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Conspiracies & Conspiracy Theories
- What We Should and Shouldn't Believe - and Why
- Narrated by: Michael Shermer
- Length: 6 hrs and 30 mins
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Publisher's summary
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.
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Our favorite moments from Conspiracies & Conspiracy Theories
Publisher's summary
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.
![](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/G/01/Audible/en_US/images/creative//The_Teaching_Company_Conspiracies_Shermer_IMG_DSK._CB1568297789_.png)
About the Professor
Dr. Michael Shermer is the publisher of Skeptic magazine, the host of the Science Salon podcast, and a Presidential Fellow at Chapman University where he teaches Skepticism 101, a course in how to think like a scientist. For 18 years he was a monthly columnist for Scientific American. Dr. Shermer is the New York Times best-selling author of numerous books including Heavens on Earth, The Moral Arc, The Believing Brain, The Mind of the Market, Why Darwin Matters, The Science of Good and Evil, and Why People Believe Weird Things. Dr. Shermer received his BA in psychology from Pepperdine University, his MA in experimental psychology from California State University and his PhD in the history of science from Claremont Graduate University. He has been a college professor since 1979, has appeared on such shows as The Colbert Report, 20/20, and Dateline, and is a guest on such popular podcasts as The Joe Rogan Experience. Dr. Shermer was co-host and co-producer of the television series Exploring the Unknown.
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Thirty years ago, award-winning journalist Jon Ronson stumbled on the mystery of Carol Howe—a charismatic, wealthy former debutante turned white supremacist spokeswoman turned undercover informant. In 1995, Carol was spying on Oklahoma’s neo-Nazis for the government just when Timothy McVeigh blew up a federal building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people.
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Interesting but not compelling
- By Gail Jester on 04-15-23
By: Jon Ronson
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This Is Not a Game with Marc Fennell
- By: Marc Fennell
- Narrated by: Marc Fennell
- Length: 3 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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This Is Not a Game is the extraordinary untold story of the internet’s first conspiracy theory, the legend of Ong’s Hat. Marc Fennell will dive deep into a previously unexplored world of tech hippies, eccentric web subcultures and simmering paranoia, uncovering how this tongue-in-cheek artistic experiment backfired on its creator and went on to influence much of what’s wrong with the internet today.
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WOW!
- By pondo on 05-09-24
By: Marc Fennell
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I Thought It Was Just Me (but it isn’t)
- Telling the Truth about Perfectionism, Inadequacy, and Power
- By: Brené Brown
- Narrated by: Lauren Fortgang
- Length: 10 hrs and 44 mins
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Based on seven years of ground-breaking research and hundreds of interviews, I Thought It Was Just Me shines a long-overdue light on an important truth: Our imperfections are what connect us to each other and to our humanity. Our vulnerabilities are not weaknesses; they are powerful reminders to keep our hearts and minds open to the reality that we're all in this together.
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I'm sure its great if you are a mother ....
- By Leslie A Hill on 08-09-11
By: Brené Brown
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Under the Bridge
- By: Rebecca Godfrey
- Narrated by: Rebecca Godfrey, Erin Moon, Mary Gaitskill - introduction
- Length: 14 hrs and 13 mins
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One moonlit night, 14-year-old Reena Virk went to join friends at a party and never returned home. In this “tour de force of crime reportage” (Kirkus Reviews), acclaimed author Rebecca Godfrey takes us into the hidden world of the seven teenage girls - and boy - accused of a savage murder. As she follows the investigation and trials, Godfrey reveals the startling truth about the unlikely killers. Laced with lyricism and insight, Under the Bridge is an unforgettable look at a haunting modern tragedy.
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Powerful Account of 8 Young Teens Killing Another
- By Mary Burnight on 08-16-19
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The Complete Book of Five Rings
- By: Miyamoto Musashi, Kenji Tokitsu - editor/translator
- Narrated by: Brian Nishii
- Length: 5 hrs and 3 mins
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The Complete Book of Five Rings is an authoritative version of Musashi's classic The Book of Five Rings, translated and annotated by a modern martial arts master, Kenji Tokitsu. Tokitsu has spent most of his life researching the legendary samurai swordsman and his works, and in this book he illuminates this seminal text, along with several other works by Musashi.
