The Unpersuadables

5 from august scientific bodies such as the Royal Society: Annabel Crabb, ‘Darwin’s evolutionary theory is a tottering nonsense, built on too many suppositions’, Sydney Morning Herald, 7 May 2006.

5 In 2006 the National Union of Teachers demanded new legislation: Jamie Doward, ‘Creationist to tour UK universities’, Observer, 9 April 2006.

5 which the National Secular Society described as: Sarah Cassidy, ‘Creationist descends on Britain to take debate on evolution into the classroom’, Independent, 21 April 2006.

6 Professor Richard Dawkins … once told the Guardian newspaper: John Crace, ‘Six Day Wonder’, Guardian, 2 May 2006.

12 only for Mackay to be kicked out: Michael McKenna, ‘Biblical Battle of Creation Groups’, Australian, 4 June 2007.

27 UFO sightings by … airline pilots, military personnel and police officers: Peter Jennings, ‘The UFO Phenomenon’, ABC News, 24 February 2005.

27 over a hundred thousand billion potentially life-bearing planets: ‘Billions Of Life-Bearing Planets Could Exist’, Sky News, 10 May 2012.

27 Dr Michio Kaku … argues: Peter Jennings, ‘The UFO Phenomenon’, ABC News, 24 February 2005.

28 Working closely with more than two hundred individuals: Angela Hind, ‘Alien Thinking’, BBC News, 8 June 2005.

28 Mack quickly discounted the common ‘sleep paralysis’ theory: ‘Abduction, Alienation and Reason’, BBC Radio 4, 8 June 2005.

28 ‘These people, as far as I could tell, were of sound mind’: ‘Abduction, Alienation and Reason’, BBC Radio 4, 8 June 2005.

29 he felt marginalised by the university: ‘The Aliens are always with us [Obituary]’, Bryan Appleyard, Sunday Times, 3 October 2004. Additional quotes re: Mack vs Harvard: ‘Abduction, Alienation and Reason’, BBC Radio 4, 8 June 2005.

32 four cabinet ministers were sent to meet him: ‘When the Saints Go Marching In’, Newsweek, 12 June 2011.

32 one billion followers: Bhupesh Bhandari, ‘Meet Baba Ramdev, the swami who owns a Scottish Island’, MSN News, 4 June 2011.

32 he had a reception with MPs at the House of Commons: ‘British House of Commons honours Yoga Guru Ramdev’, One India News, 18 July 2007.

32 tea with the Queen: ‘Swami Ramdev wins UK award’, Times of India, 14 July 2006.

32 addressed a United Nations conference: ‘Baba Ramdev to address UN meet in NY’, Mumbai Mirror, 13 October 2009.

36 manufactures over a hundred and sixty herbal treatments: ‘Yogi cleared of animal parts row’, BBC News, 8 March 2006.

36 senior politician accused him of using human bones: ‘Guru accused of “human bone” drug’, BBC News, 4 January 2006.

36 the testicles of an otter: T. K. Rajalakshmi, ‘In the name of Ayurveda’, Frontline, vol. 23, issue 02 (28 January–10 February 2006).

36 twenty were arrested: ‘20 supporters of Baba Ramdev arrested’, Times of India, 6 January 2006.

36 a sinister conspiracy of multinational pharmaceutical companies: ‘Yogi cleared of animal parts row’, BBC News, 8 March 2006.

36 claims that pranayama can cure AIDS: ‘Yoga can cure AIDS: Ramdev’, Times of India, 20 December 2006.

36 a statement Ramdev denied ever making: ‘I made no claims of curing AIDS: Ramdev’, Express India, 22 December 2006.

36 threatened with legal action by medical NGOs and … the Indian government: Seema Kamdar, ‘Baba Ramdev’s website claims AIDS is curable’, DNA India, 26 December 2006.

38 Coca-Cola will turn their skin dark: Shivam Vij, ‘The Stain that Just Won’t Wash’, Tehelka, 10 February 2007.

39 a kind of greatest hits package of Ramdev’s claims: Acharya Balkrishna, Yog: In Synergy with Medical Science, Divya Prakashan, 2007.

Note: I read about many of the studies listed in this section, and in the chapters that follow, in books by those with appropriate expertise. Where academic studies are listed, it is for the convenience of interested parties. For details of my method please see 316.

41 ‘The Powerful Placebo’: Henry K. Beecher, ‘The Powerful Placebo’, Journal of the American Medical Association, 24 December 1955.

41 although Beecher’s interpretation of the data … highly careless: For an excellent analysis of just how poor Beecher’s interpretation of the data in his study was, see Dylan Evans, Placebo, HarperCollins, 2004, pp. 4–6.

42 Valium … only actually works when the patient knows: ‘Why the placebo effect is rewriting the medical rulebook’, New Scientist, 20 August 2008.

42 Experts such as psychiatrist Patrick Lemoine: Laura Spinney, ‘Purveyors of mystery’, New Scientist, 16 December 2006.

42 75 per cent of the effect of … Prozac might be down to placebo: Irving Kirsch and Guy Sapirstein, ‘Listening to Prozac but hearing placebo: A meta-analysis of antidepressant medication’, Prevention & Treatment, June 1998.

42 Professor David Wootton … has written: Bad Medicine, Oxford University Press, 2006, p. 68.

42 Professor Fabrizio Benedetti, has gone so far as to state: Steve Silberman, ‘Placebos Are Getting More Effective. Drugmakers Are Desperate to Know Why’, Wired, 17 September 2009.

42 An individual’s placebo response … expectation of what will happen: Steve Silberman, ‘Placebos Are Getting More Effective. Drugmakers Are Desperate to Know Why’, Wired, 17 September 2009.

42 brand-name headache pills: A. Branthwaite and P. Cooper, ‘Analgesic effects of branding in treatment of headaches’, British Medical Journal, 16 May 1981.

42 why zero per cent ‘alcohol’ can make you feel drunk: Donald J. O’Boyle, Alice S. Binns and John J. Summer, ‘On the efficacy of alcohol placebos in inducing feelings of intoxication’, Psychopharmacology 15, nos. 1–2 (1994).

42 why completely fake drugs can benefit the symptoms: This list is a compilation of all the sources noted in this section, as well as Dylan Evans, Placebo, HarperCollins, 2004; and Ben Goldacre, Bad Science, 4th Estate, 2008.

42 athletes go faster: Thomas Trojian and Christopher Beedie, ‘Placebo Effect and Athletes’, Current Sports Medicine Reports, July–August 2008.

42 for longer: C. J. Beedie, D. A. Coleman and A. J. Foad, ‘Positive and negative placebo effects resulting from the deceptive administration of an ergogenic aid’, International Journal of Sport, Nutrition, Exercise and Metabolism, 17 June 2007.

42 with less pain: F. Benedetti, A. Pollo and L. Colloca, ‘Opioid-mediated placebo responses boost pain endurance and physical performance – is it doping in sport competitions?’, Journal of Neuroscience, 31 October 2007.

42 convince asthma sufferers they’re better: Michael E. Wechsler, M.D. et al., ‘Active Albuterol or Placebo, Sham Acupuncture, or No Intervention in Asthma’, New England Journal of Medicine, 14 July 2011.

42 four sugar pills: D. E. Moerman, ‘Cultural variations in the placebo effect: ulcers, anxiety & blood pressure’, Medical Anthropology Quarterly, 2000.

42 sham injections work better: A. J. de Craen, J. G. Tijssen, J. de Gans and J. Kleijnen, ‘Placebo effect in the acute treatment of migraine: subcutaneous placebos are better than oral placebos’, Journal of Neurology, March 2000.

42 capsules work better: M. Z. Hussain, ‘Effect of shape of medication in treatment of anxiety states’, British Journal of Psychiatry 120 (1972).

42 big pills work better: L. W. Buckalew and S. Ross, ‘Relationship of perceptual characteristics to efficacy of placebos’, Psychol Rep., December 1981.

42 complicated but useless electrical equipment: A. G. Johnson, ‘Surgery as Placebo’, Lancet, 22 October 1994.

42 electrodes in the brain: Michele Lanotte, Leonardo Lopiano, Elena Torre, Bruno Bergamasco, Luana Colloca, Fabrizio Benedetti, ‘Expectation enhances autonomic responses to stimulation of the human subthalamic limbic region’, Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, November 2005.

42 smelly brown paint: G. H. Montgomery and I. Kirsch, ‘Mechanisms of Placebo Pain Reduction: An Empirical Investigation’, Psychological Science, May 1996.

42 the unspoken thoughts of your doctor: R. H. Gracely et al., ‘Clinicians’ Expectations Influence Placebo Analgesia’, Lancet, January 1985.

42 when we know that our medication is pharmacologically useless: Ted J. Kaptchuk et al., ‘Placebos without Deception: A Randomized Controlled Trial in Irritable Bowel Syndrome’, PLoS, 22 December 2010.

43 Professor Nicholas Humphrey … writes: ‘The Evolved Self-Management System’, Edge, 12 May 2011.

43 Because it did: Dylan Evans, Placebo, HarperCollins, 2004, pp. 38–41, in particular his analysis of: S. Fisher and R. P. Greenburg, ‘How sound is the double blind design for evaluating psychotropic drugs?’, Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 1993.

45 For a 1979 study that has been widely replicated: H. Strupp, S. Hadley, ‘Specific versus non-specific factors in psychotherapy’, Archives of General Psychiatry [1979].

