Get the straight, scientific story on things like astrology, ghosts, spontaneous human combustion, psychic surgery, and ESP. You hear about these fantastic happenings every day on television and in the supermarket tabloids. Is any of this true or are they making it all up? While many people tune in just for laughs, plenty of readers believe their outrageous claims - often because they simply don't have a clear notion of what science really is. So how do you figure out what constitutes real science and what is nonsense? Quantum Leaps in the Wrong Direction carefully deconstructs five examples of pseudoscience - UFOs, out-of-body experiences, astrology, creationism, and ESP - and gives easy recipes to test other dubious notions so that you can tell what lies in the realm of real science and what more properly deserves the tag of pseudoscience.This second edition of Quantum Leaps in the Wrong Direction will include a brand new chapter on alternative medicine, up-to-date links for reliable skeptical websites, organizations and meetings, and a fully updated additional reading section.

Preface to the Second EditionPrologue1. The Road to Reality: Scientific Method2. Scientific Reasoning in Action3. The Road to Reality Versus the Road to Illusion4. UFOs and the Extraterrestrial Life Hypothesis5. Out-of-Body Experiences and Entities6. The Astrology Hypothesis7. The Creationism Hypothesis8. Normal Sensory Perception, Extrasensory Perception, and Psychokinesis9. Alternatives to Medicine10. Reflections on the Scientific Approach to RealityEpilogueGlossaryAdditional ReadingWebsitesEducational ModulesIndex