Popular Myths

50 Great Myths of Popular Psychology uses popular myths as a vehicle for helping students and laypersons to distinguish science from pseudoscience. It also explores topics that listeners will relate to, but often misunderstand, such as "opposites attract", "people use only 10% of their brains", and "handwriting reveals your personality", and provides a "mythbusting kit" for evaluating folk psychology claims in everyday life.

Myths are usually seen as stories from the depths of time—fun and fantastical, but no longer believed by anyone. Yet, as Philip Ball shows, we are still writing them—and still living them—today. From Robinson Crusoe and Frankenstein to Batman, many stories written in the past few centuries are commonly, perhaps glibly, called "modern myths." But Ball argues that we should take that idea seriously. Our stories of Dracula, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Sherlock Holmes are doing the kind of cultural work that the ancient myths once did.

Ever wonder why much of American Christianity is pro-spanking, pro-tough-on-crime, anti-gun control, pro-war, and hell-affirming, even though Jesus taught mercy, non-violence and enemy love? When Michael Camp started deconstructing his evangelical faith, he noticed a pattern. The doctrines he questioned—original depravity, substitutionary atonement, God-ordained genocide in the Old Testament, the doctrine of hell, etc.—were all tied to retribution and violence.

Did NASA really spend millions creating a pen that would write in space? Is chocolate poisonous to dogs? Does stress cause gray hair? These questions are a sample of the urban lore investigated in this audiobook, Fact or Fiction: Science Tackles 58 Popular Myths. Drawing from Scientific American’s “Fact or Fiction” and “Strange But True” columns, we’ve selected 58 of the most surprising, fascinating, useful, and just plain wacky topics confronted by our writers over the years.

The editors of Scientific American’s best-selling Fact or Fiction: Science Tackles 58 Popular Myths return with Fact or Fiction 2: 50 (More) Popular Myths Explained. We cast an analytical eye on another collection of urban lore and cultural myths that persist so long in our collective consciousness they acquire a ring of truth. Who hasn’t heard the “five-second rule”, which insists that food dropped on the floor is safe to eat if it’s picked up within five seconds? How many of us have been told to “feed a cold, starve a fever"?

Myths of PR uses popular myths about the theory and practice of public relations as a vehicle for helping start-up owners, brand marketers, communications practitioners and students to distinguish between fads and tried-and-tested PR practice. Its purpose is to shatter widespread misconceptions about PR and grant listeners insight into why these myths have endured in spite of clearly demonstrable evidence to the contrary.

This is the first study to explore fully the myth of America as reflected in the nation's popular music. Beginning with the songs of the Pilgrims and continuing through more than two centuries of history and music, Born in the U.S.A. shows the emerging American myth and gives a close reading of the compositions of songwriters as diverse as William Billings, Henry Clay Work, Irving Berlin, Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, and Bruce Springsteen.

Since the 2008 recession began, sales of Atlas Shrugged have surged and the novel (and author Ayn Rand) have landed at the center of American politics. Whether you decide to embrace Ayn Rand's ideas, reject them, or simply want to be able to participate in an informed way in conversations about Rand's ideas, this slim volume will help you understand her revolutionary philosophy and identify the myths circulating about her ideas. Four authors identify some prominent myths, show why they are false, and state the plain facts that the myths conceal.

¿Le gustan las historias sobre dioses y espíritus, gigantes y monstruos, damiselas en apuros y héroes inteligentes? Puede disfrutar todo esto dentro del folclore africano, en un vasto y variado entramado de historias de cientos de culturas, cada una con sus propias tradiciones y valores.