45 despite the fact that different varieties of therapy: M. L. Smith and G. V. Glass, The Benefits of Psychotherapy, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1980.

50 Maarten Peters and his team at Maastricht University: M. J. V. Peters, R. Horselenberg, M. Jelicic and H. Merckelbach, ‘The false fame illusion in people with memories about a previous life’, Consciousness and Cognition, March 2007.

50 Psychologists at Harvard University led by Susan Clancy: Susan A. Clancy, Richard J. McNally, Roger K. Pitman, Daniel L. Schacter and Mark F. Lenzenweger, ‘Memory Distortion in People Reporting Abduction by Aliens’, Journal of Abnormal Psychology 111 (2002).

50 Although this result wasn’t replicated in an attempt by UK researchers: Christopher C. French et al., ‘Psychological aspects of the alien contact experience’, Cortex 44 (2008), pp. 1387–95.

53 plenty of sound evidence for the efficacy of meditation: Michael Bond, ‘Putting meditation to the test’, New Scientist, 11 January 2011.

67 the events that spiralled from a single phone call to a Kentucky branch of McDonald’s: Andrew Wolfson, ‘A Hoax Most Cruel’, Courier Journal, 9 October 2005. ABC Primetime Special, originally broadcast 10 November 2005. ‘Strip Search Case Closed?’ ABC news website, 30 November 2006. Philip Zimbardo, The Lucifer Effect, Rider, 2007, pp. 279–81.

70 In a 2012 paper, neuroscientist Professor Chris Frith: Chris D. Frith, ‘The role of metacognition in human social interactions’, Philosophical Transactions of The Royal Society, Biological Sciences, p. 367.

71 In 1951, Professor Stanley Milgram’s boss, Dr Solomon Asch: S. E. Asch, ‘Studies of independence and conformity: A minority of one against a unanimous majority’, Psychological Monographs 70 (1951).

71 In 2005, Dr Gregory Berns, a psychiatrist and neuroscientist: Gregory S. Berns, Jonathan Chappelow, Caroline F. Zink, Giuseppe Pagnoni, Megan E. Martin-Skurski and Jim Richards, ‘Neurobiological correlates of social conformity and independence during mental rotation’, Biological Psychiatry 58 (2005), pp. 245–53.

72 In an interview with the New York Times: Sandra Blakeslee, ‘What Other People Say May Change What You See’, New York Times, 28 June 2005.

73 six hundred million years ago: Jonathan Haidt, The Happiness Hypothesis, Arrow, 2006, p. 15.

73 first neurologically recognisable Homo sapiens, known as ‘Mitochondrial Eve’: ‘Colin Blakemore: how the human brain got bigger by accident and not through evolution’, Guardian, 28 March 2010.

73 prefrontal cortex, which enabled us to strategise, socialise and make lateral associations: Michael S. Gazzaniga, Human, Harper Perennial, 2008, pp. 19–20.

73 We left our sunny Eden in east Africa … evolutionary mystery took place: J. Anderson Thompon Jnr, Why We Believe in God(s), Pitchstone, 2011, pp. 34–37.

73 a sudden explosion in creativity: Michael S. Gazzaniga, Human, Harper Perennial, 2008, p. 215.

73–74 Even today, we remain … more than two million: J. Anderson Thompon Jnr, Why We Believe in God(s), Pitchstone, 2011, pp. 34–37.

74 two hundred and fifty thousand cells a minute: David Brooks, The Social Animal, Short Books, 2011, p. 30.

74 ‘an alien kind of computational material’: David Eagleman, Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain, Canongate, 2011, p. 1.

74 capable of receiving millions of pieces of information at any given moment: David Brooks, The Social Animal, Short Books, 2011, p. x, quoting Strangers to Ourselves, by Timothy D. Wilson of the University of Virginia.

74 It has eighty-six billion of these cells: James Randerson, ‘How many neurons make a human brain? Billions fewer than we thought’, Guardian, 28 February 2012.

74 each one is as complex as a city … a hundred trillion of them: David Eagleman, Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain, Canongate, 2011, p. 1.

74 a hundred and twenty metres per second: Michael O’Shea, The Brain, Oxford University Press, 2005, p. 8.

74–75 According to the neuroscientist V. S. Ramachandran, ‘The number of permutations’: V. S. Ramachandran, Phantoms in the Brain, Harper Perennial, 1998, p. 8.

75 And yet, he continues, ‘We know so little about it’: V. S. Ramachandran, Phantoms in the Brain, Harper Perennial, 1998, p. 83.

75 Other mammals give birth to their young when their brains have developed: Jonathan Haidt, The Happiness Hypothesis, Arrow, 2006, p. 52.

75 babies create around 1.8 million synapses per second: David Brooks, The Social Animal, Short Books, 2011, p. 47.

75 Throughout childhood, the brain is extraordinarily alive: Bruce E. Wexler, Brain and Culture, MIT Press, 2008, p. 43.

75 In his book Brain and Culture Professor Bruce E. Wexler writes: Bruce E. Wexler, Brain and Culture, MIT Press, 2008, p. 5.

76 up to 90 per cent of what you are seeing right now: Richard Gregory, ‘Brainy Mind’, British Medical Journal 317 (1998), pp. 1693–95.

76 When writer Jeff Warren was trained to ‘wake up’: Jeff Warren, Head Trip: Adventures on the Wheel of Consciousness, Oneworld, 2007, p. 117.

77 The light is not out there: David Eagleman, Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain, Canongate, 2011, p. 40.

77 The music … rose petal has no colour: Richard Gregory, ‘Brainy Mind’, British Medical Journal 317, pp. 1693–95 (1998).

77 in the words of neuroscientist Professor Chris Frith: Chris Frith, Making up the Mind, Blackwell Publishing, 2007.

78 In a startling 1974 experiment that tested these principles: M. Solms and O. Turnbull, The Brain and the Inner World, Other Press, 2002, p. 154.

78 Scott Krepel, who was fitted with a cochlear implant: Interview with Ira Glass via Marc Holmes (interpreter), This American Life, first broadcast on WBEZ Chicago 25 March 2010.

79 Estimates vary … we are all living half a second in the past: Jeff Warren, Head Trip: Adventures on the Wheel of Consciousness, Oneworld, 2007, p. 145.

79 One-third of the human brain is devoted to its processing: David Eagleman, Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain, Canongate, 2011, p. 23.

79 Beyond ten degrees from this vivid centre: Chris Frith, Making up the Mind, Blackwell Publishing, 2007, p. 41.

79 happen up to five times per second: Susan Blackmore, Consciousness, Oxford University Press, 2005, p. 57.

79 neuroscientist David Eagleman in his book Incognito: David Eagleman, Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain, Canongate, 2011, p. 1.

80 in the back of each eye: Michael O’Shea, The Brain, Oxford University Press, 2005, pp. 67, 68.

80 in the visual area of the striate cortex V₄: Richard Gregory, ‘Brainy Mind’, British Medical Journal 317, pp. 1693–95 (1998).

80 some birds and insects have four, five or even six colour receptors: ‘Inside Animal Minds’, New Scientist, 20 August 2011, p. 34.

80 According to Professor Eagleman, ‘Our brain is …’: David Eagleman, Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain, Canongate, 2011, p. 54.

80 less than a ten-trillionth of the spectrum is available to us: David Eagleman, Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain, Canongate, 2011, p. 77.

81 it is, he says, a ‘map of signs about future possibilities’: Chris Frith, Making up the Mind, Blackwell Publishing, 2007, p. 41.

81 quotes a figure of over eleven million: Timothy D. Wilson, Strangers to Ourselves, Belknap Harvard, 2002, p. 24.

81 Professor John Gray has it at ‘perhaps 14 million’: John Gray, Straw Dogs, Granta, 2002, p. 66.

81 As V. S. Ramachandran writes, ‘The brain must have some way …’: V. S. Ramachandran, Phantoms in the Brain, Harper Perennial, 1998, p. 134.

81 the maximum number of points of information we are able to appreciate consciously: David Brooks, The Social Animal, Short Books, 2011, p. x.

81 ‘One option is to revise your story …’ writes Ramachandran: V. S. Ramachandran, Phantoms in the Brain, Harper Perennial, 1998, p. 134.

81 cartoon characters, loved ones and historical characters: Todd E. Feinberg, Altered Egos: How the Brain Creates the Self, Oxford University Press, 2001, pp. 9–10.

82 Ten per cent of elderly people … similar processes: Chris Frith, Making up the Mind, Blackwell Publishing, 2007, p. 30.

82 Dr Clarence W. Olsen has spoken: Todd E. Feinberg, Altered Egos: How the Brain Creates the Self, Oxford University Press, 2001, pp. 28–29.

82 it takes between two and three weeks for their unpleasant situation: V. S. Ramachandran, Phantoms in the Brain, Harper Perennial, 1998, p. 150.

82 Academics at the University of Wisconsin: Daniel Levitin, ‘The illusion of music’, New Scientist, 23 February 2008.

82 V. S. Ramachandran has come across: V. S. Ramachandran, Phantoms in the Brain, Harper Perennial, 1998, pp. 40–42.

83 our world is ‘not really … saints and sinners’: Jonathan Haidt, The Happiness Hypothesis, Arrow, 2006, p. 15.

