Reddit mentions of Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time

I recommend Why People Believe Weird Things and How to Think About Weird Things to start. Also A Short History of Nearly Everything would be good.

http://www.amazon.com/People-Believe-Weird-Things-Pseudoscience/dp/0716733870

My point of view is that if someone is not a douche-bag about their religion then I don't mind. Some folks I know even do their best to live up to the Christian ideal (i.e. read all of Jesus' words in the Bible and nothing else... that's Christianity to them).

But, other folks find comfort in the belief that is given to them.

Maybe he should check with the company that published "Why People Believe Weird Things"? W.H. Freeman and Company.

http://www.amazon.com/People-Believe-Weird-Things-Pseudoscience/dp/0716733870

This doesn't directly answer your question but Why People Believe Weird Things is an excellent book that covers exactly what the title says. You might find it interesting.

Interesting read on this topic :

Why people believe weird things

It looks really great. I was also considering

http://www.amazon.com/People-Believe-Weird-Things-Pseudoscience/dp/0716733870

because it looks friendly. How easy is your book to read?

Why People Believe Weird Things - Michael Shermer
The Demon Haunted World - Sagan

Related book

Great read too.

> my art teacher is REALLY good at arguing

Actually, he's really bad at arguing. Unfortunately, this can seem like the same thing as being good at it. Imagine trying to play chess against Gary Kasparov. It would be incredibly difficult, because he's really good at it. It would also be difficult to play chess against a 2-year old because they don't know the rules and would be bad at it. It is easier to tell, however, that one is difficult because they know the game very well, and the other because they don't know the game at all.

Arguing is much more subtle, but just like playing chess, in order to tell who is good at it and who isn't, you have to know the rules. Learn them and you'll see that you're essentially mistaking your teacher's confidence and rhetorical skills for ability to argue. I linked a few lists of logical fallacies for you, as each will provide different examples and make the various fallacies (some of which can be quite subtle) easier to spot "in the wild".

• Fallacy files
  
• Infidels.org
  
• Rational wiki
  
• Wikipedia
  
  You might want to check out a couple of books, too:
  
  
• Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time
  
• Inevitable Illusions: How Mistakes of Reason Rule Our Minds