We were born gullible, raised gullible, and educated to be gullible. But as adults, when it comes to decision making in critical contexts - personal, national, or global - gullibility poses a dire threat. Nothing can be decided rationally when gullibility rules the mind - not health care issues, financial strategies, education planning, or anything else that really matters. In today's world, the gullers have our eyes and ears twenty-four seven. But who are they? Where do they lurk? What are their methods? We get some answers to these questions, and then propose ways to defend ourselves. If gullibility is the illness, you might hope that education is the cure. But public education as we know it today does nothing to discourage gullibility, and a great deal to support it. A new approach is needed - an approach that exploits the natural symbiosis that exists among science, math, computer science, and the arts - an approach that encourages creativity and critical reasoning while making subjects more engaging and exciting. It's not a plan that can be implemented quickly or on the cheap. But even small steps should temper the rampant gullibility that plagues our society.
About the Author: ----- Vita ----- 1936 Born in Hartford, Connecticut 1966 Ph.D. in Mathematics from Univ. of California, Berkeley 1966-1969 Assistant Professor at UCLA 1969-2001 Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, then Full Professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder 2001 Emeritus ----- Other Books by the Author ----- Introduction to Mathematical Logic, Springer Verlag, 1979. Personal Landscapes, Timber Press, 1989. Plants for the Future, a Gardener's Wishbook, Timber Press, 1996. Reflecting Nature, Garden Designs from Wild Landscapes, co-authored with Seth Malitz, Timber Press, 1998 (winner of the Garden Writers of America Quill and Trowel Award for best garden book of 1998). Interior Landscapes, Horticulture and Design, co-authored with Seth Malitz, W. W. Norton, 2002. Rocky Mountain National Park, a Dayhiker's Guide, Johnson Books, 1993; revised edition 2005. Arches National Park Dayhiker's Guide, co-authored with Susan Malitz, Johnson Books, 2005. Acadia National Park Dayhiker's Guide, co-authored with Susan Malitz, Johnson Books, 2006. ----- Art Shows ----- 1982 One man show (sculpture) at Gallery 1309, Boulder, Colorado 1986 One man show (sculpture) at St. Johns College, Santa Fe, New Mexico 1988 Sculpture at Aspen Art Festival (juried), Aspen, Colorado 2003 Paintings, book proofs, digital images shown in (Unparallel) Worlds show, Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 2004 Paintings, books, digital images, sculpture shown in Art and Mathematics show, Colorado Gallery of the Arts, Arapahoe Community College, Littleton, Colorado