Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Palmistry Books - Don't Believe Everything You Read

One of the biggest problems in getting palmistry more recognized and established as a science rather than a pseudoscience is due to book publishers, the content they select for publication, and their methods of promotion. A lot of questionable content is readily available on the market, and being promoted quite effectively.

Book publishers are concerned with what they can sell, not with ensuring accuracy of all printed material. This means that as long as they can move enough copies it really doesn't matter to them whether or not the content is truly accurate, or just more examples of the Forer Effect and subjective validation passed off as fact.

For example, I received an email from a book publisher promoting a newly revised palmistry book. (Times have sure changed - Publishers used to send me free copies...) Their email and press release state that it's a "book regarded as the standard in the art of palmistry" and "widely regarded as the definitive guide to palmistry". Well, I suppose those quotes are true inside their own publishing house at least!

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