The Heretics

Adventures with the Enemies of Science

By: Will Storr

Narrated by: Ben Allen

Why do obviously intelligent people believe things in spite of the evidence against them?

Will Storr has travelled across the world to meet an extraordinary cast of modern heretics in order to answer this question. He goes on a tour of Holocaust sites with David Irving and a band of neo-Nazis, experiences his own murder during 'past-life regression' hypnosis, takes part in a mass homeopathic overdose, and investigates a new disease affecting tens of thousands of people - a disease that doesn't actually exist.

Using a unique mix of personal memoir, investigative journalism and the latest research from neuroscience and experimental psychology, Storr reveals why the facts just won't convince some people and how the neurological 'hero-maker' inside all of us can so easily lead to self-deception and science denial. The Heretics will change the way you think about thinking.

©2013 Will Storr (P)2019 Macmillan Publishers International Ltd

Critic reviews

"Will Storr is a versatile, imaginative, committed long-form journalist with a populist touch. He is often brave with regard to his article choices... a talented, ambitious writer." (Independent)

"An investigation not only of outlandish belief systems, but of all belief systems... engaging." (Sunday Times)

"Storr can open chapters like a stage conjurer, and his prose has an easy, laconic style embracing Jon Ronson's taste for the fabulously weird and Louis Theroux's ability to put his subjects at ease. He is a funny and companionable guide...[who] confounds expectations." (Guardian)