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Best translation I have encountered.
- By DW on 05-27-16
By: Miyamoto Musashi, and others
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Letters from Guantánamo
- By: Mansoor Adayfi, Antonio Aiello
- Narrated by: Mansoor Adayfi, Fajer Al-Kaisi, Elias Khalil, and others
- Length: 3 hrs and 55 mins
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In weeks after the September 11 attacks, 18-year-old Mansoor Adayfi was kidnapped by Afghan militia and sold to US forces for bounty money. After months of interrogations, he was sent to the US military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, as one of its first prisoners. Like the nearly 800 other men imprisoned at Guantanamo, Adayfi didn’t know why he was imprisoned or for how long. He had never seen a skyscraper and couldn’t imagine what the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center looked like, much less how they were destroyed.
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An important reminder
- By Dave Heilman on 05-25-24
By: Mansoor Adayfi, and others
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The Autobiography of Malcolm X
- As Told to Alex Haley
- By: Malcolm X, Alex Haley
- Narrated by: Laurence Fishburne
- Length: 16 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Experience a bold take on this classic autobiography as it’s performed by Oscar-nominated Laurence Fishburne. In this searing classic autobiography, originally published in 1965, Malcolm X, the Muslim leader, firebrand, and Black empowerment activist, tells the extraordinary story of his life and the growth of the Human Rights movement. His fascinating perspective on the lies and limitations of the American dream and the inherent racism in a society that denies its non-White citizens the opportunity to dream, gives extraordinary insight into the most urgent issues of our own time.
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Audible Masterpiece
- By Phoenician on 09-10-20
By: Malcolm X, and others
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The Ethical Slut
- A Practical Guide to Polyamory, Open Relationships, & Other Adventures
- By: Janet W. Hardy, Dossie Easton
- Narrated by: Janet W. Hardy, Dossie Easton
- Length: 10 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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For anyone who has ever dreamed of love, sex, and companionship beyond the limits of traditional monogamy, this groundbreaking guide navigates the infinite possibilities that open relationships can offer. Experienced ethical sluts Dossie Easton and Janet W. Hardy dispel myths and cover all the skills necessary to maintain a successful and responsible polyamorous lifestyle.
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The information and advice is 100% totally solid!
- By Troy on 07-28-15
By: Janet W. Hardy, and others
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Welcome to The Real History of Secret Societies, a historical look at the true-life groups which, if you believe the myths, are the unspoken power behind some of the world’s major turning points, from controlling the British crown to holding back the electric car and keeping Martians and Atlantis under wraps. Prepare yourself. In this course brought to you in partnership with HISTORY®, you will be visiting some of history’s deepest rabbit-holes, across centuries and continents, in search of secret societies in all their varieties.
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Far more politics than fraternity.
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Author Mick West shares over a decade's worth of knowledge and experience investigating and debunking false conspiracy theories through his forum, MetaBunk.org, and sets forth a practical guide to helping friends and loved ones recognize these theories for what they really are. West puts his debunking techniques and best practices to the test with four of the most popular false conspiracy theories today (chemtrails, 9/11 controlled demolition, false flags, and flat Earth) - providing road maps to help you to understand your friend and help them escape the rabbit hole.
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Excellent resource and strategy for rescuing a friend from conspiracy thinking
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A reader's digest version of many other good books
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An enjoyable listen, but a few inaccuracies
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Have you ever wondered about popular conspiracy theories? Ever wonder if some of them are true or not? Want go deeper and find out the truth for yourself? Conspiracy Theories will give you all the juicy details on the greatest conspiracy theories from history and the present day. This book has all this and more with conspiracy theories that all get to the bottom of what really happened.
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The breakdown of the individual accounts within the book
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Suspicious Minds
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Everyone loves a good conspiracy. Yet conspiracy theories are not a recent invention. And they are not always a harmless curiosity. In Suspicious Minds, Rob Brotherton explores the history and consequences of conspiracism, and delves into the research that offers insights into why so many of us are drawn to implausible, unproven and unproveable conspiracy theories. They resonate with some of our brain's built-in quirks and foibles, and tap into some of our deepest desires, fears, and assumptions about the world.
