"Sybil -- The Making of a Disease: An Interview with Dr. Herbert Spiegal." Mikkel Borch-Jacobsen. The New York Review of Books, April 24, 1997, pp. 60-64. Presents medical doctor's assertions that the famous "Sybil" did not have multiple personality disorder (MPD). Selected quote: "Highly suggestible people will of course respond in a way that can please the doctors, especially if there is a good rapport between them. That is why I think it is an illusion to believe that we can establish a valid causation for multiple personality, or for almost any kind of psychiatric illness."
"Council for Media Integrity Blasts Networks for Distorted Treatments of Science." Kendrick Frazier, Editor. Skeptical Inquirer,, May/June 1997, pp. 9-12. CSICOP's new council, established last year, launches criticism of pseudoscientific specials. Selected quote: " 'We believe that the media have presented a distorted view of science,' [CSICOP founder and chairman Paul] Kurtz said, and that they have a responsibility; to provide a more balanced view of what is real science and what is pseudoscience.
'We are asking only for some balance. We are asking TV not to dramatize pseudoscience as real science.' "
May 10 -- Special REALL meeting featuring Michael Shermer, founder and director of the Skeptics Society on "Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time," Barnes & Noble, noon.
May 17-18 -- Center for Inquiry Workshop, "Secrets of the Supernatural," Ramada Plaza Hotel O’Hare, Chicago. Call 1-800-634-1610 for registration and information.
May 23-24 -- Skeptics Society 1997 Conference, "The Science Gap," Los Angeles, California. Call (818) 794-3119 for registration and information. Web site: www.skeptic.com
