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In the second part of “The Believing Brain” Mr Shermer applies those observations to the almost infinite variety of weird and wonderful beliefs that people hold, from alien abductions to government conspiracies to bring down the World Trade Centre—and, inevitably, to religion (a chapter on politics, by contrast, feels misplaced and forced). He is an able skewerer of sloppy thinking. The section on conspiracy theories, for instance, memorably exposes the bizarre leaps of logic that adherents often make: “If I cannot explain every single minutia [about the collapse of the twin towers]…that lack of knowledge equates to direct proof that 9/11 was orchestrated by Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and the CIA.”
A common risk with this kind of book is that the author comes across as overly smug and superior just look at how the duke of debunkers, Richard Dawkins, is sometimes perceived, even by his fans. Mr Shermer is aware of this risk, and is at pains to reassure readers that his conclusions apply to everyone, even himself. In a chapter on alien abductions, he recounts an abduction story of his own. Exhausted after cycling 1,259 miles in 83 hours as part of an endurance challenge called the Race Across America, he becomes convinced that the motorhome carrying his support team is actually an alien spacecraft, and that his team’s pleas for him to come inside and get some rest are merely a cunning pretext to get him to co-operate with a spot of alien probing. Surprised when the interior of the mothership turns out to closely resemble a General Motors motorhome, Mr Shermer consents to lying down. On waking a couple of hours later, he is able to joke about the experience with his team-mates.
That experience gives one useful definition of a sceptic, as Mr Shermer understands the term: one who is aware of the fallibility of intuitions, and willing to take steps to minimise them. It remains, sadly, an uncommon combination.

A. 어휘
observations 관찰내용. infinite 무한한. weird 기묘한, 不可思議(불가사의)한.
alien abductions 외계인의 납치. conspiracies 음모.
inevitably 불가피하게, 필연적으로. chapter 章(장). skewerer 꼬챙이에 꿰는 사람.
sloppy 불성실한, 단정하지 못한. section 節(절), 項(항), 부문.
exposes 露出(노출)시키다, 暴露(폭로)하다. leaps of logic 논리의 飛躍(비약).
adherents 집착하는 사람, 信奉者(신봉자), 지지자.
minutia 사소한 점, 세목. collapse 붕괴.
the twin towers 쌍둥이 고층건물(뉴욕에 있는 세계 무역센터).
equates to 같다, 등식화하다. comes across as ...라는 인상을 주다.
overly 지나치게. smug 독선적인, 멋진.
debunkers 가면을 벗기는 사람, 폭로하는 사람. perceive 知覺(지각)하다.
pains 노력. reassure 안심시키다, 재보증하다.
recounts 列擧(열거)하다, 자세히 설명하다. Exhausted 氣盡脈盡(기진맥진)하다.
endurance 持久力(지구력), 인내. motorhome 차량주택. spacecraft 우주선.
pleas 탄원, 請願(청원). cunning 교활한. pretext 구실, 핑계.
probing 조사. definition 定義(정의), 설명. sceptic 懷疑論者(회의론자), 무신론자.
fallibility 誤謬(오류). intuitions 직관.