To Pat Linse for rendering some of the illustrations for this book, and for her friendship and professional partnership in skepticism for over a quarter century.
To my general editor, Serena Jones, editorial assistant Madeline Jones, production editors Molly Bloom and Olivia Croom, and copy editor Emily DeHuff, with gratitude for turning my words into a polished and coherent book. And to the rest of the wonderful team at Henry Holt/Macmillan for launching this book into the world: Paul Golob, Maggie Richards, Carolyn O’Keefe, and Jessica Wiener.
To my agents, Katinka Matson, John Brockman, Max Brockman, Russell Weinberger, and the staff of Brockman, Inc., which not only manages the largest stable of science authors in the world but also nourishes the most stimulating online salon of scientists, philosophers, and scholars for the purpose of sharing their thoughts and generating new ideas about the world’s most interesting topics through the Edge.org web community.
To John Rael and Randy Olson for their brilliant video production of our Science Salon series and additional film shorts that deliver science and skepticism in a powerful visual medium.
To Alexander Pietrus-Rajman for expanding our horizons throughout Europe as well as new social media, and for bringing fresh new ideas into an organization now a quarter century old.
To Jayde Lovell, Rebecca Gill, and the team at the Reagency Public Relations firm that helped launch the Skeptics Society and Skeptic magazine to new heights and thereby promote science and skepticism, the dual engines that drive the modern world.
Much of this book was written at my office, so I also wish to recognize the many fine people working at or associated with the Skeptics Society and Skeptic magazine, including Nicole McCullough, Priscilla Loquellano, Daniel Loxton, William Bull, Jerry Friedman, and most especially my partner, Pat Linse. Our many volunteers that make such an organization run smoothly deserve acknowledgment: senior editor Frank Miele; senior scientists David Naiditch, Bernard Leikind, Liam McDaid, Claudio Maccone, and Thomas McDonough; contributing editors Tim Callahan, Harriet Hall, and Carol Tavris; editor Sara Meric; photographer David Patton and videographer Brad Davies; and our many volunteers: Cliff Caplan, Michael Gilmore, and Diane Knudtson.
To David and Jackie Naiditch for opening their home to our Science Salon and thereby enriching so many people with such a beautiful setting for discussing science and skepticism.
To my lecture agents, Scott Wolfman and Diane Thompson at Wolfman Productions, for their contribution in bringing science and skepticism to the speaker’s circuit.
To my colleagues (and friends) Anondah Saide and Kevin McCaffree, who made important contributions to the analysis of death-row inmates’ final statements in chapter one.
To Danielle Struppa, president of Chapman University, for nourishing an environment of open dialogue and for protecting all forms of free speech at this wonderful campus, and for enabling me to teach first-year students how to think critically through Skepticism 101.
To the editorial and art departments at Scientific American, the longest continuously published magazine in American history, who have allowed me to contribute every month since April 2001: Mariette DiChristina, Fred Guterl, Michael Lemonick, Christi Keller, Aaron Shattuck, Michael Mrak, and especially Izhar Cohen for his remarkable illustrations that turn my words into striking visual images.
To my daughter, Devin, with love always.
To my wife, Jennifer, for everything and forever, and to our son, Vincent Richard Walter Shermer, to whom this book is dedicated.