Superstition, Stuart Vyse
Superstition, Stuart Vyse
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Superstition
A Very Short Introduction

Author: Stuart Vyse

Narrator: Mike Carnes

Unabridged: 4 hr 24 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 04/28/2020


Synopsis

Despite the dominance of science in today's world, superstitious beliefs—both traditional and new—remain surprisingly popular. A recent survey of adults in the United States found that thirty-three percent believed that finding a penny was good luck, and twenty-three percent believed that the number seven was lucky. Where did these superstitions come from, and why do they persist today?

Superstition: A Very Short Introduction explores the nature and surprising history of superstition from antiquity to the present. For two millennia, superstition was a label derisively applied to foreign religions and unacceptable religious practices, and its primary purpose was used to separate groups and assert religious and social authority.

After the Enlightenment, the superstition label was still used to define groups, but the new dividing line was between reason and unreason. Today, despite our apparent sophistication and technological advances, superstitious belief and behavior remain widespread, and highly educated people are not immune. Stuart Vyse takes an exciting look at the varieties of popular superstitious beliefs today and the psychological reasons behind their continued existence, as well as the likely future course of superstition in our increasingly connected world.

About Stuart Vyse

Stuart Vyse is a behavioral scientist, teacher, and writer. He holds PhD and MA degrees in psychology and BA and MA degrees in English literature. He taught at Providence College, the University of Rhode Island, and Connecticut College, where he was Joanne Toor Cummings '50 Professor. Vyse's book Believing in Magic: The Psychology of Superstition won the 1999 William James Book Award of the American Psychological Association. His book Going Broke: Why Americans (Still) Can't Hold on to Their Money is an analysis of the current epidemic of personal debt. He is a contributing editor of Skeptical Inquirer magazine where he writes the "Behavior & Belief" column, and he is a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science and of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Steven

Entertaining overview which looks at superstition's origins with both religious and non-religious examples. The chapter on superstition in the modern world (since the 19th century) has a fun catalog of popular superstitions and where they came from. The fifth chapter - the psychology of superstition......more

Goodreads review by Jessie

A short and comprehensive introduction to the history, present and future of superstition. I found that Vyse found an interesting angle and used a stable, respectful and convincing definition for superstition, while still giving a lot of insight into the practice throughout the ages. Would definitel......more

Goodreads review by Cande

el libro solo contempla la historia europea, muy triste porque la historia precolombina le daría mucha información. El nombre del libro debería ser "breve historia eurocentrica de la superstición". Muchos datos, poco análisis, sirve para muy poco......more

Goodreads review by Jeremy

Some helpful content in here, especially in the history. But it exhibits an overconfidence in enlightenment rationalistic positivistic kind of worldview.......more

This was fine. Vyse mainly tracks how the term superstition has evolved over the years -- used to indicate magic, a religion other than yours, bad science, and finally the superstitions that we know today. The most interesting part to me was a small chunk at the very end on whether personal supersti......more