Today from 12-1pm PST and 3-4pm EST NPR's "Talk of the Nation" will be featuring a full hour devoted to my new book, HOW WE BELIEVE: The Search for God in an Age of Science. I was originally suppose to appear alone but the producers got nervous about that and booked another guest from the Christian organization Reasons to Believe. Given what happened to Jesse Ventura after he dared to speak his mind about religion (his ratings plummeted a full 12 points and he was asked to resign from his party) I suppose this is inevitable.
Tomorrow night, Tuesday October 5, from 10-11pm (but check your local listings for the time) Fox Family will premiere my new television series, EXPLORING THE UNKNOWN, hosted by myself and X-Files' Mitch Pileggi. The pilot features:
--a segment on FIREWALKING in which I traipse across 1,000-degree hot coals barefoot without getting burned (and without chanting or thinking positive thoughts--in fact, I was rather nervous);
--a segment on PSYCHIC READINGS in which we set up mentalist and magician Mark Edward at a mall to do psychic readings on people--he was brilliant at it and everyone was convinced he was the real thing, until he disclosed that it was all a trick--wait until you see their faces drop!;
--a segment on OUT OF BODY EXPERIENCES and other mind bending phenomena in which we travel to Michael Persinger's lab at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Canada, and I get strapped into his electromagnetic helmet to experience some weird mental states generated by his computer;
--a segment on PSYCHIC SURGERY in which the Amazing Randi exposes how this old canard is done with sleight of hand;
--a segment on the alleged NASA UFO sighting from the Space Shuttle;
--very short segments on the face on Mars exposed as nothing more than a random pattern of rock formations, a biomagnetic family (where irons and spoons magically stick to skin), and 0faked fairy photos.
Enjoy an entire show with a VERY strong skeptical perspective. In fact, where I occasionally thought we should be a bit conciliatory, the Fox Family network folks pushed us to be even STRONGER on the skeptical perspective. How's that for a change of pace??!!