While exposing quack doctors and nutritionists, bogus credentialing programs, and biased scientific studies, the author takes the media to task for its willingness to throw facts and proof out the window in its quest to sell more copies. He also teaches you how to evaluate placebo effects, double-blind studies, and sample size, so that you can recognize bad science when you see it.

From gadgets that give superheroes incredible powers to the enduring controversy over the NASA moon landing, the MythBusters have a great time testing out urban legends, exposing fakery and trying TV and movie tricks themselves.

Employing the ground rules of science and standards of scientific evidence, the authors examine paranormal phenomena such as UFOs, aliens, crop circles, and the alignment of the pyramids. A wide range of topics is discussed, including the reliability of eyewitness testimony, psychological research into why people want to believe in aliens and UFOs, and the role conspiratorial thinking plays in UFO culture. Prothero and Callahan also share their personal...

"In this first collection of the critically acclaimed series, the Hoax Hunters travel to Russia, the Louisiana Bayou, and 1984 New Jersey to seek out the truth behind supernatural events - and cover them up! The Hoax Hunters demonstrate the truth isn't out there. Includes the much sought after issue 0" -- from publisher's web site. If all the creatures of folklore, legend and the Internet were real, there would be a reality show to prove them fake....