I got ahold of an Issue of Skeptic Magazine at the Library this week and finally got time to read it. It’s Volume #17 Issue Number 2. I’ve been listening to Skepticality, the official podcast of Skeptic Magazine for awhile now. I figured it wouldn’t hurt to give Randi’s magazine a read over.
And I figured it would give me a fun thing to talk about. I turned out to be wrong. Not because the magazine was bad, because it is rather good, but because it’s a dry and serious publication. If you’re going to read it, I suggest that you make yourself ready for some dryer reading. I know I get into kicks where I want to learn something, and this is a great way to learn something.
I had figured the article on Foo Fighters would catch my interest the most, or maybe the one on EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomenon), but I’m pleasantly surprised to have been wrong. There’s an incredibly interesting article by Bruce E. Levin called “Depression Treatment: What works and how we know” going over the effectivity of anti-depressants. As someone who has friends who suffer at the claws of depression, I’m always curious to know what might help them out. I’m shocked to have been taught that the drugs are nowhere near as effective as you would think given the widespread usage! And doctors are largely unaware of this! Don’t get me wrong, I don’t see this as a reason for pulling antidepressants from the market, but it does mean that doctors need to approach things carefully, and make sure patients are more aware of the fail-rates with medications with more dangerous side effects.
All in all, I’ll be picking up other issues. It’s always nice to learn something new, afterall. And it’s a rare treat to have things be fully and clearly cited. Citations are good! If you read skeptic you will not be disappointed.
Unless you wanted them to tell you Foo Fighters are aliens and EVPs are ghosts…