83 In New Guinea, the Gururumba men: Dylan Evans, Emotion, Oxford University Press, 2001, pp. 13, 14.

83 Many South Koreans are terrified of ‘fan death’: ‘Newspapers fan belief in urban myth’, International Herald Tribune, 10 January 2007.

83 contractors carrying out huge public works: Colin Nickerson, ‘In Iceland, Spirits are in the Material World’, Boston Globe, 25 December 1999.

83 They have a family member hold their shrinking part in place: David Brooks, The Social Animal, Short Books, 2011, p. 151.

83 we believe that alcohol is a disinhibitor: Kate Fox, Watching the English, Hodder, 2004, p. 261.

84 We have an additional, irresistible urge to divide the world: Graham Lawton, ‘The Grand Delusion’, New Scientist, 14 May 2011.

84 A study by three major US universities found: ‘Roots of Unconscious Prejudice Affect 90 to 95 percent of People’, Science Daily, 30 September 1998.

84 the only thing necessary to trigger tribal behaviour in humans: J. Anderson Thompson Jnr, Why We Believe in God(s), Pitchstone, 2011, p. 38.

84 social psychologists Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson describe: Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson, Mistakes Were Made (But Not By Me), Pinter and Martin, 2007, p. 13.

85 Psychologists know this as the ‘makes sense stopping rule’: Jonathan Haidt, The Happiness Hypothesis, Arrow, 2006, p. 65.

86 One of the neatest looked at unconscious sexism: Graham Lawton, ‘The Grand Delusion’, New Scientist, 14 May 2011.

86 Psychologist Deanna Kuhn found: Michael Shermer, Why People Believe Weird Things, Souvenir Press, 2007, pp. 299, 300.

86 One had people reading two arguments about the death penalty: Thomas Gilovich, How We Know What Isn’t So, Simon & Schuster, 1991, p. 54.

87 In 2004, clinical psychologist Drew Westen: Drew Westen, ‘The Political Brain’, Public Affairs, 2007, pp. x–xiv.

88 participants trying to find a photograph of themselves: Graham Lawton, ‘The Grand Delusion’, New Scientist, 14 May 2011.

88 participants reading an essay about Rasputin: David Eagleman, Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain, Canongate, 2011, pp. 62–63.

89 A cognitive error we all share, known as the spotlight effect: Graham Lawton, ‘The Grand Delusion’, New Scientist, 14 May 2011.

89 Gamblers rewrite their memories: Thomas Gilovich, How We Know What Isn’t So, Simon & Schuster, 1991, p. 55.

89 Athletes tend to put their victories down to training: Thomas Gilovich, How We Know What Isn’t So, Simon & Schuster, 1991, p. 55.

89 74 per cent of drivers: Graham Lawton, ‘The Grand Delusion’, New Scientist, 14 May 2011.

89 94 per cent of university professors: Thomas Gilovich, How We Know What Isn’t So, Simon & Schuster, 1991, p. 77.

89 When husbands and wives are asked to guess what percentage: Jonathan Haidt, The Happiness Hypothesis, Arrow, 2006, p. 69.

89 Half of all students in one survey predicted: David Brooks, The Social Animal, Short Books, 2011, p. 214.

89 having acted reasonably in the face of unfair provocation: Roy Baumeister, Evil: Inside Human Violence and Cruelty, Barnes & Noble/W. H. Freeman, 1997, p. 43.

89 The Nazis believed that they were on a mission of good: Roy Baumeister, Evil: Inside Human Violence and Cruelty, Barnes & Noble/W. H. Freeman, 1997, p. 34.

89 He writes, ‘The perpetrators of evil …’: Roy Baumeister, Evil: Inside Human Violence and Cruelty, Barnes & Noble/W. H. Freeman, 1997, p. 38.

89 ‘many especially evil acts …’: Roy Baumeister, Evil: Inside Human Violence and Cruelty, Barnes & Noble/W. H. Freeman, 1997, p. 29.

90 We typically have a bias that tells us we are less susceptible to bias: Emily Pronin, Daniel Y. Lin, Lee Ross, ‘The Bias Blind Spot: Perceptions of Bias in Self Versus Others’, Personal and Social Psychology Bulletin, March 2002.

94 four million pounds a year: ‘NHS money “wasted” on homeopathy’, BBC News, 22 February 2010.

94 billions in … the US: ‘The Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine in the United States’, National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, December 2008.

94 Over fifteen thousand NHS prescriptions: Martin Beckford, ‘NHS spending on homeopathy prescriptions falls to £122,000’, Daily Telegraph, 30 August 2011.

94 score above 70 per cent: ‘NHS money “wasted”’ on homeopathy’, BBC News, 22 February 2010.

94 the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee recommended: ‘NHS money “wasted” on homeopathy’, BBC News, 22 February 2010.

94 Even ex-Prime Minister Tony Blair has become involved: ‘Blair downplays creationism fears’, BBC News, 2 November 2006.

94 an eightfold drop in NHS prescriptions: Martin Beckford, ‘NHS spending on homeopathy prescriptions falls to £122,000’, Daily Telegraph, 30 August 2011.

94–95 just 0.001 per cent of the NHS’s annual drug budget: Martin Beckford, ‘NHS spending on homeopathy prescriptions falls to £122,000’, Daily Telegraph, 30 August 2011.

96 which began in 1790: (The birth of homeopathy is sometimes placed at 1792, but 1790 apparently represents the start of Hahnemann’s experiments.) Simon Singh and Edzard Ernst, Trick or Treatment, Corgi, 2008, p. 119.

97 one molecule … in your pill is one in a billion billion billion billion: Simon Singh and Edzard Ernst, Trick or Treatment, Corgi, 2008, p. 124.

97 a sphere of water that stretches from the earth to the sun: Ben Goldacre, Bad Science, 4th Estate, 2008, p. 33.

99 It is said that Vithoulkas dodged his judgement day: ‘George Vithoulkas Makes a Fool of Himself’, The Quackometer, 24 February 2010.

99 typically merciless statement that was published on Randi’s personal blog: James Randi, ‘A Correction’, Swift blog, 30 December 2008.

102 Written by Dr Michael Shermer: Michael Shermer, Why People Believe Weird Things, Souvenir Press, 2007, pp. 309–331.

107 The American rationalist-celebrity Rebecca Watson: Rebecca Watson interview, YouTube, uploaded 7 July 2008.

107 This is why James Randi frequently rejects the title ‘debunker’: ‘The $18,000 question’, Straits Times, 30 May 1991.

108 the man Professor Chris French calls ‘the patron saint of the Skeptics’: Interview, Chris French and James Randi, YouTube, April 2008, on behalf of The Skeptic magazine.

109 Randi himself has said that ‘any definitive tests … have been negative’: Interview [AP] St. Petersburg Times (Florida), 24 July 2007 and at JREF Staff page, http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/staff.html.

110 Nature, published a study: E. Davenas et al., ‘Human basophil degranulation triggered by very dilute antiserum against IgE’, Nature 333, June 1988.

110 Benveniste was initially sceptical of homeopathy: Heretics of Science, episode one, BBC2, 1994.

110 his best researcher, Dr Elisabeth Davenas: Heretics of Science, episode one, BBC2, 1994.

110 the results were reportedly replicated by four laboratories: Maddox, Stewart, Randi, ‘“High-dilution” experiments a delusion’, Nature, 28 July 1988. (Description of Nature replication that follows is sourced from the BBC documentary, the Nature articles and Trick or Treatment, by Simon Singh and Edzard Ernst).

110 Dr Elisabeth Davenas – a homeopathy proponent: Simon Singh and Edzard Ernst, Trick or Treatment, Corgi, 2008, p. 151.

111 When the result was revealed, some of Benveniste’s scientists wept: Heretics of Science, episode one, BBC2, 1994.

111 Their report was published in Nature in July 1988: Maddox, Stewart, Randi, ‘“High-dilution” experiments a delusion’, Nature, 28 July 1988.

111 Benveniste fought back: ‘Dr Jacques Benveniste replies’, Nature, 28 July 1988.

111 He described the investigation as a ‘pantomime’: Heretics of Science, episode one, BBC2, 1994.

111 Benveniste finished his grand defence: ‘Dr Jacques Benveniste replies’, Nature, 28 July 1988.

112 Two years later, he was fired: Heretics of Science, episode one, BBC2, 1994.

112 ‘Shang et al.’: Aijing Shang et al., ‘Are the clinical effects of homoeopathy placebo effects? Comparative study of placebo-controlled trials of homoeopathy and allopathy’, Lancet, 27 August 2005. (I made repeated attempts to approach Shang and members of his team for comment and assistance, but unfortunately they declined to help.)

115 ‘One day,’ he said, ‘we are going to be able to get our drugs on the phone’: Heretics of Science, episode one, BBC2, 1994.

115 ‘Today you can send a strand of your hair’: Interview with Andy Lewis, The Quackometer.

118 Morgellons was named in 2002, by American mom Mary Leitao: Brigid Schulte, ‘Figments of the Imagination?’, Washington Post, 20 January 2008.

118 Using a microscope: Chico Harlan, ‘Mom fights for answers on what’s wrong with her son’, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 23 July 2006.

118 blue, black and white fibres: Elizabeth Devita-Raeburn, ‘The Morgellons Mystery’, Psychology Today, 1 March 2007.

118 Even folk singer Joni Mitchell has been affected: Matt Diehl, ‘It’s a Joni Mitchell concert, sans Joni’, Los Angeles Times, 22 April 2012.

