Conspiracies & Conspiracy Theories cover art

Conspiracies & Conspiracy Theories

What We Should and Shouldn't Believe - and Why

Preview

£0.00 for first 30 days

Try for £0.00
Thousands of incredible audiobooks and podcasts to take wherever you go.
Immerse yourself in a world of storytelling with the Plus Catalogue - unlimited listening to thousands of select audiobooks, podcasts and Audible Originals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Conspiracies & Conspiracy Theories

By: Michael Shermer, The Great Courses
Narrated by: Michael Shermer
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

Buy Now for £21.99

Buy Now for £21.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

Millions of Americans buy into conspiracy theories. Did you know that...

  • 81 percent of Americans believe more than one person was responsible for the assassination of John F. Kennedy?
  • 1/3 of this country thinks 9/11 was an “inside job” by the Bush administration?
  • 21 percent believes aliens crash-landed in Roswell and are being hidden in Area 51?
  • 7 percent are convinced that the moon landing was faked?

What causes some people to advocate these unfounded—often disproven—ideas as reality? And why is the power of conspiracies so compelling that they can motivate people to act, some even participating in acts of violence?

In this eye-opening Audible Original, Professor Michael Shermer, publisher of Skeptic magazine and the host of the Science Salon podcast, takes you through some of the most prevalent conspiracy theories in history, giving you a clear understanding of how and why they came about, who was likely to believe and perpetuate them, and the reality behind these beliefs.

Whether you are looking for the truth regarding popular conspiracy theories; are fascinated by the psychology of why people buy into them; or are interested in how they shaped and were shaped by history, this course will provide you all the tools you need to better understand the pervasiveness of conspiracy theories.

©2019 Audible Originals, LLC (P)2019 Audible Originals, LLC.
Media Studies Political Science Social Sciences Thought-Provoking Critical Theory
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

The Believing Brain cover art
9/11: The Conspiracy Theories cover art
Why People Believe Weird Things cover art
The Republican Brain cover art
Real Magic cover art
CIA Rogues and the Killing of the Kennedys cover art
The Parasitic Mind cover art
Understanding Power cover art
Wealth, Poverty, and Politics cover art
Dismantling America cover art
The Better Angels of Our Nature cover art
UFOs & Aliens cover art
Intellectuals and Society cover art
What's Our Problem? cover art
Pandora’s Lab cover art
America's Secret War cover art

What listeners say about Conspiracies & Conspiracy Theories

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    181
  • 4 Stars
    84
  • 3 Stars
    41
  • 2 Stars
    10
  • 1 Stars
    16
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    180
  • 4 Stars
    61
  • 3 Stars
    27
  • 2 Stars
    8
  • 1 Stars
    10
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    164
  • 4 Stars
    65
  • 3 Stars
    34
  • 2 Stars
    11
  • 1 Stars
    13

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Extremely interesting

I found the subject highly interesting and informative. There was a lot of examples that were explained in detail. It is great to have a logical perspective and rational approach to these ideas.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

interesting

Well worth listening. It's quite educational and good to know why we believe in conspiracy theories. However, the author has biases and I don't trust everything he's preaching.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Enjoyable

Some interesting points made in this book
Recommend it as it’s fairly easy to follow

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Good book

easy to listen to,a great listen and very informative yet interesting,would for sure recommend

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

highly instructive

A great set of lectures on the subject with psychological explanations for the phenomena

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

.

I thought I was buying a book about conspiracy theories but it's quite a dry lecture for 80% of the book about theory rather than actual conspiracies.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

The Conspiracy theorist bane


The beginning of the book was very insightful and interesting in regards to the phycology of conspiracy.
However I don't think the author was very balanced in his views it felt more what to think rather than a way of looking at thinks. For me personally 9/11 with all the facts is undoubtedly the most troubling for me.I was 15 and saw the BBC announced the falling of building 7, 25 minutes before it fell after I thought the whole thing very strange.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Not everything explained, otherwise very good.

Very good narrator, engaging and easy to listen to, but nearing the end, the book explained the concepts less and less, which made it hard to follow. I have to listen to this again to understand better and remember all the biases. This book leaned well into my confirmation bias, lol.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Conspiracies & Theories

At first I found this book interesting! However the longer it went on it became more about debunking peoples believes then conspiracies and conspiracy theories and how they come about.

Now I’m not one to insult anyone’s intelligence but when we get to Lee Harvey Oswald was the shooter, I had to turn off!

What you believe is up to you and I will not try and persuade you otherwise why would I? But if Lee Harvey Made that shot he would have been the best of the best sniper the world had ever seen!

Now if you don’t believe me that’s fine I can live with that, but what cannot be denied is that shot came from the front of the vehicle sadly causing part of the president’s skull to explode out over the trunk!

When a bullet hits a target it makes a hole proportionate to its size then explodes out of a target, so unless you are saying that Lee Harvey Oswald was capable of firing a bullet from behind the president getting it to do a 180degree turn and then locking onto the presidents forehead all from behind the the motorcade which is in motion? Well your understanding on Newton’s Physics is better then mine! So ultimately what does this say it can only lead to one conclusion that some Conspiracies are real.

However it seems the writer wants us all to believe the opposite and the Government is this loving truth telling collection of our peers that would never lie and only ever tell you the truth, yeah right Michael this is one conspiracy that will never go away, because it is based on fact.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Good

Interesting read. Still think Shermer can lean in a litte too much to 'de-bunking' but still a good read.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!