Kylie Sturgess writes for a number of skeptical organizations and publications, teaches philosophy at the high school and college level, and serves on the JREF’s educational advisory panel. But all of this is in addition to her regular podcast, the Token Skeptic. (The woman is a whirlwind of skepticism.)

She recently compiled various interviews and transcriptions from her podcast, and made them available as a book: The Scope of Skepticism. For folks interested in the important conversations skeptics have among themselves, this is a good read. Featuring scientists like Bruce Hood, Caroline Watt and Pamela Gay, skeptic journalists and writers like Sharon Hill and Daniel Loxton, investigators like Ben Radford and Hayley Stevens, and celebrities such as Tim Minchin and Stephen Fry, the book compiles some of the best content from the nearly 150 video and audio programs that Sturgess has produced over the years.

The transcript of her interview with Daniel Loxton is a standout. They explore well-traveled ground for the serious skeptic: what science has to say about religion, how to inculcate the scientific spirit in youngsters, if skepticism is different from atheism. But they also manage to provide fresh insights. Loxton defends a limited stope for skepticism, and, as an example, explains why he thinks that the application of scientific skepticism to ideological claims is a “catastrophe for skepticism,” pushing back against the eagerness others show to “turn skepticism into a partisan political position or a religious affiliation . . . . [which] is a misuse of the language of skepticism and science.” I appreciated that when his science book for children came out (Evolution: How We and All Living Things Came to Be), he unwittingly stumbled into an “ongoing turf war between different brands of atheists” — contrary to his basic intention when addressing religion in the book, which was merely to “emphasize that the skeptical project should be closely tied to science and . . . the burdens and responsibilities of science.”

Here is what Ed Skeptics regular Helen Dale made of it.

Note that this is an eBook – if you don’t have a Kindle, you can still dowload it to a Kindle app on an iPad, iPhone, android phone, Mac or PC.

Details

• Book Group
• Family Friendly

Edinburgh Skeptics’ book group meets at at Espresso Mondo on the corner of Lothian Road and Morrison St. We read “books of interest to Skeptics”.  If you don’t like fiction because it’s made up, or if you are underwhelmed by Richard and Judy’s book of the month, this may be the book-club for you.

What books do we read?

We read fiction and non-fiction, the guiding rule is that the
books are of interest to a Sakeptical readership.

We also read books written from a Woo point of view, but we
reserve the right to critique with extreme sarcasm.

We avoid covering the same topic (eg religion, alt med,
parapsychology) twice in 3 months.

We avoid reading same author twice in 6 months.

We don’t read fiction twice in a row.

These are the books we’ve already read.

Who chooses the books, and when?

Anyone at a meeting can volunteer to choose a book, and we give
priority to new members and then to existing members who have not
already chosen a book. If you choose a book, then you should make
every effort to be at the meeting where your book is discussed.

Book are announced two months ahead to give everyone up to 8 weeks
to read the book; so you need to volunteer three months ahead to
give yourself time to make your choice and announce it at the next
meeting.

In practice, this means that if you are at the January meeting,
then you’ll find out what the March book will be, and you can
volunteer to choose the April book.

Practical considerations

Books should be low cost (certainly under a tenner) and available
(ie several for under a tenner incl p&p from Amazon resellers).

It’s a definite plus if they are available electonically or as
audio books.

They should be less than 300-400 pages.

It doesn’t matter whether or not you have already read the book
you choose.

Details

• Book Group
• Family Friendly