118 thousands of sufferers in the US have written to members of Congress: Brigid Schulte, ‘Figments of the Imagination?’, Washington Post, 20 January 2008.

118 In 2008, the CDC established a special task force: ‘CDC to Launch Study on Unexplained Illness’, CDC Press Briefing Transcript, Moderator: Dave Daigle, 16 January 2008, 2:00 p.m. EST.

120 academics such as Jeffrey Meffert: Brigid Schulte, ‘Figments of the Imagination?’, Washington Post, 20 January 2008.

120 Dr Mary Seeman, Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry: Michael Mason, ‘Is It Disease or Delusion? U.S. Takes on a Dilemma’, New York Times, 24 October 2006.

120–21 Dr Steven Novella of The Skeptics’ Guide to the Universe agrees: ‘Delusional Parasitosis’, sciencebasedmedicine.org, 18 May 2011.

121 In the spring of 2005, Randy Wymore: Interview with author and Brigid Schulte, ‘Figments of the Imagination?’, Washington Post, 20 January 2008.

122 the moment they discovered the job was related to Morgellons: Randy Wymore, presentation, fourth Annual Morgellons Conference in Austin, Texas, 2 April 2011.

128 I find a 2008 paper on Morgellons: Robert E. Accordino et al., ‘Morgellons Disease?’, Dermatologic Therapy, vol. 21, issue 1, pp. 8–12, January 2008.

129 In 1987 a team of German researchers found: Atul Gawande, ‘The Itch’, New Yorker, 30 June 2008.

135 ‘No parasites or mycobacteria were detected,’ it reports: M. L. Pearson, J. V. Selby, K. A. Katz, V. Cantrell, C. R. Braden et al., ‘Clinical, Epidemiologic, Histopathologic and Molecular Features of an Unexplained Dermopathy’, PLoS ONE 7(1) (2012): e29908. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0029908.

135 Commenting on the work, Steven Novella: ‘Morgellons, Creating a New Disease’, www.skepticblog.org, 6 February 2012.

145 In his book Doctoring the Mind: Richard Bentall, Doctoring the Mind, Allen Lane, 2009, p. 131.

145 A typical example is a 2004 paper: P. Bebbington et al., ‘Psychosis, victimisation and childhood disadvantage: evidence from the second British National Survey of Psychiatric Morbidity’, British Journal of Psychiatry 185 (2004), pp. 220–26.

162 Most recently (1991–96) she has been the Head of Ethics Science and Information for the British Medical Association: http://www.networkprivacy.gg/fleur.htm.

166 accused of being ‘fixated on finding satanic abuse’: Esther Addley, ‘I Could Not Stop Crying’, Guardian, 21 October 2006.

171 the Bulger killings: Blake Morrison, ‘Jon Venables is not yet beyond redemption’, Guardian, 27 July 2010.

171 Chris Langham: James Hanning, ‘Comic release: Is it time to forgive Chris Langham?’, Independent, 6 December 2009.

171 controversial condition known as multiple-personality disorder or ‘DID’: Amanda Mitchison, ‘Kim Noble: The woman with 100 personalities’, Guardian, 30 September 2011.

175 paedophiles occasionally meddle with pagan rites and symbolism: ‘Kidwelly sex cult members face long jail sentences’, BBC News Wales, 9 March 2011.

178 ‘It turned out to be that, yes. The people didn’t remember at first. They weren’t aware’: Dr Fisher has previously admitted to journalist Daniel Foggo that ‘Carole had “no knowledge” of any ritual abuse when she first saw her.’ Daniel Foggo, Sunday Times, 12 June 2011.

182 in a paper published in the Journal of Philosophical Studies: Lisa Bortolotti and Matteo Mameli, ‘Self Deception, Delusion and the Boundaries of Folk Psychology’, Journal of Philosophical Studies, vol. 20, pp. 203–221.

183 Psychiatrist Robin Murray: The Life Scientific with Robin Murray, BBC Radio Four, first broadcast 7 February 2012.

183 According to Professor of Psychiatry Bruce Wexler: Bruce E. Wexler, Brain and Culture, MIT Press, 2008, p. 9.

183 Developmental biologist Lewis Wolpert writes: Lewis Wolpert, Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast, Faber, 2007, p. 36.

184 Psychologist Jonathan Haidt has called effectance: Jonathan Haidt, The Happiness Hypothesis, Arrow, 2006, p. 22.

184 Professor Daniel Kahneman invites his readers: Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow, Penguin, 2011, p. 50.

184 Professor Wolpert, meanwhile, writes of studies: Lewis Wolpert, Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast, Faber, 2007, p. 16.

184 mode of language that is millions of years older: Drew Westen, The Political Brain, Public Affairs, 2007, p. 57.

184 every sight, every smell, every person, every idea, everything: Michael S. Gazzaniga, Human, Harper Perennial, 2008, pp. 121, 124.

184 Professor Michael Gazzaniga writes: Michael S. Gazzaniga, Human, Harper Perennial, 2008, p. 124.

184 incapable of making these decisions: Michael S. Gazzaniga, Human, Harper Perennial, 2008, p. 120.

185 hitting you with dread or desire: David Brooks, The Social Animal, Short Books, 2011, p. 207.

185 in the words of Professor David Eagleman: David Eagleman, Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain, Canongate, 2011, p. 104.

185 Professor Bruce Wexler writes: Bruce E. Wexler, Brain and Culture, MIT Press, 2008, p. 125.

186 he offers the example of young Native American men: Bruce E. Wexler, Brain and Culture, MIT Press, 2008, p. 126.

186 Eagleman, ‘not at the centre of the action’: David Eagleman, Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain, Canongate, 2011, p. 9.

186 Scientists at the Monell Centre, Philadelphia: David Brooks, The Social Animal, Short Books, 2011, p. 16.

186 When chickens are born in industrial hatcheries: David Eagleman, Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain, Canongate, 2011, p. 57.

186 Researcher Richard Horsey says: Richard Horsey, ‘The Art of Chicken Sexing’, UCL Working Papers in Linguistics, 2002.

187 a team led by Professor Antoine Bechara: Antoine Bechara, Hanna Damasio, Daniel Tranel and Antonio R. Damasio, ‘Deciding Advantageously Before Knowing the Advantageous Strategy’, Science 275, no. 5304, pp. 1293–95 (February 1997).

188 Professor Timothy Wilson writes in Redirect: Timothy D. Wilson, Redirect: The Surprising New Science of Psychological Change, Allen Lane, 2011, p. 51.

189 their understanding that germs and food can cause sickness: Lewis Wolpert, Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast, Faber, 2007, pp. 48–49.

189 In 1889 the German psychiatrist Albert Moll: Daniel M. Wenger, The Illusion of Conscious Will, MIT Press, 2002, p. 149.

189 Seventy-three years later, researchers at Columbia University: Michael S. Gazzaniga, Human, Harper Perennial, 2008, pp. 295, 296.

190 Why this is remains a mystery: Jonathan Haidt, The Happiness Hypothesis, Arrow, 2006, p. 7.

190 (although some speculate … sources of light): Email to author from Professor Chris Frith.

190 the left side is specialised for language: Jonathan Haidt, The Happiness Hypothesis, Arrow, 2006, p. 7.

190 the right is effectively mute: Jonathan Haidt, The Happiness Hypothesis, Arrow, 2006, p. 9.

191 he flashed a picture of a chicken claw: Michael S. Gazzaniga, Human, Harper Perennial, 2008, p. 294.

191 Gazzaniga flashed the command ‘Walk’: Daniel Wegner, The Illusion of Conscious Will, MIT Press, 2002, p. 182.

192 driven to constantly narrate our actions: Jonathan Haidt, The Happiness Hypothesis, Arrow, 2006, p. 8.

192 Gazzaniga writes, ‘Ah, lack of knowledge is of no importance’: Michael S. Gazzaniga, Human, Harper Perennial, 2008, pp. 296, 297.

192 Opinions range from those of Professor David Eagleman: David Eagleman, Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain, Canongate, 2011, pp. 137, 148.

193 Professor of Psychology Daniel Wegner, who argues: This summary of his position was confirmed as ‘apt’ in an email from Professor Wegner.

193 ‘can at best be a small factor’: David Eagleman, ‘The Brain on Trial’, The Atlantic, July/August 2011.

194 A 1962 study by Professor Daniel Offer: Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson, Mistakes Were Made (But Not By Me), Pinter and Martin, 2007, p. 76.

194 Social psychologists Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson believe: Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson, Mistakes Were Made (But Not By Me), Pinter and Martin, 2007, p. 76.

194 One, for example, involves a man buying a chicken from a supermarket: Jonathan Haidt, The Righteous Mind, Allen Lane, 2012, p. 3.

194 After 1,620 harmless offence stories: Jonathan Haidt, The Righteous Mind, Allen Lane, 2012, p. 24.

195 “I know it’s wrong, but I just can’t think of a reason why”: Jonathan Haidt, The Righteous Mind, Allen Lane, 2012, p. 25.

000 ‘moral reasoning is part of our lifelong struggle’: Jonathan Haidt, The Righteous Mind, Allen Lane, 2012, p. 50.

195 Don’t take people’s moral arguments at face value: Jonathan Haidt, The Righteous Mind, Allen Lane, 2012, p. xiv.

195 We are selfish hypocrites: Jonathan Haidt, The Righteous Mind, Allen Lane, 2012, p. xv.

195 ‘myoclonic jerk’: Jeff Warren, Head Trip: Adventures on the Wheel of Consciousness, Oneworld, 2007, p. 31.

