BELIEVERS in the alien origin theory of UFOs and crop circles, the wisdom of Nostradamus or the existence of ghosts and the Loch Ness monster may not be too thrilled to see their beliefs described as 鈥渂izarre鈥�. But they are in Bizarre Beliefs (Richard Cohen Books, 拢12.99 pbk, ISBN 1 86066 022 3) by Simon Hoggart and Mike Hutchinson.
Hoggart is, of course, a political columnist for The Guardian. He proved he could dissect an alien world with wit, perception and humour back in 1989 with his America: A User鈥檚 Guide. Hutchinson has been the lynchpin of the various British sceptical organisations since the mid-1970s; he has better background knowledge of paranormal beliefs and their proponents than almost anyone else in Britain. They鈥檝e produced a book aimed at the middle ground, those who haven鈥檛 thought much about the subject. Most of the book is familiar ground for sceptics: the realities of human perception that make us remember the hits and forget the misses, the poor quality of psychic predictions. Some of the detail is less familiar: the useful table comparing all the psychics鈥� predictions in the Peter Sutcliffe case and the experiences of Richard Mather and Ian Rowland in impersonating psychics.
To the question 鈥淒oes it matter if people want to believe these things?鈥�, Hoggart and Hutchinson have an answer: it is 鈥渁 constant, distracting background interference with the truth鈥�.
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