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Enlightening ....nonsense makes sense.
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We might be afraid of lions, tigers, and bears (oh, my!), but much more frequently, our worst foes come without teeth and claws and in teeny, tiny packages. In These Six Things Will Kill You, medical historian Brandy Schillace introduces you to half a dozen deadly forces, often microscopic and invisible, that might be coming for you at this very moment.
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Interesting but Troubling
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Since their arrival in the mid-20th century, video games have become a sprawling, multi-billion dollar business. On an annual basis, the industry is even more profitable than Hollywood. Today’s video games feature stunning, lifelike visuals and complex storylines - but they didn’t start out that way. The origin of video games can be traced back to World War II. In the 10 lectures of A History of Video Games, listeners will follow the development of the digital game from its roots in the war room to its proliferation in the 21st-century living room.
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A fairly shallow and disjointed series of lectures
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Sex, Love, and Marriage from the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment
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There is a common misconception that sex, love, and marriage in medieval and early modern Europe followed very specific, inflexible rules and expectations that remained unchanged for centuries. Throughout the 10 lectures of Sex, Love, and Marriage from the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment, you will find that looking closer at marriage and sexuality in this period reveals a vibrant history of flexibility, of questioning and adaptation, and of evolutionary - and sometimes even revolutionary - change.
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can not finish it
- By Cherryl on 01-14-22
By: Jennifer McNabb, and others
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Medical Mysteries Across History, Pt.2
- By: Roy Benaroch MD, The Great Courses
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- Length: 4 hrs and 37 mins
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Doctors are more than doctors. They’re detectives who solve mysteries about the human body. Diagnosing patients is about looking for clues, whether a persistent tickle in the back of the throat or confusion and memory loss. Just like detectives, good doctors sift through information until they arrive at the medical solution that fits best. Think you have what it takes to keep up with medical detective work? Find out with this second installment of Dr. Roy Benaroch’s thrilling look at medical mysteries from across history.
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Well done.
- By Amazon Customer on 01-04-21
By: Roy Benaroch MD, and others
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Declutter Your Home and Simplify Your Life
- By: Sophie Largen, The Great Courses
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Sophie Largen has made it her passion project to help motivate and encourage others by providing tips for efficient cleaning, organizing, and productivity. This practical guide will walk you through decluttering your spaces step by step. It will help you work through common pitfalls, and it will provide you with a plan for success for achieving a simplified—and more joyous—life.
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Not Realistic but It has Some Good Ideas
- By Gilbert M. Stack on 01-05-23
By: Sophie Largen, and others
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Hidden History
- An Exposé of Modern Crimes, Conspiracies, and Cover-Ups in American Politics
- By: Donald Jeffries
- Narrated by: Lars Mikaelson
- Length: 18 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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The US government has spent half the time covering up conspiracies as it has spent helping the American people. In Hidden History, you will see the amount of effort over the past fifty years that our government has dedicated to lying and covering up the truth to the world. Starting with the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Don Jeffries chronicles a wide variety of issues that have plagued our country's history.
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Good information with too much opinion.
- By humble on 12-29-19
By: Donald Jeffries
What listeners say about Conspiracies & Conspiracy Theories
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- david malaguti
- 01-21-24
misleading, disappointing
The first 7 lectures were spent explaining this inquiry as an academic pursuit.
(about five lectures too much..)
Schermer's politics also make make me suspect his motives;
He vocally defended the Trump- Russia hoax. he called the wuhan lab leak theory a "right-wing hoax" and he dismissed hunter's laptop.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Lisa Gilkison
- 11-02-21
Explained well.
I like how it's broken down & explained how good people believe these conspiracies.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Jt1111
- 04-07-22
Great
I will read anything Dr. Shermer puts out. His logic is so concise would recommend!
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1 person found this helpful
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- William
- 08-23-21
But I Heard on FB...