195 As neuroscientist and sleep expert Dr Stephen LaBerge has said: Jeff Warren, Head Trip: Adventures on the Wheel of Consciousness, Oneworld, 2007, p. 100.

195 neuroscientist and philosopher Thomas Metzinger notes: Thomas Metzinger, The Ego Tunnel, Basic Books, 2009, p. 138.

196 Dopamine helps to tell us when our models need updating: My understanding of this principle of dopamine was assisted by Professor Chris Frith.

197 ‘It is so unsettling to think such thoughts’: Timothy D. Wilson, Redirect: The Surprising New Science of Psychological Change, Allen Lane, 2011, p. 52.

197 Analysis of one hundred such papers: Bob Holmes, Kurt Kleiner, Kate Douglas and Michael Bond, ‘Reasons to be cheerful’, New Scientist, 4 October 2003.

197 Anthropologists at the University of Connecticut: Matthew Hutson, ‘In Defense of Superstition’, New York Times, 6 April 2012.

197 He tells of an examination of a group of people: Timothy D. Wilson, Redirect: The Surprising New Science of Psychological Change, Allen Lane, 2011, p. 55.

197 Says Professor Wilson, ‘Those who had learned’: Timothy D. Wilson, Redirect: The Surprising New Science of Psychological Change, Allen Lane, 2011, p. 56.

200 Christ Church? Was that it?: I subsequently discovered that my father attended Exeter College.

201 Cognitive psychologist Professor Martin Conway: Charles Fernyhough, ‘Our Memories Tell Our Story’, Guardian, 22 March 2010.

204 He has labelled climate science the ‘largest fraud of all time’: Leo Hickman, ‘“Chemical nonsense”: Leading scientists refute Lord Monckton’s attack on climate science’, Guardian, 21 September 2010.

204 believes that ‘the Hitler Youth were left wing … Nuremberg Rallies’: Interview with Jacek Szkudlarek, corbettreport.com, December 2009, YouTube.

204 he believes that ‘very little’ warming of the earth will take place: ‘Lord Monckton: Climate facts, not “consensus”’, Daily Herald, 22 March 2010.

204 When the presentation … was heard by Professor John Abraham: John Abraham, ‘Monckton takes scientist to brink of madness at climate change talk’, Guardian, 3 June 2010.

204 Monckton responded by accusing Abraham: ‘Monckton: At Last, the Climate Extremists Try to Debate Us! (PJM Exclusive)’, PJmedia.com, 4 June 2010.

204 Our modern notion of ‘left’ and ‘right’ beliefs: John T. Jost, ‘“Elective Affinities”: On the Psychological Bases of Left–Right Differences’, Psychological Inquiry 20 (2009), pp. 129–41.

204 clinical psychologist and political strategist Professor Drew Westen: Drew Westen, The Political Brain, Public Affairs, 2007, p. 82.

205 In The Righteous Mind, Haidt writes that genes account for: Jonathan Haidt, The Righteous Mind, Allen Lane, 2012, p. 278.

205 An analysis of thirteen thousand Australians: Jonathan Haidt, The Righteous Mind, Allen Lane, 2012, pp. 277–79.

206 In The Political Brain, Professor Westen writes: Drew Westen, The Political Brain, Public Affairs, 2007, p. 146.

206 the political left and the right each has a ‘master narrative’: Drew Westen, The Political Brain, Public Affairs, 2007, p. 158.

207 ‘The data from political science are crystal clear’: Drew Westen, The Political Brain, Public Affairs, 2007, p. 123.

207 ‘shows much promise in curing everything from HIV to malaria to multiple sclerosis’: The Lord Monckton Roadshow, ABC Television, Sunday 17 July 2011.

208 this liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Broderers: Who’s Who 2007, p. 1599.

213 ‘There is only one way to stop AIDS’: ‘AIDS: A British View’, American Spectator, January 1987, pp. 29–32.

216 ‘a worldwide coup d’état by bureaucrats’: Interview with Jacek Szkudlarek, corbettreport.com, December 2009, YouTube.

216 who seek to ‘impose a Communist world government on the world’: Speech to an event sponsored by the Minnesota Free Market Institute, 14 October 2009.

217 he writes that moral reasoning ‘evolved not to help us find truth’: Jonathan Haidt, The Righteous Mind, Allen Lane, 2012, p. 76.

219 The assistant to Hitler’s ambassador: ‘Mrs Jaenelle Antas worked for David Irving from August 2008 to December 2011.’ According to David Irving’s website: http://www.fpp.co.uk/docs/Irving/staff_Ja.html.

220 Vienna’s Josefstadt prison: Ruth Elkins, ‘Irving gets three years’ jail in Austria for Holocaust denial’, Independent, 21 February 2006.

221 In 1993 the American historian Professor Deborah Lipstadt wrote: The Hon. Mr Justice Gray, Judgment, Tuesday 11 April 2000, Court 36, Royal Courts of Justice.

221 at one point accidentally calling the judge ‘Mein Führer’: Christopher Hitchens, ‘The Strange Case of David Irving’, Los Angeles Times, 20 May 2001.

221 ‘Irving has misstated historical evidence’: The Hon. Mr Justice Gray, Judgment, Tuesday 11 April 2000, Court 36, Royal Courts of Justice.

221 Irving called the verdict ‘indescribable’ and ‘perverse’: ‘Unrepentant Irving blasts “perverse” judgment’, Guardian, 11 April 2000.

222 a similar one against the Observer: ‘David Irving v the Observer’, Observer, 16 April 2000.

223 ‘All Irving’s historiographical “errors”’: The Hon. Mr Justice Gray, Judgment, Tuesday 11 April 2000, Court 36, Royal Courts of Justice.

224 Irving ‘was clearly incensed’: Richard J. Evans, Telling Lies About Hitler, Verso, 2002, p. 12.

224 ‘Whether or not Lipstadt was correct to claim’: Richard J. Evans, Telling Lies About Hitler, Verso, 2002, p. 8.

225 The Daily Mail quoted a spokesman for the Polish embassy: ‘Controversial historian David Irving to tour Nazi death camps in Poland’, Daily Mail, 8 September 2010.

228 a 2009 article from the Daily Mail: Jason Lewis, ‘Hitler historian David Irving and the beautiful blonde on the rifle range’, Daily Mail, 20 December 2009. Antas responds to this piece on her blog, ‘Make Lemonade’, 4 April 2001. http://www.alternativeright.com/main/blogs/exit-strategies/make-lemonade/.

228 ‘a neo-Nazi pin-up’: Jason Lewis, ‘Hitler historian David Irving and the beautiful blonde on the rifle range’, Daily Mail, 20 December 2009.

228 On the website of an obscure publishing group: Alex Kurtagic, ‘Interview with Jaenelle Antas’, 9 January 2011, Wermod and Wermod Publishing Group.

229 he ‘believed that there had been something like a Holocaust’: Speech, Calgary, Alberta, 29 September 1991, quoted in libel judgment.

229 His denial came in 1989: D. D. Guttenplan, The Holocaust on Trial, Granta, 2001, p. 53.

229 flawed study by a man named Fred Leuchter: Deborah E. Lipstadt, History on Trial, Harper Perennial, 2005, p. 35.

230 ‘the biggest calibre shell that has yet hit the battleship Auschwitz’: Deborah E. Lipstadt, History on Trial, Harper Perennial, 2005, p. 83.

230 In 1991 he reissued his most lauded book: Deborah E. Lipstadt, History on Trial, Harper Perennial, 2005, p. 84.

230 he was fined 3,000 marks in Germany for ‘defaming the memory’: Michael Shermer, Why People Believe Weird Things, Souvenir Press, 1997, p. 196.

230 ‘never adopted the narrow-minded approach’: Michael Shermer, Why People Believe Weird Things, Souvenir Press, 1997, p. 195.

230 The following year he told an Australian radio host: Michael Shermer, Why People Believe Weird Things, Souvenir Press, 1997, p. 195.

230 In 1996 he admitted some Jews were systematically killed: Ron Rosenbaum, Explaining Hitler, Faber and Faber, 1998, p. 238.

230 spent a short period in a Munich prison: Ron Rosenbaum, Explaining Hitler, Faber and Faber, 1998, p. 224.

230 dropped by his publishers in Britain and the US: D. D. Guttenplan, The Holocaust on Trial, Granta, 2001, pp. 54, 55.

230 his ‘life has come under a gradually mounting attack’: Robert J. Van Pelt, The Case for Auschwitz: Evidence from the Irving Trial, Indiana University Press, 2002, p. 56.

231 he had a long-standing offer of $1,000: Michael Shermer, Why People Believe Weird Things, Souvenir Press, 1997, p. 195.

231 After all, he comes from a patriotic British military family: Miscellaneous biographical details from interview with author.

231 need to be an ‘ambassador to Hitler’: Richard J. Evans, Telling Lies About Hitler, Verso, 2002, p. 48.

232 It was 1955, and the seventeen-year-old was told: Interview with author.

232 one issue of which was said to contain a tribute to Hitler’s Germany: Rosie Waterhouse, ‘From Brentwood to Berchtesgaden. Rosie Waterhouse traces the disturbing story of the “revisionist” David Irving’, Independent, 11 July 1992.

