Truth

What It Is, How to Find It, and Why It Still Matters

De: Michael Shermer

Narrado por: Michael Shermer

A clear-eyed look at thinking straight in a world crowded with noise, bias, and misinformation.

“Fake news.” “Alternative facts.” “Post-truth.” Misinformation is everywhere, sparking public confusion and polarization. In Truth, best-selling author Michael Shermer cuts through the noise to argue that not only does truth still matter—but also that it’s essential to our individual and collective flourishing. This sharp-sighted and accessible book provides a framework for thinking more clearly in an age clouded by doubt and distortion.

Shermer, the author of Conspiracy: Why the Rational Believe the Irrational, explores why truth deserves our attention, how falsehoods take hold in the public’s imagination, and how we can resist manipulation through reason, evidence, and open inquiry. This book introduces powerful tools for evaluating claims, including the concepts of causality, correlation, and Bayesian reasoning. Beyond these abstract ideas, Shermer also examines how we determine truth in specific domains—such as science, history, and religion—and brings clarity to hot-button topics like UFOs, conspiracy theories, miracles, mystical experiences, consciousness, morality, God, and even existence. With his trademark wit and intellectual rigor, Shermer reveals how even the most intelligent among us fall prey to such pitfalls as “myside bias” and motivated reasoning and how a commitment to universal realism can help push back against tribalism and misinformation.

Truth offers a timely antidote to cynicism and confusion. It emphasizes critical thinking and urges listeners to rebuild the intellectual foundations of a functioning democracy by embracing the pursuit of truth, however complex or inconvenient it may be.

©2026 by Michael Shermer (P)2026 Blackstone Publishing

Reseñas de la Crítica

“Truth lances the myth of truth’s subjectivity, arguing (provocatively) that truth can generate moral absolutes. This stimulating, excellent book inspires you to spread the word that the Earth is not flat and that truth matters.”

“Michael Shermer has spent his career grappling with the slipperiest word in our language: truth. As someone who knows firsthand what happens when truth gets lost in noise and narrative, I’m grateful for Shermer’s clear-eyed insistence that truth is not only real, but necessary.”

“Shermer pulls no punches: in a world where opinion too often masquerades as fact, he dismantles delusion and arms us with the tools to meet reality head-on.”

“Michael Shermer has a fine record as a long-time crusader for evidenced rationality. This fascinating and wide-ranging book should further enhance his impact on current controversies.”

“This book is a powerful argument for why reality matters and a practical toolkit for how to find it.”

Shermers book on truth

Shermers book on truth was very interesting to listen to as he hit on a lot of the biases we fall into especially when defending things we think are true but may just have an emotional attachment to and elaborating on how we know things to be true in different disciplines such as history, science and in the moral realm which he also covered in his book the moral arch we I read

Centers on Specific Falsehoods, not Epistomology

Excellent discussion of a number of widespread untruths , in the author’s Skeptic Magazine tradition. However, I was expecting to find an organized discussion of various theories of truth and their critics. This ( epistemology) is lacking and touched on only sporadically.Section on morals leans heavily on evolutionary psychology. Unfortunately, much of evolutionary psychology is biased story telling not subject to falsification. Overall, book is well worth reading and well narrated.

Nourish your mind

This is one of the best books I have read in the past 2 years. I have read Shermer since 1997 and he has only gotten better with age. Super narration. Persuasive arguments. Entertaining and educational, a challenging hybridization for any author.

TDS is the new "Shermer's Neck"

TDS is indeed the new version of "Shermer's Neck". As the great Lily Tomlin used to say, "And that's the truth".

Good book by bitter ahole

Good skeptical take except when it comes to cancel culture. He got hurt by it, not realizing that his opinion was not cancelled but ignored by peers. Say cancelled one more time in your best Jesus Christ pose, Mike.