Another of the “Great Courses” of lectures by university professors, this course is a bit briefer than some but still complete enough. But, if you’re expecting a discussion of various conspiracy theories with arguments for or against them, note the subtitle. Professor Michael Shermer does pick up some theories and some that are not just “theories” but certainly real and true conspiracies and uses them as examples or illustrations, but the focus of this book if more on helping us to understand them and be better equipped to judge between those that are true or possibly true and those that are likely not or certainly not.
With that goal, Shermer has succeeded fairly well. He reminds us to make a distinction between conspiracies (secret plots) and conspiracy theories (what people think might be a secret plot). Shermer is not trying to convince you to disbelieve in all conspiracies. Conspiracies are real and are carried out by groups of individuals, government officials, and business. But, how can we decide which ones are believable? Some of the lectures touch on subjects that you may already have heard about, such as cognitive biases and why the theories can hold such sway. He discusses how to rate them according to probability. He talks about how difficult it is to carry out a conspiracy and thus the more complicated and the more people are involved, the more likely it is to fail. He gives us a conspiracy detection kit and then finally does review some of the more famous ones (from some that are almost certainly false to some that are proven to be true) including 9/11, Obama’s birthplace, the JFK assassination, the tobacco companies hiding of the tobacco/cancer link, drug companies, and what he calls “the Deadliest Conspiracy Theory in History,” the plot to assassinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand which was the catalyst for World War I which resulted in the deaths of at least 20 million people, enabled the Spanish Flu (which started in Kansas, not in Spain) to spread around the world, brought on an economic collapse in Europe and the Great Depression, sped up the collapse of the Colonial Empires, and set the stage for the Russian Revolution as well as WWII. And, it was carried out by a group of 6 men.
There are some caveats. The author is strongly biased against any idea of a belief in transcendence and several times states that the theistic belief that “everything happens for a reason” allows some people to more readily look for a conspiracy to explain what may well be chance. But, he then evokes science as a search for the reason behind all things. He shows his misunderstanding of transcendentalists who can believe in a sovereign God who allows man to make choices, even evil ones. He disparages the idea of a God with a “secret” plan for the universe but misunderstands the distinction between “secret” and “mystery.” He also forgets that while science rightly seeks truth through data, this is still a theoretical ideal because scientists also have biases, preconceptions, and emotions. Transcendentalism is not intuitive any more or less than empiricism. Modern research has shown that we don’t believe because of data. We believe because of our emotional side and we tend to see the data that supports that belief. There are checks and procedures that try to minimize and overcome that, but it’s still true of scientists and of him.
Nonetheless, the lectures are worth listening to and there is much to learn. Despite this criticism, the lectures are quite balanced and they are certainly relevant to today when it seems that people see conspiracies in every corner.
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- Craig S.
- 09-18-19
Great listen!
Great listen! Shermer does a great job as always! Entertaining, enlightening and thoroughly engrossing stuff!
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10 people found this helpful
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- William
- 03-01-20
Not What I Thought
I thought this would be an interesting description of the conspiracy theories people believe. Instead, it was a lecture on what kind of people believe in them. OK, but disappointing.
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2 people found this helpful
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- CBH76244
- 08-23-22
Free pass on liberal media
I'm no Trump fan, but the kicking a dead horse Trump and his insane antics) while giving today's CNN and others narrative silence is unfortunate.
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- Roland
- 06-14-20
Informative, Interesting and Slightly Biased
While reading this book, one must remember that most conspiracies are unbelievably inconceivable until they have been proven otherwise. A conspiracy theory that has not yet been proven can not necessarily be labeled as false.
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- Alan
- 12-03-21
Excellent education on real and fake conspiracies
I had listened to the Believing Brain Audiobook so felt repetitive, but the best parts were the real conspiracies, sometimes they really are out to get you.
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- Faithful
- 09-12-21
Worth Your Time
A timely exploration and well researched explanation of what Conspiracy Theories are and what they have done and can do, to harm the social fabric of a nation via eroding public trust. With a close look at how real conspiracies have helped give plausibility to theories. Interesting content that does a good job examining scientific knowledge and historical facts.
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