232 saw the fascist Sir Oswald Mosley speak at a rally: D. D. Guttenplan, The Holocaust on Trial, Granta, 2001, p. 42.

232 ‘The Nottingham race disturbances were caused by coloured wide boys’: University College Newspaper, 2 February 1961, p. 1.

233 he suspected that he had been mismarked: D. D. Guttenplan, The Holocaust on Trial, Granta, 2001, p. 41.

233 he wrote to Krupp, the Nazi armaments manufacturer: D. D. Guttenplan, The Holocaust on Trial, Granta, 2001, p. 42.

243 historians ‘do not, as Irving kept demanding, seek a “smoking gun”‘: Deborah E. Lipstadt, History on Trial, Harper Perennial, 2005, p. 133.

243 ‘Confirmation bias even sees to it that no evidence’: Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson, Mistakes Were Made (But Not By Me), Pinter and Martin, 2007, p. 20.

243 An interview with Irving’s brother Nicholas: Olga Craig, ‘David, what on earth would Mother think?’, Daily Telegraph, 26 February 2006.

243 ‘Earlier experiences had persuaded me’: John Keegan, ‘The trial of David Irving – and my part in his downfall’, Daily Telegraph, 12 April 2000.

244 Psychologist David Perkins conducted a simple study: Jonathan Haidt, The Righteous Mind, Allen Lane, 2012, pp. 80, 81.

244 What if Hitler hadn’t known about the Holocaust? Interview with author.

245 Around the period in which Irving was considering this find: Ron Rosenbaum, Explaining Hitler, Faber and Faber, 1998, p. 224.

Following the first publication of this book, Professor Wiseman contacted me with some objections to this chapter.

Two of his objections resulted in small changes to the text. The first is about the timing of Wiseman’s tests on Jaytee the ‘psychic’ dog, and where they came in the study period. The second is about where I obtained a particular scientific paper.

During our interview, Professor Wiseman said his work was carried out ‘very, very early on.’ He also denied that Rupert Sheldrake had invited him to test Jaytee. During the second phase of my reporting (when I was adapting what had been an Esquire article into a chapter of The Unpersuadables), I read a paper co-written by Wiseman in which it is acknowledged that Wiseman was working at the invitation of Sheldrake, and that Sheldrake’s tests on Jaytee the dog began before Wiseman’s tests.

The original wording, which I have altered in this edition, was ‘Later, I find a paper …’ Wiseman pointed out that he, in fact, sent me this paper very shortly after our interview. Unfortunately, as this all happened some time ago, I can’t recall where I found the version I used during the second period of research. However, as my PDF is called ‘psychicdogreply’ and the file that Wiseman emailed to me was called ‘pets1’, I believe I independently sourced the paper via Google, from Wiseman’s website, as the version contained there is called ‘psychicdogreply’. [http://www.richardwiseman.com/resources/psychicdogreply.pdf])

All that said, had I realised that Professor Wiseman had volunteered that same paper earlier, I would certainly have noted it in the text. For the oversight, I sincerely apologise.

In the original text, in the passage in which I discussed this paper, I made the following claim. ‘It confirms that Sheldrake “kindly invited [Wiseman] to conduct his own investigations of Jaytee”, and that they took place thirteen months after Sheldrake’s experiments began.’

Wiseman’s position is that this is an error on my part. He notes that the experiments Sheldrake started doing thirteen months before his did not involve making video recordings of the dog and only constituted observations that were recorded manually. Wiseman carried out two videotaped tests in June 1995 and two in December 1995. Sheldrake’s preliminary experiments that specifically used video cameras began in April 1995, around two months before Wiseman’s. His formal video experiments began in May 1995, one month before Wiseman’s. In the text, I use the plural ‘experiments’ in reference to all of Sheldrake’s experiments. Sheldrake first began studying Jaytee in May 1994, thirteen months before Wiseman.

Video cameras or not, all of Wiseman’s and Sheldrake’s testing protocols were different, which I believe underlines the notion that the various forms in which these experiments took place is not relevant. The material point – and their essential commonality – is that they were all experiments on Jaytee’s purported psychic abilities.

Wiseman says this misses the point because the book only discusses the studies which emerge from the video phase and that Sheldrake’s claim about Wiseman analysing his data differently only makes sense within the context of these specific studies. In his view, therefore, the book clearly implies that Sheldrake started the videotape phase of his studies thirteen months before Wiseman did his.

Even if we accept Wiseman’s position, the fact that he began his video camera tests a month after Sheldrake began his formal video phase (and two months after his preliminary video tests) and completed them seven months afterwards, it still seems to me to be not wholly consistent with his claim to have carried out his work, ‘very, very early on.’ Furthermore, the broader point – that Wiseman didn’t replicate Sheldrake’s videotaped tests partly because his work was carried out so early that Sheldrake’s protocol didn’t yet exist – is directly disputed by Sheldrake, who insists that it did, in fact, exist when Wiseman was doing his work. He says he began plotting and analysing his video data in this way immediately, in April, two months before Wiseman’s arrival. Wiseman, it seems, didn’t ask Sheldrake and Sheldrake, it seems, didn’t tell him at that time.

I don’t agree that the original text was erroneous, but I have altered the text to clarify Professor Wiseman’s point. It now reads, ‘… they took place a month after Sheldrake started his video tests and more than a year after his studies of Jaytee’s purported psychic abilities actually began.’

Wiseman had two further objections that did not lead to material changes, but which I wish to note.

He objects to my quoting him telling a newspaper, ‘I agree that by the standards of any other area of science that [psi] is proven.’

He complains that I have truncated the quote which, in full, reads as follows: ‘I agree that by the standards of any other area of science that [psi] is proven, but that begs the question: do we need higher standards of evidence when we study the paranormal? I think we do. If I said that there is a red car outside my house, you would probably believe me. But if I said that a UFO had just landed, you’d probably want a lot more evidence. Because [psi] is such an outlandish claim that will revolutionise the world, we need overwhelming evidence before we draw any conclusions. Right now we don’t have that evidence.’

Wiseman complained that, by omitting this section, I have ‘reversed the meaning’ of what he was saying.

I did truncate his quote – not to distort his position, but to explain it concisely, whilst contextualising it as a view shared by various estimable scientists. The section that immediately follows his quote unambiguously defines his position, explaining that Wiseman and Skeptics like him, ‘reject psi … because what’s more likely? That parapsychologists are mistaken or fraudulent? Or that a psychic terrier from Ramsbottom has proved that a foundational principle of science is wrong? A common materialist slogan … says “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.” As Wiseman tells me, “A lot of physics and psychology will be called into question the moment you accept psi. Therefore, it’s reasonable to say that the weight of evidence for it must be much greater”.’

Finally, Professor Wiseman would like me to note that our interview was conducted for an article I wrote about Jaytee in Esquire magazine, an article I subsequently expanded into a chapter of this book.

255 compiled the data from more than thirty thousand trials like this: Actual number: 30,803.

255 mysterious ‘sense of being stared at’: Rupert Sheldrake, ‘The Sense of Being Stared At Part 1: Is it Real or Illusory?’, Journal of Consciousness Studies 12, no. 6 (2005), p. 15.

255 Sheldrake grew up in a herbalist’s shop: Biographical information from interview with author.

257 the Observer had called it ‘fascinating and far-reaching’: Rupert Sheldrake, A New Science of Life, Blond and Briggs, 1981. [Reviews excerpted from Icon Books, 2009 edition.]

257 ‘A Book for Burning?’: ‘A book for burning?’, Nature 293, 24 September 1981, pp. 245–46.

258 Nobel Prize–winner Francis Crick, who wrote: Francis Crick, The Astonishing Hypothesis: The Scientific Search For The Soul, Scribner, 1995.

258 Sheldrake’s explorations into telepathy: Rupert Sheldrake, ‘The “Sense of Being Stared At” Confirmed by Simple Experiments’, Biology Forum 92 (1999), pp. 53–76.

258 one in ten thousand billion billion: Rupert Sheldrake, ‘The Sense of Being Stared At Part 1: Is it Real or Illusory?’, Journal of Consciousness Studies 12, no. 6 (2005), p. 15.

258 Next, he studied a psychic terrier from Ramsbottom: Rupert Sheldrake and Pamela Smart, ‘A Dog That Seems To Know When His Owner is Coming Home: Videotaped Experiments and Observations’, Journal of Scientific Exploration 14 (2000), pp. 233–55.

259 Lewis Wolpert, who described telepathy research as ‘pathological science’: The RSA Telepathy Debate, Royal Society of Arts, London, 15 January 2004.

259 asked to speak at the 2006 Festival of Science, his presence was denounced: Mark Henderson, ‘Theories of telepathy and afterlife cause uproar at top science forum’, The Times, 6 September 2006.

259 ‘No, but I would be very suspicious of it’: BBC Radio Five Live debate, 6 September 2006.

260 The first paragraph of Wiseman’s bestseller: Richard Wiseman, 260 Why We See What Isn’t There, Macmillan, 2011.

261 It began, for Richard Wiseman, when he was eight: Biographical information from interview with author and from Richard Wiseman, Paranormality: Why We See What Isn’t There, Macmillan, 2011.

262 a German academic named Stefan Schmidt: Stefan Schmidt et al., ‘Distant intentionality and the feeling of being stared at: Two meta-analyses’, British Journal of Psychology 95 (2004), pp. 235–47.

