The Skeptics Society & Skeptic magazine

SHARON HILL is a geologist and author of the Doubtful blog about science and pseudoscience aimed at the public. She explores the intersection of science and public understanding as a student in the Science and the Public Ed.M. graduate program at the State University of New York at Buffalo (a joint initiative with the Center For Inquiry).

Though she had loved ghosts, monsters, and other paranormal stories since childhood, Sharon was fascinated when she discovered the skeptical literature. “Skeptical articles and publications left me amazed at how I could have been so credulous,” Sharon recalls. “There was more to these stories that I hadn’t been told about as a kid — not about the supernatural, but about people, their expectations, perceptions, environments, beliefs and culture.”

Today, Sharon is active within the skeptical community. She is involved in local skeptical organizing, national conferences, and online activism. “I really enjoy meeting other skeptically-minded new friends and sharing a reality-based outlook and love of science,” Sharon says.

She is especially fond of media that indulges her childhood love of mysteries, like the podcasts MonsterTalk and Skepticality (both presented by Skeptic magazine). Even more important are activities she can share with her own children, such as reading Junior Skeptic (the Skeptics Society’s flagship educational periodical) or the Junior Skeptic-based kids book Evolution: How We and All Living Things Came to Be.

“I’m raising my two girls as critical thinkers. I want them to appreciate science as a way of understanding nature,” explains Sharon. “I love ideas that introduce kids to critical thinking skills through topics I loved as a kid — monsters and spooky stuff.” She looks forward to personally creating new projects of that kind. “This time, kids won’t be denied the rest of the story.”

EXPLORE Junior Skeptic

Evolution: How We and All
Living Things Came to Be