Michael Shermer

American writer and educator, a prolific author and head of the Skeptic Society (www.skeptic.com). He lectures internationally when not at his university teaching post, Assistant Professor of History of Science at the Institute for Human Progress. He taught psychology and the history of science for 11 years at Glendale College, and occasionally teaches the history of science and culture at Occidental College.

The goal of the society is to debunk anything they consider non-scientific. He does not specifically reject astrology and is open-minded but wants hard evidence. He feels astrological personality descriptions are too vague and could apply to anybody. He goes after charlatans who bilk grieving families by pretending to contact the spirits of the dead and this type of deception.

Shermer has published "Teach Your Child Science" and co-authored "Teach Your Child Math and Mathemagics" with Dr. Arthur Benjamin. Dr. Shermer has just finished two books, "Heretic-Scientist," a biography of Alfred Russell Wallace, and "The Chaos of History," on the application of chaos theory to human history. His books include "Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time." He has also written numerous cycling books based on a ten year professional career as a ultra-marathon cyclist and competitor in the transcontinental Race Across America.

His father died on 2 April 1986. He wrote on 27 October 2000 that his mother had recently died. Shermer was married to Kim Ziel. They had one daughter together and later divorced. On 25 June 2014 he married Jennifer Graf, a native of Cologne, Germany.