262 a study by academics at the University of Amsterdam: Eva Lobach and Dick J. Bierman, ‘Who’s Calling At This Hour? Local Sidereal Time And Telephone Telepathy’, University of Amsterdam, Parapsychological Association Convention 2004.

262 to replicate Sheldrake’s staring tests with parapsychologist Marilyn Schlitz: R. Wiseman and M. Schlitz, ‘Experimenter effects and the remote detection of staring’, Journal of Parapsychology 61 (1997), pp. 199–207.

263 Wiseman went on to conduct four tests on Jaytee the dog: R. Wiseman, M. Smith, and J. Milton, ‘Can animals detect when their owners are returning home? An experimental test of the “psychic pet” phenomenon’, British Journal of Psychology 89 (1998), pp. 453–62.

263 ‘Psychic dog is no more than a chancer’: The Times, 21 August 1998.

263 ‘Psychic pets are exposed as a myth’: Daily Telegraph, 22 August 1998.

263 While Wiseman admits this is true: ‘Collaboration Between Skeptics and Paranormal Researchers’, Skeptiko, 17 April 2007.

264 Later I find the paper Wiseman had sent me: Richard Wiseman, Matthew Smith and Julie Milton, ‘The “Psychic Pet” Phenomenon: A reply to Rupert Sheldrake’, accessed on Wiseman’s website: http://www.richardwiseman.com/resources/psychicdogreply.pdf.

265 another that was proposed by Wiseman himself: Rupert Sheldrake, ‘The Sense of Being Stared At Part 1: Is it Real or Illusory?’, Journal of Consciousness Studies 12, no. 6 (2005), p. 24.

265 But then Wiseman sends more concerns. And Sheldrake counters them: For those interested, I’ll note a brief summary of these concerns and Sheldrake’s responses:

Wiseman’s concerns about the dog trials: The first series of thirty dog trials wasn’t randomised, therefore the dog might know from Pam’s routine or dress or reactions of other people.

Sheldrake’s response: The first series did have Pam returning at a wide variety of times. Jaytee had already been observed to wait at the window when Pam was on the way home at different times of day when she was returning in a non-routine manner. These data were documented in the part of the paper that described preliminary investigations [http://www.sheldrake.org/Articles&Papers/papers/animals/pdf/dogknows.pdf]. The distribution of return times is shown in Fig. 1 and the details of each journey, including the distances are given in Table 1, and show that Jaytee anticipated Pam’s return on 85 out of 100 occasions, irrespective of the time of day and mode of transport.

Says Sheldrake, ‘We had documented his behaviour, and done some experiments on random return times and modes of transport in considerable detail before we began our filmed tests. We already knew from these observations that this was not a matter of routine, and that Jaytee’s responses could not be explained in terms of hearing familiar vehicles. The 30 filmed tests took further this series of observations under real-life conditions. Only by disregarding all the details can Wiseman suggest that these could be explained in terms of routine anticipations of Pam’s patterns of behaviour.’

Another concern about the dog trials: The second series of trials was randomised. But in these, the dog might simply be going to the window more and more over time (and therefore is there most when Pam returns).

The way to assess this is to compare short, medium and long trials. There are not enough of them in the random series to do this. Sheldrake does do this with the non-random homecomings, but that isn’t of any use because they might have cues regarding when Pam might return (see above).

Sheldrake’s response: The complaint that Jaytee might have been simply going to the window more and more over time had been controlled for.

Sheldrake: ‘The reason we did the control trials when Pam was not coming home was precisely to address the question that Wiseman raises as to whether Jaytee went to the door more and more the longer Pam was out. We had already shown he did not do that in the 30 trials, comparing long, medium and short, and there is no suggestion he was doing that in the randomised trials. But the control data show clearly that there was no such pattern. Wiseman simply ignores these data. You can see these in Fig. 5 of this paper: http://www.sheldrake.org/Articles&Papers/papers/animals/pdf/dog_video.pdf.’

265 adding a meta-analysis that confirms his view: Dean Radin, ‘The Sense of Being Stared At: A Preliminary Meta-Analysis’, Journal of Consciousness Studies 12, no.6 (2005), pp. 95–100.

266 Computer pioneer Alan Turing once said: John Horgan, ‘Brilliant Scientists are Open-Minded about Paranormal Stuff, So Why Not You?’, Scientific American, 20 July 2012.

266 New Scientist has reported: Robert Matthews, ‘Opposites Detract’, New Scientist, 13 March 2004.

266 in 2008, a famously sceptical psychologist: Danny Penman, ‘Could there be proof to the theory that we’re ALL psychic?’, Daily Mail, 28 January 2008. [In its original form, this quote specifically refers to remote viewing. Elsewhere, Wiseman confirms this as ‘a slight misquote because I was using the term in more of a general sense of ESP. That is, I was not talking about remote viewing per se, but rather Ganzfeld, etc. as well’: [http://www.skeptiko.com/rupert-sheldrake-and-richard-wiseman-clash/].

271 Wired magazine says that ‘he knows more: Rob Beschizza, ‘10 Tips For Dealing With James Randi: Claim Your Million Today!’, Wired, 26 October 2007.

271 hosted sell-out thousand-dollar-a-head fundraising dinners: Sheilla Jones, Globe and Mail (Canada), 10 July 2010.

271 Celebrity magicians Penn and Teller call him: ‘“I don’t know”—and that’s no act’, Penn Jillette, Los Angeles Times, 3 July 2008.

271 Wiseman credits his 1982 book Flim Flam: ‘Richard Wiseman on Debunking the Paranormal’, The Browser, 2 April 2012.

271 The former editor of The Skeptic magazine says: Interview with author (quote is from Professor Chris French).

271 The founding editor of the US edition has called him: Patricia Cohen, ‘Poof! You’re a Skeptic: The Amazing Randi’s Vanishing Humbug’, New York Times, 17 February 2001.

271 The New York Times has described him as: Michael Sokolove, ‘The Debunker’, New York Times, 25 December 2005.

271 Isaac Asimov has said: Interview with Scot Morris, Omni Magazine, April 1980, p. 78.

271 Sir John Maddox, the former editor of the … science journal Nature: ‘The $18,000 question’, Straits Times, 30 May 1991.

272 the man the Skeptics exalt as their ‘patron saint’: Interview, Chris French and James Randi, YouTube, April 2008, on behalf of The Skeptic magazine.

273 A child prodigy: Interview, Chris French and James Randi, YouTube, April 2008, on behalf of The Skeptic magazine.

273 IQ of 168: Jeanne Malmgren, ‘The “quack” hunter’, St Petersburg Times (Florida), 14 April 1998.

273 making photo-electric cells: Paul Vallely, ‘Now he sees it …’, The Times, 5 February 1987.

273 chemistry experiments in his basement: Chris Beck, ‘On the Couch’, The Age, 26 June 1993.

273 By the age of eight he was arguing with other children: Patricia Orwen, ‘The Amazing Randi’, Toronto Star, 23 August 1986.

273 invented a pop-up toaster: Patricia Orwen, ‘The Amazing Randi’, Toronto Star, 23 August 1986.

273 too intelligent to benefit from school … educated himself: Interview, Chris French and James Randi, YouTube, April 2008, on behalf of The Skeptic magazine.

273 geography, history … mathematics: Interview, Chris French and James Randi, YouTube, April 2008, on behalf of The Skeptic magazine.

273 calculus: Jeanne Malmgren, ‘The “quack” hunter’, St Petersburg Times (Florida), 14 April 1998.

273 astronomy … psychology … hieroglyphics: Paul Vallely, ‘Now he sees it …’, The Times, 5 February 1987.

273 fifteen when he committed his first public debunking: Chris Dafoe, ‘Magician spearheads war against supernatural claims’, Globe and Mail (Canada), 29 May 1987.

273 At seventeen … never walk again: Patricia Orwen, ‘The Amazing Randi’, Toronto Star, 23 August 1986.

274 achieved ‘mediocre’ results: Interview, Chris French and James Randi, YouTube, April 2008, on behalf of The Skeptic magazine.

274 ‘This is a premise I cannot support’: Interview, Chris French and James Randi, YouTube, April 2008, on behalf of The Skeptic magazine.

274 refusing to take any more tests: Interview, Chris French and James Randi, YouTube, April 2008, on behalf of The Skeptic magazine.

274 Still seventeen, he joined Peter March’s Travelling Circus: Patricia Cohen, ‘Poof! You’re a Skeptic: The Amazing Randi’s Vanishing Humbug’, New York Times, 17 February 2001.

274 he took a job writing newspaper horoscopes: James Randi, Flim Flam, Prometheus, 1982, p. 62.

274 saw two office workers: James Randi, Flim Flam, Prometheus, 1982, p. 61.

274 or … a waitress: Daniel B. Caton, ‘Life Is Really Not In The Stars …’ Charlotte Observer (North Carolina), 26 September 2006.

274 ‘I could not live with that kind of lie’: Interview with Scot Morris, Omni Magazine, April 1980, p. 77.

274 habitually pick up the telephone before it rang: Wessley Hicks, ‘Snoops on Minds’, Toronto Evening Telegram, 14 August 1950 (reprinted in James Randi, The Magic of Uri Geller, Ballantine Books, 1985, p. 304).

274 ‘Certain perceptions have been given me’: Wessley Hicks, ‘He Sees the Future’, Toronto Evening Telegram, 28 August 1950 (reprinted in James Randi, The Magic of Uri Geller, Ballantine Books, 1985, p. 305).

