt as insurance companies push HMOs into more and more cost-savings, cheap mystical pseudo-therapies will increasingly replace traditional "expensive" medical care. When I see this happening and the "credentials" of the Ph.Ds who are pushing this, I want to weep.

There are an increasing number of Ph.Ds in the health field who seem to be totally immune to rational argument; they are the ones who are opening the doors wide to irrational pseudo-treatments with the enthusiastic support of the cost-cutters. Tragically there just aren't many people fighting back.

Thanks again for your site. You have placed yourself on the front line of the major intellectual (and social) battle of our time. That takes a lot of courage, stamina and compassion.
Patrick Curry

reply:I appreciate the support and I agree that we need to be more militant, if only because the voices of unreason don't play by traditional rules of evidence, inductive argument, relevance, etc., much less by the rules of civility or logic. It's a street fight, I'm afraid.


21 Nov 1996
I had to drop you a line to tell you how refreshing the Skeptic's Dictionary is to me. In a world where people are quick to abandon rational thought and believe anything they see or hear, it's great to see that I am not alone. I'm persecuted occasionally because I make rational explanations for occurrences that others simply accept because they do not wish to expend any energy that rational thought would require.

Keep up the good work.


18 Nov 1996
Thanks for your Skeptic's Dictionary. It has allowed me to see for the first time that there are many others who think the way I do. Growing up in a Christian environment had left me feeling guilty for many years, searching for that perfect way of feeling God in my life because, "That's how it's supposed to be," and thinking I was a failure because I could not do it, did not "feel" the same things others felt.

A few years ago, I quit trying and just resigned myself to not being a spiritual person. That view changed over time as I slowly began to realize that I was the one who was questioning the things that really should have been questioned all along. I was not blindly giving my soul to something I could not see, touch, hear or in no way prove actually existed to begin with and it made perfect sense.

I began to shed the guilt and self doubt. I have become at ease with myself, knowing that I can make my own way instead of spending most of my mental time and energy wondering what "God's plan" is for me.

I am relatively new to the Internet and discovered your SD by accident during a routine search. It showed me for the first time that there are a great number of people who think generally the same way and has been a reenforcement to me. It's not easy staying out of office conversations in a Dallas company as I am often the one with the most to say. This is still Bible Belt country and most all of my co-workers have strong religious faith.

The rest of the SD is also wonderful in its completeness. You logically show the inconsistency and overused imagination of people and their amazing ability to make themselves believe in almost anything.

Anyway, thanks again for your "gift" to us all. I spread the word whenever I can. Take care.

Dwight McCauley


More comments!


The Skeptic's Dictionary
by
Robert Todd Carroll