274 Japan … Halifax harbour: Virginia Corner, ‘Debunking myths is magician’s game’, Toronto Star, 15 June 1987.

274 twenty-eight jail cells in Canada and the US: Patricia Orwen, ‘The Amazing Randi’, Toronto Star, 23 August 1986.

274 sometimes he says it was twenty-two, ‘all over the world’: Interview, Chris French and James Randi, YouTube, April 2008, on behalf of The Skeptic magazine.

274–75 underwater casket … above Broadway: Patricia Orwen, ‘The Amazing Randi’, Toronto Star, 23 August 1986.

275 out of helicopters: Michael J. Ybarra, ‘The Psychic and the Skeptic’, Los Angeles Times, 13 September 1991.

275 top of Niagara Falls: Interview, Chris French and James Randi, YouTube, April 2008, on behalf of The Skeptic magazine.

275 won a Guinness World Record: Claim confirmed to author by Guinness World Record Organization.

275 toured with Alice Cooper: Interview, Chris French and James Randi, YouTube, April 2008, on behalf of The Skeptic magazine.

275 got to know Salvador Dali: Chris Beck, ‘On The Couch’, The Age, 26 June 1993.

275 humiliated the celebrity spoon-bender Uri Geller: St Petersburg Times (Florida), 24 July 2007.

275 ‘the true danger of uncritical thinking’: James Randi Million Dollar Challenge FAQ. JREF.org.

275 ‘one of America’s most original and fearless thinkers’: Patricia Cohen, ‘Poof! You’re a Skeptic: The Amazing Randi’s Vanishing Humbug’, New York Times, 17 February 2001.

275 ‘I xerox everything and send it to the FBI’: Paul Vallely, ‘Now he sees it …’, The Times, 5 February 1987.

275 ‘I don’t answer the door’: Sven Nordenstam, ‘Mystics can pocket a million – when pigs can fly’, Reuters News, 3 December 2004.

275 a new dark age: Patricia Cohen, ‘Poof! You’re a Skeptic: The Amazing Randi’s Vanishing Humbug’, New York Times, 17 February 2001.

275 ‘It’s a very dangerous thing to believe in nonsense’: Sven Nordenstam, ‘Mystics can pocket a million – when pigs can fly’, Reuters News, 3 December 2004.

275 ‘It’s the simplest challenge in the world’: Bryan Johnson, ‘Claptrap or an unknown world?’, Globe and Mail (Canada), 13 April 1985.

276 ‘I am an investigator’: ‘The $18,000 question’, Straits Times, 30 May 1991.

276 often get called ‘grubbies’: James Randi, ‘A Champion Grubby Speaks Out’, Swift blog, 22 April 2009.

276 ‘We will give away the million dollars when pigs can fly’: Sven Nordenstam, ‘Mystics can pocket a million – when pigs can fly’, Reuters News, 3 December 2004.

276 ‘Why isn’t someone like Sheldrake coming after it?’: Interview, Skeptiko podcast, 1 April 2008.

277 ‘a man of very doubtful character indeed’: Rupert Sheldrake, interview with author.

277 ‘One shot, to the chops’: James Randi, ‘A Champion Grubby Speaks Out’, Swift blog, 22 April 2009.

277 ‘I want people to consider my point of view’: ‘On The Couch’, The Age, 26 June 1993.

277 One extraordinary tale comes from Professor George Vithoulkas: My account of this long, complex and fraught process was reconstructed from Randi’s various blog postings as well as direct communication with George Vithoulkas, Maria Chorianopoulou, Althea Katz and Gabor Hrasko.

279 Randi reported that the magnetometer’s inventor: James Randi, Flim Flam, Prometheus, 1982, p. 132.

279 reports that these tests had been replicated were ‘a lie’: James Randi, Flim Flam, Prometheus, 1982, p. 133.

279 ‘outright lies from a sensationalist’: James Randi, Flim Flam, Prometheus, 1982, p. 135.

280 You can say it any way you want, but that’s what I call a lie’: James Randi, Flim Flam, Prometheus, 1982, p. 133.

280 ‘masterpiece of evasion and license … Zev Pressman’: James Randi, Flim Flam, Prometheus, 1982, pp. 144–45.

284 Randi’s account of his meeting with Veronica Keen: James Randi, Swift blog, 15 August 2003.

287 Some of the past applicants of the Million Dollar Challenge: Compiled from the ‘Previous Applicants’ section on the JREF website.

287 ‘made-up mystical BS’: The Skeptics’ Guide to the Universe podcast, 339, 14 January 2012.

288 Wealthy televangelist Peter Popoff … Professor Chris French: Interview, Chris French and James Randi, YouTube, April 2008, on behalf of The Skeptic magazine.

289 As usual, Randi took to the Internet to protest: James Randi, Swift blog, 8 April 2005.

291 ‘the family couldn’t really understand him’: Patricia Orwen, ‘The Amazing Randi’, Toronto Star, 23 August 1986.

292 recently, in 2010, that Randi publicly came out as gay: James Randi, ‘How To Say It?’, Swift blog, 21 March 2010 12:37.

293 I have found a second interview from the same period: Patricia Orwen, ‘The Amazing Randi’, Toronto Star, 23 August 1986.

293 ‘We at JREF have tested these claims. They fail.’: Dog World, January 2000.

294 Randi sent an email explaining that, regretfully, he couldn’t supply the data: Email, 6 February 2000.

294 But he subsequently went online and attacked Sheldrake: Brandon K. Thorp, ‘The Sheldrake Kerfluffle’, Swift blog, 2 December 2009 [which quoted Randi, ‘earlier this afternoon’].

[Many of the statements and quotes in this chapter are restatements from earlier in the text. References to these points can be found in their appropriate places.]

302 in most of your conversation: Michael S. Gazzaniga, Human, Harper Perennial, 2008, p. 96.

302 ‘Astro’, the Australian horse: ‘Sinking horse pulled from mudflats in Australia’, BBC News, 29 February 2012.

302 $48,000 of US taxpayers’ money was once spent: Dan Ariely, The Upside of Irrationality, HarperCollins, 2010, p. 249.

302 the birth of silent cinema: David Denby, ‘The Artists’, New Yorker, 27 February 2012.

302 humanity’s earliest stories sought to explain the world: Robert A. Segal, Myth, Oxford University Press, 2004, p. 13.

302 Rituals developed around them: Robert A. Segal, Myth, Oxford University Press, 2004, p. 61.

302 The historian Mircea Eliade writes: Robert A. Segal, Myth, Oxford University Press, 2004, p. 55.

302 Sigmund Freud believed: Robert A. Segal, Myth, Oxford University Press, 2004, p. 93.

302 the psychologist Otto Rank: Robert A. Segal, Myth, Oxford University Press, 2004, p. 94.

302-303 the mythologist Joseph Campbell: Robert A. Segal, Myth, Oxford University Press, 2004, p. 106.

303 we experience the tales that we immerse ourselves in: Annie Murphy Paul, ‘Your Brain on Fiction’, New York Times, 17 March 2012.

303 We feel the heroes’ feelings: ‘“Losing Yourself” in a Fictional Character Can Affect Your Real Life’, Science Daily, 7 May 2012.

303 ‘contagion is at the heart of emotion’: Bruce E. Wexler, Brain and Culture, MIT Press, 2008, p. 34.

303 ‘a capacity for surprise is an essential aspect’: Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow, Penguin, 2011, p. 71.

303 ‘a surge of conscious attention’: Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow, Penguin, 2011, p. 24.

303 ‘a story begins with some breach’: Jerome Bruner, Making Stories: Law, Literature, Life, Harvard University Press, 2002, p. 31.

303 By the age of five: Jeremy Hsu, ‘The Secrets of Storytelling: Why We Love a Good Yarn’, Scientific American Mind, 18 September 2008.

303 Professor of Psychology Keith Oatley has observed: Jeremy Hsu, ‘The Secrets of Storytelling: Why We Love a Good Yarn’, Scientific American Mind, 18 September 2008.

304 Evolutionary psychologist David Sloan Wilson has compared: Mark Pagel, Wired For Culture, Allen Lane, 2012, p. 150.

304 Marxist philosopher Georges Sorel believed: Robert A. Segal, Myth, Oxford University Press, 2004, p. 128.

304 Professor Paul Bloom has observed: Paul Bloom, ‘How do morals change?’, Nature 464, 25 March 2010, p. 490.

308 ‘dangerous people, from playground bullies to warmongering dictators’: Roy Baumeister, Evil: Inside Human Violence and Cruelty, Barnes & Noble/W. H. Freeman, 1997, p. 135.

308 my transcript for the chapter is in excess of twenty-eight thousand words: The exact number is 28,321. I rounded it down for neatness.

309 ‘a clear and future danger’: Deborah E. Lipstadt, History on Trial, Harper Perennial, 2005, p. 25.

312 anthropologist Daniel Everett has studied the Pirahã: John Colapinto, ‘The Interpreter’, New Yorker, 16 April 2007; Rafaela von Bredow, ‘Brazil’s Pirahã Tribe Living without Numbers or Time’, Der Spiegel, 3 May 2006.

312 A 2012 study, reported in The Economist: ‘Older and wiser?’, The Economist, 7 August 2012.

313 ‘In the inner world of the depressive self’: Lewis Wolpert, Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast, Faber, 2007, p. 107.

Notes and references